Latest Articles about Ukraine
UKRAINIAN POLICE GO AFTER YANUKOVYCH, MEDVEDCHUK
As Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko promised several months ago, investigators have finally targeted the very top figures from the previous government. Police have summoned former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and former presidential administration head Viktor Medvedchuk for questioning over several graft cases. Earlier the... MORE
FORMER SECURITY CHIEF REVEALS DETAILS ABOUT VIOLENCE DURING UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
In February, Oleksandr Turchynov, a close ally of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, replaced Ihor Smeshko as chief of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU). Smeshko recently provided new details about violence during Ukraine's 2004 presidential elections in a long interview published in the May 27 issue... MORE
ANALYSTS TURN A CRITICAL EYE TOWARD YUSHCHENKO’S EARLY RECORD
Ukraine watchers are abuzz about a May 25 article in Lvivska Hazeta, in which the paper's Moscow correspondent called upon Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to dismiss Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. According to an eyewitness account published in Zerkalo Tyzhnia/Nedeli on May 21, Yushchenko did call... MORE
ATTEMPT AT MASS PROTEST IN KYIV DEMONSTRATES OPPOSITION WEAKNESSES
The former Ukrainian authorities, now in opposition to President Viktor Yushchenko, are trying to attract public attention to their problems. The popular Eurovision Song Contest, held May 19 in Kyiv, provided an opportunity to play to the visiting international media. Protesting against "political persecution," the... MORE
RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN OIL SUMMIT: AN UNEASY, FLEETING COMPROMISE
On May 19 in Kyiv, President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and other senior Ukrainian officials met in an emergency conference with Russia's Ambassador Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian state pipeline monopoly Transneft chairman Semyon Vainshtok, and top executives of Russian oil companies and their branches... MORE
KYIV TAKES EMERGENCY STEPS TO COPE WITH FUEL CRISIS
Ukraine's presidential administration and government are multiplying emergency measures in response to severe fuel shortages and prices hikes by an informal cartel of Russian suppliers (see EDM, May 18). Yesterday [May 18], President Viktor Yushchenko signed the legislation adopted on the preceding day by parliament,... MORE
UKRAINE MOVING TO REDUCE RUSSIAN MONOPOLY ON OIL MARKET
On May 17, Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada passed a government-submitted bill eliminating import duties on high-octane gasoline and diesel fuel. The legislation aims to stimulate such imports in response to artificially induced shortages and steep price hikes by the informal cartel of Russian oil-product suppliers in... MORE
TWO DOWN, ONE TO GO? UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS TARGET ANOTHER OLIGARCHIC CLAN
The May 13 arrest of the former governor of Trans-Carpathia, Ivan Rizak, follows the capture of the head of the Donetsk oblast council, Borys Kolesnykov, one month earlier. The widespread arrests of lower-ranking officials for election fraud and corruption have now moved up to medium-level... MORE
POROSHENKO ADOPTS PRIMAKOV’S CONCEPT FOR TRANSNISTRIA SETTLEMENT
On May 13, a session of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) approved a modified version of NSDC Secretary's Petro Poroshenko's plan to resolve the Transnistria problem. President Viktor Yushchenko chaired the session, which approved Poroshenko's plan "unanimously" (Interfax-Ukraine, May 13) -- a further... MORE
YUSHCHENKO SHARES PLANS WITH THE NATION
Ukraine's new government has realistic plans for integration with the West; there will be no re-privatization; the government will continue to get rid of officials who served the old regime; and there is no serious opposition in the country. This is President Viktor Yushchenko's vision... MORE