100 posts
Ukraine's president faces straight talk in Berlin
Chancellor Angela Merkel used a visit to Berlin by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Monday to raise concerns about press freedoms in his country. Yanukovych was hoping to drum up German investment in Ukraine. READ MORE...
«It is only a speculation that the U.S. lost interest in Ukraine»
Discussion with the U.S. Ambassador in Ukraine John Tefft at the Institute of World Policy. READ MORE...
Ukraine Made Moldova a Maritime State by Mistake: Ukrainian Expert
“Ukraine has to correct the mistakes done in due time in the negotiations with Moldova, which only got worse during the time of “oranges” in power”. Why so unexpectedly Moldova became a maritime state? This issue has to be...
«I Am Confident that the EU Will Overcome Enlargement Fatigue»
Ukraine deserves to be a member of the European Union. READ MORE...
Ukraine between the European and Customs Unions: What Will Be the Choice?
The enhanced Eastern vector of Ukrainian policy yet more likely misleads, rather then gives a direct reply – where does Ukraine go? READ MORE...
Yanukovych meeting European Council President
President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych conducted a meeting with the President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, presidential press office informed. READ MORE...
Yanukovych meeting European Council President
President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych conducted a meeting with the President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, presidential press office informed. READ MORE...
Initial Outcomes Of President Yanukovych’s Foreign Policy:Results Of Expert Poll By The Institute Of World Policy
Alyona Getmanchuk, director of the Institute of World Politicy, and Sergiy Solodkyy, deputy director of IWP has held a public presentation of expert poll about the first outcomes of president Viktor Yanukovych’s foreign policy. Among the par...
Ironing boards from Ukraine
It’s fascinating to see just how many areas of life the EU gets involved in. Today, for example, it ruled on whether a company in Ukraine is harming European firms by selling ironing boards more cheaply than it would do in its own country. This...
Clinton to Kyiv: Speaking Truth to Power
Of all the stops on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s upcoming trip to Europe, none is more important than Ukraine. This is a country heading in the wrong direction—as evidenced by the disturbing and rapid rollback of its democratic gains. Muc...
Sliding faster to less freedom
Ukraine's shrivelling press freedom attracts concern in America...
The “Reefs” of Russian-Ukrainian Rapprochement
Russia and Ukraine are on their way to a system dialogue. President Viktor Yanukovich has already sounded the suggestion to finalize the provisions of the Great Treaty of 1997. Will the states develop a new format of interaction? READ MORE...
Spooked by spooks
Ukraine's SBU treads heavily over academic freedom--or so a visit to the country's leading independent university, the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, would suggest...
European Window of Opportunities for Viktor Yanukovich
The European Commission imposed 19 demands to Ukraine that are connected with the prospects of Euro-integration of this country. Europe tests the Government of V. Yanukovich on the ability to fulfill its Euro-promises in practice. Will that be a k...
Orange sunset?
So, President Yanukovych. I don’t always agree with the folks at Foreign Policy, but I think they nail this one: Ukrainians were absolutely correct to stand up and defend their democratic rights back in 2004. Yanukovych and his party were guil...
Ukrainian parliament fights over ratification of Russian deal
Ukrainian lawmakers got rough, threw eggs and smoke bombs, but still voted in favor of deal with Russia ensuring cheaper natural gas for Ukraine in exchange for the lease of a key naval base to Moscow. READ MORE...
Polarizing Politics in Ukraine
WASHINGTON — The agreement signed last week between Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev in which Ukraine will receive cheaper gas in exchange for extending Russia’s Black Sea Fleet presence in Crimea t...
Ukraine scraps NATO accession plans
The Ukrainian president has dissolved the commission which was to work towards NATO membership. It's the latest move to abandon the pro-western stance of the 'Orange Revolution' and re-establish ties with Russia. READ MORE...
Ukraine's Election Clouds EU's Energy Future
There is little doubt that as president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych will decisively shift the country's geopolitical posture, with Kiev once again moving closer to Moscow after its pro-Western and pro-EU turn of 2005. The potential consequences on...
Ukraine--Andrew Wilson latest
Andrew Wilson is the best Ukraine-watcher I know. Here is his new paper, which argues that Yanukovych could be Ukraine's Nixon.
Orange is not the only fruit when it comes to Ukraine
More than a month after the Ukrainian elections, the EU and the newly elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych have shown mutual diplomatic signs of understanding which now make Yanukovych’s previously labelled “pro-Russian” views appear t...
Yanukovych visits Moscow, pledges better relations
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has visited Moscow for his second foreign visit since being sworn in. Long considered a pro-Kremlin politician, he said he wanted to open "a new page" in relations with Moscow. READ MORE...
First Foreign Trip Takes Ukraine's New President To Brussels
European integration is high on the agenda of Ukraine's foreign policy, the country's new president said in Brussels. Yanukovych surprised observers by picking Brussels and not Moscow for his first international trip. READ MORE...
EU more generous with Yanukovich?
I find it weird. Yanukovich, whom the Western press tagged as pro-Russian, is reportedly getting more support from Brussels compared to his pro-NATO predecessor Yushchenko. In any case, this is a good development, as I see it. the EU has to be more e...
A Ukrainian pickle
A small follow-up to the previous post. It was all down to Kiev’s invitation list, it seems. Ukraine invited EU council president Herman Van Rompuy, EU commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and EP ch...
Tymoshenko’s defiance risks losing her friends in Europe
Yulia Tymoshenko’s refusal to acknowledge Viktor Yanukovich as the legitimate winner of Ukraine’s presidential election is starting to embarrass her friends in the European Union. The White House, Nato and the EU have all congratulat...
Yanukovych Faces Uphill Struggle for Control of Ukraine, Despite Victory in Presidential Election
As expected, opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych has won the February 7 presidential election runoff. Unlike in 2004, when Yanukovych lost a controversial poll to Viktor Yushchenko and his supporters were accused of large-scale election fraud, this t...
Will Yanukovitch finally prepare Ukraine for European integration?
I observed one week of post-election commentaries (some more sources here): this is my short ‘net take’. But before attempting to answer this question, let’s get rid of one frequent misconception in Western reporting: that the Presidential elec...
Some more sources on Ukraine’s elections and Europe
This article by Gideon Rachman makes good points: Oranges and lemons in Ukraine Two Ukraine experts also write good articles on the topic in the FT, Stefan Wagstyl Roman Olearchyk But these articles are regrettably behind a paywall: a different...
The sight of Ukraine's lumpen victor should stir the EU's own into action | Timothy Garton Ash
Yanukovych's election is a startling historical turn, but the country can still have a more prosperous, free and European futureUkraine is not yet lost. Yes, it's a gobsmacking reversal that Viktor Yanukovych, whose election fraud in Ukraine's 2004 p...
Ukraine: End of Orange Revolution, start of Stabilisation
“We can say goodbye to our democracy, our independence and our sovereignty” (outgoing President Yushchenko predicts a future with either Ms Tymoshenko or Mr Yanukovych as President) “I’m quite happy because whoever is chosen today will be...
FT video: Ukraine’s big economic chill
From central Ukraine and capital Kiev, a leading oligarch, a bar owner, a foreign investor and ordinary hard-hit people discuss what the new president needs to do to mend Ukraine’s broken economy. function doLoad() {var mp = new MavenPlayer('m...
Ukraine - a colourful and energetic campaign
Ukraine went to the polls to elect a President on Sunday. This is the first Presidential election since the momentous events of the Orange Revolution. It’s been a colourful and energetic campaign, with 18 candidates in the running two n...
Ukraine heads for close presidential run-off
Pro-Russian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich and populist Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will face off in a second round of presidential elections after Sunday's poll failed to produce a clear winner. READ MORE...
Ukraine’s Election: A Democratic Achievement Worth a EU Reward
The European Union should be pleased with the outcome of the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election. Not because the politician who received the most votes was former premier Viktor Yanukovich, the most pro-Russian of the main candid...
Presidential elections in Ukraine
Chairman of the Central Election Commission Volodymyr Shapoval said on Monday at a briefing press that “Presidential elections in Ukraine took place at an appropriate level “. CEC has estimated 80,27% of protocols in the presidential elec...
Yushchenko and Yanukovych Forge an Electoral Alliance
On December 25, 2009 UNIAN published a secret agreement “On Political Reconciliation and the Development of Ukraine” leaked by Yaroslav Kozachok, the deputy head of the presidential secretariat’s department on domestic affairs and r...
Ukrainian Social Democracy: Discredited in Name, Deficient in Nature
The SPDU(u), like many similar projects in the CIS countries, was a travesty of all aspects of social democracy. ‘You can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of...
President Yushchenko calls on Europe to use Ukrainian gas transit system more effectively
Ukraine will ensure the transit of Russian gas to EU countries and hopes for the EU support to introducing market principles in gas sector, President Viktor Yushchenko has said following the 13th Ukraine-EU Summit in Kyiv. READ MORE...
“Ukraine fatigue” vs “EU fatigue”
It might seem that EU-Ukraine relations are poised for a new start. The end of EU’s institutional crisis and the entry into force of Lisbon opens the way for the EU to move beyond its institutional reform into a great new era of outward-looking...
Ukrainian Presidential Candidate Arseniy Yatseniuk’s Foreign Policy
In 2008-2009 Arseniy Yatseniuk grew rapidly in popularity and was seen as the rising star of a “new generation of Ukrainian politicians,” with some even touting him as “Ukraine’s Obama” who would inevitably prove “...
Bridge on the Dnieper
Ukraine is in the news again, this time for its panicked response to a flu epidemic that has claimed over three hundred lives. In many countries, this would simply be a matter of public health, but in Ukraine, where politics is polarized by culture a...
Tough love for Ukraine
The UK is a big supporter of Ukraine which is why I hosted a 'Friends of Ukraine' breakfast meeting in Brussels this Tuesday before the second day of the General Affairs Council. We had a good turnout with a dozen EU Foreign and Europe Ministers, and...
Ukrainian Signs In Turkish March: New Reality Of Energy Policy
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said one of those sayings, which perfectly characterizes current role of Turkey within international political and economic arena: "Turkey is the extreme Eastern point of West an...
Russia and Ukraine in Intensifying Standoff
A year after its war with Georgia, Russia is engaging in an increasingly hostile standoff with another pro-Western neighbor, Ukraine. READ MORE...
praising Poland and Ukraine
Europe.viewWreath by wreathSep 10th 2009From Economist.comHow east Europe can step over history's long shadowTWO of the five most-commented-on articles on The Economist’s website last week were about east European history. One concerned the icy rel...
On Ukraine and Polish Janus face
During these holidays I had a short spell in Lviv, Ukraine - where my ancestors come from. Some of you will be puzzled - what is the link between Poles and a Ukrainian town. Hmmm.... how to explain it. This is a longer lecture so I give only a few fa...
Experts: Medvedev’s Statement Is the Attempt to Influence Presidential Elections In Ukraine
Ukrainian political analysts commented on the statement of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who accused current Ukrainian Government of leading anti-Russia course and announced the decision to postpone the coming of new Russian Ambassador to Ukrain...
Questions abound over Ukraine's European future
Ukraine is currently negotiating visa-free travel with the EU as part of a wide-ranging association agreement, as some of the country's politicians express hopes for a clearer "European perspective". EurActiv outlines various scenarios for...
Europe urged to be 'visionary' with Ukraine
Experts from Washington have called on the EU to be more daring and propose closer ties with its large Eastern neighbour. But European Commission officials told that the current mood in Europe was not exactly in tune with such an approach. READ...
Horrid Outlook in Ukraine
Not to beat a dead horse or anything, but it seems that Krugman, via Edward, was right after all. This does indeed seem to be a great depression if there ever was one. (from Bloomberg) Ukraine’s economy probably shrank as much as 23 percent in the...
Azerbaijan-Ukraine relations developing dynamically: Azerbaijani president
The first meeting of Azerbaijani and Ukrainian Presidents Council was held in Azerbaijan. At the meeting Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev expressed confidence that the official visit of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to Baku would develop a...
European Union's Eastern Partnership Plan Disappoints Ukraine
President Viktor Yushchenko was vexed when European Commission President Jose Barroso suggested that he and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko should make peace for the sake of Ukraine's stability. "I don't want to get advice on what to d...
Putin Warns Europe Over Ukrainian Gas Plan
Russia’s Prime Minister said he’s unhappy his country was not consulted on a European Union decision to help Ukrainian modernize its gas supply network. Putin warned that the slight could jeopardize Russian-EU relations. READ MORE...
Russia Warns EU over Ukraine
Russia has warned the European Union over its relationship with Ukraine, and threatened to review bilateral ties with the EU. The Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin called the EU-Ukraine gas pipeline modernisation plan, “ill considered and u...
Ukrainians made fools of themselves in NATO
All of NATO was today watching and listening to the new US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Lucky for the Ukrainians, because not many people noticed a very strange incident between them.Here is my exclusive piece of news, also to be found in tom...
Ukraine’s collapse
Ukraine’s economic crisis could have profound (geo)political consequences for European security. A default in Ukraine could lead to higher unemployment, a drastic fall in governance standards, a rise in emigration, organised crime, and an even deep...
Border Settlement Between Romania and Ukraine
Alhough the Romanian president has an appetite for redrawing the maps of Europe, this time his government let the work done by the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The two countries have disputed the tiny Black Sea Snake Island. In the pa...
Guest post on the gas crisis: ‘Tymoshenko is smarter than Putin and Miller’
Daniel had posted several times about the effect of the Russian-Ukrainian gas crisis. This thought were formulated in our discussion following his post which drew attention to Gazprom deputy-chairman Mr Medvedev’s op-ed in the WSJ Online. That is t...
Everyone a loser in Ukraine-Russia dispute – except EU energy policy
The gas is flowing again. The deal signed between Ukraine’s prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Moscow on January 21 should at last provide some respite for all those who have suffered severe hardship from the suspensio...
Russia and Ukraine: Pacta sunt servanda?
Yesterday evening the Czech Presidency of the EU Council was still expressing its disappointment at the failure of Russia and Ukraine to reach a deal on the supply and transit of gas to EU member states:http://www.eu2009.cz/en/news-and-documents/news...
Is Gazprom really expecting Europe to take its side against Ukraine?
Gazprom says Ukraine blocking resumed gas flows MOSCOW, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Russian gas monopoly...
Ukraine-Russia gas crisis
THE 2009 crisis: Is Gazprom really expecting Europe to take its side against Ukraine? Gas...
As The Politicians Battle It Out Ukraine’s Economy Tunnels South In Search Of Australia
“In Ukraine, the evidence is still that policymakers do not quite understand the seriousness of the challenges they face,”. Timothy Ash, analyst at the Royal Bank of Scotland. “There is a burgeoning economic crisis in the European periphery,
NATO-Ukraine consultations in Estonia
NATO and Ukraine are holding the Sixth Informal High Level consultations in Tallinn, Estonia. This comes roughly a month before the next meeting of foreign ministers where the question of a Membership Action Plan (MAP) for Ukraine will be discussed...
Ukraine and Hungary To Receive IMF Loans, While Belarus Joins the Line
Hungary announced on Sunday that it had reached agreement with both the International Monetary Fund and the European Union on a broad economic rescue package, which will include substantial financing, in a bid to stabilize a Hungarian economy which...
And we’re going to the polls - Yushchenko dissolves parliament
The democratic joys and the orange blues have finally come full circle today when Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko has finally called the pre-term elections (via KUNB). Ukrayinska Pravda has Yushchenko’s full speech and the video (uk...
President Yushchenko
a title=Visit to the UK of President Viktor Yushchenko by Foreign and Commonwealth Office, on Flickr href=http://www.flickr.com/photos/foreignoffice/2918863504/img height=159 alt=Visit to the UK of President Viktor Yushchenko src=http://farm4.static.
It’s official: Merkel draws NATO line
By now hardly a surprise, German Chancellor Angela Merkel drew the line on where NATO will or will not expand (via Wall Street Journal). After blocking the application for an Action Plan by Ukraine and Georgia at the Bucharest summit in April, Merk...
Snake Island - settling a territorial dispute without war?
The dispute between Romania and Ukraine over Snake Island (also Serpent Island) is at least a decade long. Located off the coast of the two countries in the Black Sea, the miniscule island’s primary value is the potential for natural resource...
Sorry, you’re just not European enough
Better luck next time, Ukraine. One of these days the EU powers that be are going to realise that when you’ve got countries torn between a European and non-European identity, to keep on telling them “sorry, you’re not European enoug...
EU-Ukraine summit in Paris, France
[UPDATE 2008.09.10]: Commentary by J Clive Matthews at Nosemonkey; see also Jonathan Fryer; for an optimistic take, see Huffington Post. Following-up on this, the European Union and Ukraine have held their much anticipated summit in Paris, France.
EU-Ukraine Summit
The Foreign Secretary visited Kiev two weeks ago, to show our support for Ukraine in the wake of events in Georgia. Today in Paris the EU and Ukraine agreed to take our relationship a big step forward by agreeing to conclude an Association Agreement.
EU-Ukraine summit moved to Paris
AP reports that the European Union - Ukraine summit has been slightly postponed and moved. If you were planning to attend, it will take place on Tuesday afternoon in Paris rather than on Tuesday morning in Evian. The AP notes that: Such last-minute...
European perspective
As you may have heard, the EU declined to include the “European perspective” phrase in an agreement that the Brussels is scheduled to sign with Kyiv at the EU-Ukraine summit in Evian, France on September 9th. Instead, the EU will acknow...
Ukraine between East and West
With the East/West standoff spreading to Ukraine, there's an obvious solution to that country's ills...
Blogosphere talk
This is a mix of things: either stuff I wanted to write about, but others have done the job already or something that caught my attention. In no particular order: Lucas writes about Colonel Khuiyovich is returning to duty - a hilarious true story...
Wanted: A Plan for Ukraine
Among the lessons to be drawn from the Russian-Georgian war is that the next flashpoint between the European Union and Russia may turn out to be Ukraine. There is a particular risk of trouble over Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula where ethnic Russ...
Tymoshenko prescient column in Foreign Affairs
In May/June 2007 edition of Foreign Affairs, an elite foreign policy publication in the United States, Yulia Tymoshenko, a Ukrainian politician and a symbol of the Orange Revolution, published a column simply titled Containing Russia. Tymoshenko, at...
Speculation unbound: is Ukraine next?
No, Ukraine is not next. Sure it makes for a great headline across the screen. Think of the imagery: the East clashes with the West (a la 300), democracy against authoritarianism, an underdog against a bully. This stuff sells, but only becaus...
NATO and Ukraine debate (part 2)
Following in the footsteps of an earlier debate on Ukraine and its integration with the EU and the North Atlantic Alliance, I would like to continue on the same subject in this post with one modification - by exploring more explicitly the issue of NA...
Caravaggio’s The Taking of Christ stolen
Caravaggio’s The Taking of Christ, a $100 million painting, stolen from Odessa, Ukraine. Outdated security system is to blame. That’s unfortunate. Another version of the work can be seen at the National Gallery of Ireland. For an inte...
Muir refutes Wagner’s nonsense
Sometime back a certain Richard Wagner wrote a highly flawed, and as one blogger put it “whince-inducingly stupid article” on Ukraine. The hogwash in it mandated that a refutation is written, which I was going to happily provide. This m...
Some stupid stuff about Ukraine
While researching the recent floods in the Ukraine, I stumbled across this wince-inducingly stupid article. It appeared a few weeks ago in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. The article is by Richard Wagner, a Transylvanian German writer. (Well, former T...
Debate: Should Ukraine join the EU and/or NATO?
I could spend quite some time formulating my opinion on this question, but instead I recommend reading the debate on this issue at the Central Europe Active blog. Just a short statement:If it wants, an internally united Ukraine should get a membershi...
