Russia’s threat to abolish its oil subsidies to Belarus aim not only to punish Minsk for its recent rapprochement with the European Union, but also to put the oil processing and oil transit in Belarus under the control of Russian companies (EDM, January 5).The role... MORE

On December 30, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka held a press conference with some 250 Belarusian journalists in the National Library of Belarus. He was asked approximately 40 questions, which focused on the financial crisis, language policy, trade and social projects, the new Customs Union with... MORE

A former employee of President Viktor Yushchenko’s secretariat has claimed that Yushchenko agreed to back the frontrunner, Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych in the run-up to the January 17 presidential election. Both Yushchenko and Yanukovych denied this, but Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, against whom... MORE

On December 25, 2009 UNIAN published a secret agreement “On Political Reconciliation and the Development of Ukraine” leaked by Yaroslav Kozachok, the deputy head of the presidential secretariat’s department on domestic affairs and regional development. Kozachok resigned in protest at the secret agreement between President... MORE

Effective January 1, Russia has drastically reduced its traditional subsidy to the oil processing industry in Belarus and, thereby, to President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s government. That industry in Belarus is processing Russian crude oil and exporting the derivatives to European Union markets. Some Russian oil producing... MORE

In December Ukrainian officials descended on Washington with one overriding mission –to convince the Obama administration that without the financial help of the IMF, Ukraine might be unable to supply the EU with Russian gas this winter. This badly disguised attempt at blackmail on the... MORE

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin received Croatia’s outgoing president, Stjepan Mesic, in Moscow for a valedictory visit on December 13-14 (Interfax, December 14). The discussions focused on energy issues, reflecting Moscow’s preparations for a breakthrough into the Croatian oil and gas... MORE

Since late November, the Belarusian authorities have targeted members of the Malady Front (Young Front, MF), an organization registered in the Czech Republic but not in Belarus, as well as Eurapeyskaya Belarus (European Belarus), the members of which overlap.On November 16-17, the press secretary of... MORE

The Ukraine-European Union (EU) summit held in Kyiv on December 4 failed to move the country closer to the West. An association agreement, viewed in Ukraine as a serious step toward EU membership, was not signed because a free trade zone accord which is part... MORE