Latest Articles about Europe
YANUKOVYCH COLD-SHOULDERED ON FIRST VISIT TO RUSSIA
Ukraine’s new prime minister, Viktor Yanukovych, paid his first visit abroad in that capacity on August 15-16 to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence in Sochi. The visit’s results are inconclusive, but Russia’s message to Ukraine seems clear: Economic favors are ruled out for the time... MORE
UKRAINE’S NEW GOVERNMENT OUTLINES ITS ENERGY POLICY
Ukraine is approaching the heating season and agricultural autumn sowing season amid uncertainty over the price of gas, runaway prices on oil products and motor fuel, and with the state oil and gas company Naftohaz Ukrainy indebted to an extent that looks like insolvency. Prime... MORE
YANUKOVYCH DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM CRIMEA’S RADICAL SLAVS
Russian will not become an official language; Ukraine will not be federalized; the state will protect Crimea’s indigenous Muslim population -- Crimean Tatars -- but illegal land grabs made in their name will not be tolerated. These were the messages that Viktor Yanukovych brought to... MORE
BELARUS CREATES NEW SCANDAL WITH LATVIA
On July 25 the Belarusian militia searched the apartment of the Second Secretary of the Latvian Embassy, Reimo Smits, ostensibly as part of a campaign to uncover the distribution of pornographic materials in the Savetski district of Minsk. The incident sparked a diplomatic scandal that... MORE
DONETSK TEAM’S HEGEMONY IN UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT MAY BACKFIRE
The Donetsk interest group is clearly the hegemonic factor in Ukraine’s newly installed coalition government under Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. It seems quite possible that Washington and Brussels can “do business” politically and perhaps to some extent even strategically with this group. Certainly, the government’s... MORE
MOLDOVA’S PRESIDENT KREMLIN VISIT DOES NOT UNFREEZE RELATIONS
Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Vladimir Voronin of Moldova met in the Kremlin on August 8, following Voronin’s repeated requests for a bilateral meeting over the past year. Other than the group meetings at Commonwealth of Independent States summits, Voronin had not met with... MORE
“UNITING UKRAINE”: A HARD SELL FOR THE YUSHCHENKO-YANUKOVYCH COALITION
The formation of a majority-based parliamentary coalition and legitimate government promises relative stability to Ukraine after a year of chaos and misgovernance. Simply ending the turmoil and attending at last to the country’s pressing needs is a promise that undoubtedly meets the expectations of voters... MORE
UKRAINE SENDS MIXED SIGNALS
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko’s team is trying to dispel the fears widespread in the West that Ukraine may swerve on its foreign political course after the appointment of Viktor Yanukovych as prime minister. Yanukovych is perceived by many as pro-Russian; however, his party pledged in... MORE
UKRAINE’S NEW GOVERNMENT: DARK BLUE, PALE ORANGE, SOME PINK, TOUCH OF RED
The mere fact that Ukraine finally has a cabinet of ministers since August 4 is an achievement after a seven-month vacuum. (The outgoing cabinet had been dismissed by parliament in January, continued as a powerless caretaker beyond the March elections, resigned officially in May both... MORE
UKRAINE’S NATIONAL UNITY DECLARATION: NO GUIDE TO POLICY OR ACTION
The August 3 Declaration on National Unity, signed by leaders of four political forces -- the Party of Regions, Our Ukraine, the Socialists, and (with reservations) the Communists -- as a basis for a governing Coalition of National Unity, is a declarative rather than a... MORE