Latest Articles about Europe
WITH PARLIAMENT IN RECESS, YUSHCHENKO MOVES TO ASSERT AUTHORITY
Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko has used the past week, with parliament closed for summer recess, to assert his authority in key state institutions. Yet these latest moves have failed to dispel the growing opinion that Yushchenko is not making use of the extensive powers he... MORE
RESOLUTION OF GONGADZE MURDER BLOCKED
Despite hopes to the contrary, the election of a new president of Ukraine has not sped the investigation into the murder of opposition journalist Heorhiy Gongadze. At the Davos World Economic Summit in January, President Viktor Yushchenko promised that the Gongadze case would be submitted... MORE
MOSCOW TO BALTICS: ANNEXATION WAS LEGAL, RESISTANCE CRIMINAL
In a news conference for Baltic journalists on July 18 in Moscow, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Chizhov added an innovative nuance to Russia's official thesis that the 50-year occupation of the Baltic states had been legal. While rejecting the term "occupation," Chizhov asked... MORE
YUSHCHENKO TARGETS DONETSK “CLANS”
"I am the president of all Ukrainians, those who voted for me and those who didn't, those who understand me and those who don't," President Viktor Yushchenko said upon his July 15 arrival in the eastern city of Donetsk, which remains largely hostile towards him.... MORE
A SHORT-TERM SOLUTION TO UKRAINE’S SUPPLY OF RUSSIAN GAS
Ukraine appears to have found a short-term solution to the problem of gas supplies from Russia for the remainder of 2005. However, the issue of supplies beyond December 31 -- that is, during the peak heating season, in the run-up to the March parliamentary elections... MORE
RUSSIA-BELARUS: THE COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP II
When Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenka bid farewell to the outgoing Russian ambassador, Alexander Blokhin, on July 5, he remarked that the past few years have been an especially fruitful time for bilateral relations, and particularly the most recent year. His comments raise the question how... MORE
KYIV’S ROLE IN IRAQ MAY MAKE IT VULNERABLE TO TERRORIST ATTACKS
Ukraine responded to the July 7 terrorist attacks in London by expanding preventative measures to combat potential terrorists. With Ukraine contributing the fourth-largest contingent of troops in Iraq, the Ukrainian government understandably fears that terrorists could target Kyiv and its metro system. The terrorist attacks... MORE
BALTIC SOLDIERS IN AFGHANISTAN
Colonel Gintautas Zenkevicius, commander of the Lithuanian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team in Chaghcharan, Ghor province, western Afghanistan, announced on July 14 that the PRT has reached its initial operating capacity, as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. ISAF is currently extending its operations in... MORE
KOZAK PLAN RESURFACES UNDER OSCE COLORS
Moldova/Transnistria topped the agenda of talks held by the OSCE's Chairman-in-Office, Dimitrij Rupel of Slovenia, with Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on July 13. In their concluding press briefing, Rupel resurrected the Kremlin's defunct Kozak plan that would have cemented Transnistria's... MORE
The conundrum of the London bombings
As Terrorism Focus went to press the identity of the perpetrators of the attacks on London commuters on July 7 — indigenous UK suicide bombers of Pakistani ethnic origin — had become established through forensic investigation and extensive analysis of CCTV footage. While there are... MORE