On July 21, Moldova walked out of the "five-sided" negotiations on settling the Trans-Dniester conflict. That format practically excludes the West. On July 22-23, on President Vladimir Voronin's instructions, Moldovan officials called for consultations in a new format, with full-fledged Western participation including that of... MORE

For the first time since the murder of opposition journalist Heorhiy Gongadze in fall 2000, the possible involvement of Ukraine's Ministry of the Interior (MVS) has now come under scrutiny in Ukraine. Why now, after four years? With the presidential election looming in October, the... MORE

On July 5 the Ukrainian government reversed a February 4, 2004, decision on which countries would supply oil to the Odessa-Brody pipeline. In February the decision had been made to transport Azerbaijani (and perhaps Kazakhstani) oil in a south-north direction from Odessa to Brody. The... MORE

Trans-Dniester's Russian-installed authorities -- chosen partners of the U.S. State Department and OSCE in the project to "federalize" Moldova -- seem bent on enforcing a complete prohibition on Latin script in the territory under their control. Moldovans form a plurality of the total population and... MORE

Two leading Ukrainian political parties convened national congresses in early July to select which candidate to support in Ukraine's October 31 presidential elections. Surprisingly, both parties swung away from President Leonid Kuchma's designed successor, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, and put forward rival candidates. Should Yanukovych... MORE

Ten years ago this month, Leonid Kuchma defeated the incumbent, Leonid Kravchuk, in the second round of Ukraine's second presidential election. Kravchuk had won in the first round of the December 1991 first presidential election, which coincided with the referendum on state independence. This week... MORE

The answer to this question, based on recent and ongoing developments in Ukraine, is "no." Opinion polls taken in Ukraine have consistently shown that two-thirds to three-quarters of Ukrainians do not believe this year's elections will be free and fair. Even President Leonid Kuchma has... MORE

The annual EU-Ukraine summit on July 7-8 came just over one week after the NATO-Ukraine Committee met during NATO's Istanbul summit. At the NATO-Ukraine summit relations did not advance; but nor did they deteriorate. The NATO-Ukraine Action Plan was not upgraded to a Membership Action... MORE

When Viktor Yanukovych was appointed Ukraine's prime minister in November 2002, he immediately became the heir-apparent for the 2004 presidential election. He was duly made the pro-presidential candidate when the campaign season formally opened on July 4. Initially, his inevitability was not considered significant, because... MORE

One day after the Ukrainian presidential elections officially started on July 3, four major candidates filed their papers with the Central Election Commission. The oligarchic regional clans and political parties of the pro-presidential camp have united behind Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. His own Party of... MORE