On November 17, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenka declared that he expected to win 90% of the electoral vote in the presidential elections of 2006, a figure far exceeding anything he has achieved hitherto. At the same time he accused the European Union and the United... MORE

Ukraine held the second round of its contentious presidential election on November 21, 2004. When the incumbent regime of President Leonid Kuchma tried to steal the election from popular favorite Viktor Yushchenko, thousands of Ukrainians took the streets in what came to be known as... MORE

The People's Union-Our Ukraine party of President Viktor Yushchenko (NSNU) is undergoing a severe identity crisis just four months ahead of the crucial parliamentary polls scheduled for March 26. Addressing the NSNU congress on November 12, Yushchenko said the party should win the election. This... MORE

Despite Ukraine's September political crisis and the subsequent fall of the Yulia Tymoshenko government, the Tymoshenko bloc in parliament is still a fairly reliable ally of President Viktor Yushchenko's People's Union-Our Ukraine (NSNU). Other allies from the Orange Revolution, including the Socialist Party (SPU) and... MORE

On November 10, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs introduced for the first time a causal link between Moldova's pro-Western orientation and Russia's refusal to withdraw its forces from that country's territory. The Ministry's CIS Affairs Department Director Vyacheslav Kovalenko began a special news briefing that... MORE

Following the election of Alexander Milinkevich as the leader of the united opposition at the Democratic Convention in early October, the Belarusian opposition has begun to elaborate its tactics for the anticipated elections in the summer of 2006. The Political Council created after the Convention... MORE

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has replaced Prosecutor-General Sviatoslav Piskun with Oleksandr Medvedko. Piskun was too close to former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is set to be Yushchenko's most dangerous rival in the parliamentary election next March. Furthermore, Piskun failed to solve a single major... MORE

Both officially and unofficially, Moldova will again top the European security agenda at next month's OSCE year-end ministerial conference. This will again be an exercise in futility, unless the European Union and the United States decide to act on their own, outside the OSCE's framework... MORE

Although the main story in Ukrainian politics this fall has been the rift in the Orange Revolutionary camp, the centrists that once gathered around former president Leonid Kuchma are far more divided. Most of them will have a hard time winning seats in the 2006... MORE