Oleg Varfolomeyev
Oleg Varfolomeyev is a journalist based in Kyiv, Ukraine. He covers economic and political developments in Ukraine for analytical network EmergingMarketWatch and is a stringer for BBC Monitoring. He received a master’s degree in political science from Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.
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Articles by Oleg Varfolomeyev
Prospects for Ukraine’s Economy in 2023 Remain Cautiously Optimistic
Russia’s re-invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 took a heavy toll on the Ukrainian economy. Moscow focused on destroying the Russian-speaking industrial heartland in the southeast, displacing millions of workers,...
President Zelenskyy Reshuffles Government, Drops Powerful Interior Minister
Two years after taking office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has decided to reshuffle his government again. Unlike in spring 2020, when Zelenskyy replaced the ambitious Oleksy Honcharuk with the less...
Ukraine, EU Locked in Clash of Cultures and Values
The Ukrainian government concluded a series of agreements and held important discussions with European Union officials during Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal’s February 9–11 visit to Brussels, where he co-chaired the...
Year 2020 in Review: Ukraine Grapples With Pandemic, Vested Interests, Stalemate With Moscow
As in many other countries, COVID-19 dominated the agenda in Ukraine in 2020. Kyiv locked down domestic trade, services, education, and passenger transportation as well as closed its state borders...
Ukraine Qualifies for New IMF Loan, but at the Expense of the Oligarchs
It has again taken Ukraine many months to break down the domestic opposition of vested interests in order to qualify for much-needed international assistance. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently signed into...
A Year in Review: Elite Change Brings Glimmer of Hope to Ukraine in 2019
For Ukraine, the year 2019 was full of sweeping changes. The elite that came to power in the wake of the anti-establishment Maidan uprising in 2014 was swept away in...
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy Struggles to Disassociate Himself From Oligarch Kolomoysky
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) issued a statement, on November 27, complaining of pressure by businessman Ihor Kolomoysky and urging support from the mass media and the international community....
Wave of Optimism Sweeps Through Ukrainian Economy
While international financial organizations have been warning about a global economic slowdown and revising growth forecasts downwards, Ukraine has been among the few economies for which forecasts were revised upward...
Moscow Says Ready for Gas Talks With Kyiv
Two long-term natural gas contracts between Russia and Ukraine are set to expire in December. And as this deadline approaches, the two sides are preparing for necessary renegotiations. Kyiv needs...
Ukrainian President-Elect Zelensky’s Team Emerges From the Shadows
Popular comedian Volodymyr Zelensky won the Ukrainian runoff presidential election hands down on April 21. More than 73 percent of those who came to the polling stations cast their ballots...
Ukrainian President’s Political Ally Implicated in Scandal Over Murky Defense-Sector Supply Chains
With a month remaining before the presidential election, scheduled for March 31, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko found himself caught up in a scandal that could further harm his chances for...
Comic Zelensky Emerges as Ukrainian Presidential Race leader
Less than two months out from election day on March 31, Ukraine has a new presidential race leader, comic Volodymyr Zelensky, recent opinion polls show. This must be an unpleasant...
Ukraine Increases Trade With China at Russia’s Expense
In line with China’s continuing westward economic expansion, it may launch free trade talks with Ukraine. Stepan Kubiv, Ukraine’s economy minister, coming back from a visit to China where he...
Ukrainians Will Choose Between Poroshenko and Tymoshenko in Presidential Election
Five months ahead of presidential elections in Ukraine, sociologists say it is too early to make predictions. Disillusionment with the politicians who came to power as a result of a...
Ukraine Considers Canceling Rail, Bus Connections With Russia
Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan has been stepping up his insistence that train and bus routes to Russia should be canceled. Such a decision would need to be approved by...
Ukraine’s Defense Industry Slowly Moves Toward Adopting NATO Standards
Ukraine has begun mass producing ammunition for 40-millimeter automatic grenade launchers, the state defense industry monopoly Ukroboronprom recently announced. This caliber is widely used by the militaries of North Atlantic...
Ukrainian President, Parliament Greenlight Court to Fight Top-Level Corruption
On June 7, Ukraine’s parliament passed a long-awaited bill to establish an anti-corruption court, and President Petro Poroshenko promptly signed it into law four days later. The anti-corruption court is...
Ukraine to Resume Privatization According to New Rules
The Ukrainian government will resume its privatization campaign in October, the acting head of the local privatization body, the State Property Fund, Vitaly Trubarov, announced on May 10. Speaking after...
Kyiv Develops Ties With Ankara—in Moscow’s Shadow?
Ukraine has been exerting considerable effort over the last several years to forge closer links across the Black Sea with Turkey, which Kyiv views as a counterbalance to Russia in...
Ukrainian Lawmakers Urge World to Reject Russo-German Nord Stream Two Gas Pipeline
The Ukrainian legislature, on April 5, appealed to the international community to stop the construction of the Nord Stream Two natural gas pipeline, which is to carry Russian gas to...
Court Ruling in Favor of Ukraine Triggers New Gas Conflict With Russia
Ukraine’s national oil and natural gas company, Naftogaz Ukrainy, claimed a final victory in a four-year dispute over gas supply and transit with Russia’s Gazprom. The Stockholm arbitration court, where...
Ukraine Details Claims Against Russia in Maritime Dispute, Says Russia Steals Gas
Kyiv claims Russia has been siphoning off natural gas from offshore fields it seized from Ukraine in 2014, after forcibly annexing Crimea. The Ukrainian government detailed its claims in a...
Ukraine Cuts Dependence on Russian Nuclear Fuel, Moves Away From Coal
Westinghouse will extend nuclear fuel deliveries to seven of Ukraine’s fifteen nuclear power units to 2021–2025, in line with a contract signed between this firm and Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear power...
A Year in Review: Ukraine Faced Mixed Fortunes, Missed Opportunities in 2017
Ukraine missed some chances to improve the domestic situation last year, with the fight against corruption not as efficient as Western creditors expected and the economy growing at only a...
Ukraine Has Gas for Upcoming Winter, but Time for Reforms Is Running Out
Ukraine has entered a new heating season with almost 17 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas stored in its underground reservoirs, according to Ukrtransgaz, the gas transportation and storage...
Coal Smuggled From Ukraine’s Occupied Donbas Ends up in Poland
While Ukraine’s power plants are short of fuel, coal from the unrecognized Luhansk “people’s republic,” located in the Moscow-proxy-controlled eastern part of Donbas, has been smuggled to Poland, journalists from...
Ukraine Successfully Places Eurobonds, but May Lose IMF Support
Ukraine has placed 15-year Eurobonds in the amount of $3 billion, President Petro Poroshenko announced on September 18. Poroshenko, who was on a visit to New York at the time...
Modest Restart to Ukrainian Privatization
After a break prompted by war and economic collapse in 2014–2015, Ukraine restarted its privatization campaign in August 2017. The local privatization body, the State Property Fund (SPF), sold only...
Ukraine Moves to Integrate Its Power Grid With European Network
The Ukrainian state operator of power transmission lines, Ukrenergo, signed an agreement on June 28 with the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) to integrate Ukraine’s power...
Naftohaz Ukrainy Hopes for Final Victory Over Gazprom in International Court
The Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce has preliminarily ruled in favor of the Ukrainian state-owned oil and gas firm Naftohaz Ukrainy over Russian Gazprom’s claims regarding its...
Ukraine Hopes to Become Arms Exporter to NATO Countries
Ukraine’s state defense-industry concern Ukroboronprom announced, on May 30, that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) offered to add Ukrainian defense-industry firms to its list...
Ukraine Survives Without Coal From Russia-Controlled Donbas
In spite of a blockade on shipments of anthracite coal from occupied Donbas to Ukrainian thermal power plants (TPPs) since this past winter, the country has thus far avoided blackouts....
Kyiv Stops Trade With Occupied Donbas, Slaps Sanctions on Russian Bank Subsidiaries
President Petro Poroshenko has banned cargo traffic between the areas held by Moscow-backed militants in the Donbas area and slapped sanctions on the Ukrainian subsidiaries of Russian state-owned banks. This...
European Union Poised to Scrap Visa Requirements for Ukraine
Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union (a.k.a. the Council) struck an informal deal, on February 28, for Ukrainian citizens to travel visa free throughout...
Railway Blockade Wreaks Havoc on Economy of Ukraine’s Donbas
In late January, groups of self-identified veterans and several controversial Ukrainian people’s deputies began blocking railways linking the territory of Donbas (provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk) controlled by Moscow-backed militants...
Ukrainian President Poroshenko to Finally Close His Confectionery in Russia
The Roshen confectionery plant in the Russian city of Lipetsk will close in April for political and economic reasons, Roshen’s press service has announced. Production in Lipetsk has shrunk threefold...
Strategic Assessment: Ukraine Faces New Challenges After War Shock
The following political landscape piece is a part of Eurasia Daily Monitor’s special quarterly series of strategic assessments of developments across Eurasia. These pieces examine recent important developments and trends...
Ukrainian Government Moves Ahead With Some Important Energy Reforms, Stumbles on Others
Ukraine has approved reforms aimed at changing domestic electricity market rules, a step that is essential for curbing corruption in the power sector. This complements the natural gas pricing reforms...
Ukrainian Aircraft Manufacturer Antonov Diversifies Away from Russia
Antonov, Ukraine’s only designer and manufacturer of aircraft, has severed all ties with Russia, which had been its main market and partner for decades (Ukrayinska Pravda, September 10). This was...
Ukraine Fears Political Consequences of Brexit Vote
While the global media is busy discussing mainly the economic consequences of the Brexit vote, Ukraine is wary of the political ones. On the one hand, the significance of the...
Ukraine’s New Government Expected to Continue Reforms
On April 14, Ukraine’s parliament replaced the cabinet of unpopular Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk with one headed by Volodymyr Hroysman, who had served as parliament speaker since November 2014. A...
Ukraine Faces Early Election if No One Is Found to Replace Prime Minister Yatsenyuk
On the sidelines of the March 31–April 1 nuclear security summit, in Washington, DC, the United States’ President Barack Obama made it clear to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that the...
Ukrainian Media Speculate That Akhmetov, Boyko May Head Rebel-Occupied Provinces
Two years since Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Moscow’s initiation of the war in Donbas, the peace process in Ukraine is at a standstill. Moreover, there are fears that after...
Ukraine, Turkey May Forge Anti-Russian Alliance in Black Sea
Russia, a common enemy since recently, has prompted Turkey and Ukraine, the big neighbors across the Black Sea, to step up political, economic and military ties. Bilateral contacts have been...
Ukraine Cuts Russian Gas Imports to a Minimum
Ukrainian gas consumption fell significantly last year, as GDP declined by more than 10 percent, and the output of the domestic industry in particular, which is heavily depends on natural...
Crimea’s Annexation by Russia Returns to Kyiv’s International Agenda
Up to now, the shaky ceasefire in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region has mostly continued to hold (see EDM, January 21). And thus, the Crimean peninsula, which was illegally annexed by...
Trade War With Russia Prompts Ukraine to Look for New Markets, Transit Routes
Moscow is openly unhappy with the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, which came into effect starting on January 1, 2016. Consequently,...
Ukraine Stops Power Supply to Russian-Annexed Crimea
Shortly before its residents rang in the New Year, the Russian-annexed peninsula of Crimea again found itself entirely without Ukrainian electricity. As in November, this was caused by unidentified saboteurs...
Biden Issues Warning to Oligarchs as Corruption Accusations Fly in Ukraine
Now may be the last chance to stop corruption from eroding the foundations of the Ukrainian state, the United States’ Vice President Joe Biden told local politicians during his visit...
Ukraine’s Naftohaz to Sue Russia Over Crimean Assets
The Ukrainian national oil and gas company, Naftohaz Ukrainy, plans to sue Russia over the assets lost in Crimea following the peninsula’s annexation by Russia last year, Naftohaz CEO Andry...
Ukraine’s Local Polls, Marred by Irregularities in Big Cities, Show East-West Split Remains
The ruling coalition won most local elections across Ukraine on October 25, according to preliminary figures. Results from the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) are expected next week, but it is...
Ukraine to Resume Gas Purchases From Russia This Fall
On September 25, Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission (EC), which has been acting as a mediator in the energy talks between Moscow and Kyiv, agreed on new terms for...
Ukraine Introduces Sanctions Against Russian Citizens, Companies
On September 16, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree introducing sanctions against 105 firms and 388 individuals, mainly from Russia, for supporting the annexation of Crimea and the war...
Ukraine’s Pro-Government Parties Join Forces Ahead of Local Elections
The parties of President Petro Poroshenko, Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klichko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk have joined forces ahead of the local elections scheduled for October 25. This is in...
Ukraine Runs Out of Coal, May Run Out of Gas
Ukraine’s government has failed to properly adapt to the reality of Russia’s energy blockade. Just like at this time last year, Ukraine’s power plants are currently short of coal, ahead...
Right Sector Challenges Kyiv in Western Ukraine
Three people were killed and at least 13 wounded in the western Ukrainian town of Mukacheve (Mukachevo), on July 11, as members of the nationalist paramilitary group Right Sector (RS)...
Ukraine, Private Creditors Take a Step Toward Debt Solution
Ukraine has taken one step back from looming default as an agreement was reached to start direct talks with Kyiv’s biggest private creditors. This is despite a setback with Russia,...
Ukrainian President Replaces Governor of War-Torn Donetsk Province
On June 11, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko fired General Oleksandr Kikhtenko as governor of Donetsk province, roughly half of which is controlled by Moscow-backed militants. Like his predecessor, local steel...
Ukraine Fails to Make Shale Gas Breakthrough
Ukraine’s hopes to cut its dependence on gas imports from Russia through shale gas development have been dashed. The two multinationals that won government tenders to develop non-traditional gas deposits...
Russia’s Refusal to Restructure Debt Hinders Assistance Plan for Ukraine
Ukraine has to generate $15.3 billion over four years with the help of a debt restructuring plan agreed, last March, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF, which approved...
Security Service Suspects Moscow Behind Explosions Shaking Ukrainian Cities
Although, for now, the ceasefire agreements reached in February 2015 appear to be mostly holding in eastern Ukraine, nationwide feelings of anxiety and stress persist. This is not only due...
Anti-Corruption Tide Sweeping Across Ukraine
As the fragile truce in eastern Ukraine has provided Kyiv with a respite from war, the Ukrainian authorities have begun to purge their own ranks. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk,...
Ukraine to Negotiate New Contract With Gazprom
On March 20, Ukraine, the European Union and Russia plan to negotiate Gazprom’s natural gas deliveries to Ukraine after March 31, when the “winter package,” which was agreed upon at...
Will the West Bail out Ukraine?
The war in Ukraine’s eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk did not stop when 2014 came to a close. Therefore, the $27 billion two-year assistance package, promised to Ukraine by...
Ukraine Turns to Russia in Energy Crisis
Weakened by a war with Russia-backed militants, Ukraine has been living through an energy crisis of proportions unseen since the 1990s. Blackouts began across the country this past fall due...
Ukraine to Develop Defense Industry Without Russia
The annexation of Crimea and the hybrid war with Russia that ensued have changed the Ukrainian government’s attitude toward the domestic military industry. Consequently, Ukraine’s arms production sector is likely...
Ukrainian President to Form ‘Pro-European Coalition’
The parties of President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk won an early parliamentary election on October 26 and have started talks on forming a new governing coalition. As...
President Poroshenko’s Party Sailing to Victory in Ukrainian Parliament Election
With several days remaining until the polls open in Ukraine on October 26, it is clear that President Petro Poroshenko’s party will win the early parliamentary election hands down. Opinion...
Ukraine Not Ready for Winter Without Russian Gas
Russia has been threating those European states that have continued to deliver natural gas to Ukraine after Russia has cut its own supplies to the vulnerable Eastern European country. More...
Ukrainian Economy in Dire Straits, Being Destroyed by War
If turmoil in Donbas, Ukraine’s industrial heartland comprising the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, continues, next year will be the third year without economic growth for the country. This is...
Ukraine May Harm Itself by Slapping Sanctions on Russia
On September 10, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed into law a bill on sanctions against Russia (president.gov.ua, September 10). The law was published in official newspapers on September 11, which...
Ukrainian Ruling Coalition Breaks up, Early Elections Loom
The majority coalition in Ukraine’s unicameral parliament has formally dissolved. This should make it possible for President Petro Poroshenko, who was himself elected (on May 25) in early elections, to...
Ukraine’s Banking Sector in Dire Straits as War Continues
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has decided to liquidate two large domestic banks. On June 11, the NBU said it would liquidate Brokbiznesbank (bank.gov.ua, June 11), and on June...
IMF Approves $17 Billion Loan for Ukraine
On April 30, the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a new $17 billion loan for Ukraine, which will be disbursed over two years. Ukraine received the first...
Early Presidential Election Campaign Starts in Ukraine
On April 4, the Ukrainian Central Electoral Commission completed the registration of candidates for the country’s snap presidential election. It had been scheduled for May 25 by parliament in February,...
Ukraine Readies to Resume Buying EU Gas
Ukraine’s newly appointed energy minister, Yury Prodan, is scheduled to discuss in Brussels on March 19 the resumption of natural gas imports from the European Union, as well as the...
Controversial Appointments Made in Ukraine
After impeaching the fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych on February 22, the new authorities in Kyiv have proceeded to form a new government. The first appointments show that this will be...
Ukraine’s Ruling Party Faces Defections
The Ukrainian authorities and the mainstream opposition leaders signed a deal today (February 21) in Kyiv to settle the political crisis continuing since November. They agreed to undertake constitutional reform,...
Controversial Year for Ukraine: President Yanukovych Makes U-turn to Avoid Default
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych made a sensational U-turn last year, choosing Russian economic assistance over an association and free-trade deal with the European Union. The decision, which triggered the most...
Anti-Government Protests Unite Ukrainian Opposition
Ukrainian opposition leaders have been showing unprecedented unity since the start of the anti-government protests almost two weeks ago. Initially, it seemed as if the protests against the government’s refusal...
Failure to Sign Association Agreement with EU Triggers Violence in Ukrainian Capital
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign an association and free-trade agreement with the European Union at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius on November 29. He blamed this on...
Time Runs out for Ukraine to Free Tymoshenko
Ukraine’s parliament has made two steps towards the signing of an association and free trade agreement with the European Union, scheduled for November 28–29 in Vilnius. On November 8, it...
Kazakhstan and Belarus Host High-Level Ukrainian Officials
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara has visited Kazakhstan and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov went to Belarus earlier this month to assure Russia’s Customs Union partners that Ukraine’s plans to sign...
Boxing Champion Likely to Challenge Incumbent in 2015 Ukrainian Presidential Election
The world heavyweight boxing champion, Vitaly Klichko, may become the strongest challenger to the incumbent President Viktor Yanukovych in the presidential election scheduled for early 2015, recent opinion polls show....
Ukraine Seeks Both Association Deal with EU and Observer Status in Customs Union
Ukraine has been moving closer to both an association and free trade deal with the European Union, as well as observer status in the Russian-led Customs Union of Russia, Belarus...
EU, Ukraine Warm to Each Other after Former Minister’s Release from Prison
The European Union has visibly warmed to Ukraine after President Viktor Yanukovych freed from prison the former Interior Minister Yury Lutsenko, a victim of selective justice. Judging by recent statements...
Time Running out for Ukraine to Meet EU’s Association Criteria
Both the European Union and Ukraine will lose if an association agreement is not signed this year, but European politicians would rather have Ukraine bear the responsibility for such a...
Russia, Ukraine Reportedly Close to Agreement on Black Sea Fleet Movements
Russia and Ukraine are close to reaching an agreement on the clearance of Black Sea Fleet (BSF) vessel movements outside their bases, the Ukrainian website zn.ua reported on March 2,...
Ukraine Rejects Russia’s $7 Billion Claim for Unused Gas
Ukraine has rejected Russia’s demand that it pay a fine for taking less Russian gas from pipelines last year than stipulated by contracts. Kyiv’s position is that the contracts, which...
Ukraine Signs Agreement to Extract Gas Jointly with Shell
Shell will extract unconventional gas in Ukraine according to an agreement signed with Ukraine last week. This will be Ukraine’s first big project with a large multinational company in the...
Will Ukraine and Its Friends Learn Lessons from the Disappointing 2012?
The year 2012 was a disappointing one for Ukraine. In the field of foreign policy, Kyiv failed to either convince the European Union to sign an association and free trade...
Scandal Mars Launch of Ukrainian LNG Terminal Project
Ukraine has started construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal designed to process 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per annum out of some 55 bcm the country...
Ukraine Starts to Import Gas from Europe, Cuts Imports from Russia
As Russia refuses to cut gas prices for Ukraine and proceeds with its South Stream pipeline project—aimed at diminishing Gazprom’s dependence on Ukrainian gas pipelines (see EDM, November 16)—Ukraine has...
Violations, Strong Showing of Radicals Spoil Ukrainian Election
The parliamentary election on October 28 disillusioned those who hoped for progress in Ukraine after the botched election to the regional and municipal councils in 2010. Like two years ago,...
Klichko Refuses to Sign Coalition Accord with Tymoshenko’s Party
Ukraine’s two most popular opposition forces, Punch (UDAR) and Fatherland, have had a serious quarrel ahead of the October 28 parliamentary election. First, the two parties failed to agree which...
West Fears Ukrainian Election Will Not Be Democratic
Ukraine will be at a crossroads after the parliamentary election scheduled for October 28. There are signs that this election will not be as free and fair as the previous...
Black Banners and White Front Pages Against Libel Laws in Ukraine
An intention by the ruling Party of Regions (PRU) to toughen up libel laws has triggered protests from local journalists. Many suspect that the proposed amendments could be used to...
Kyiv Claims US Senate Resolution on Tymoshenko Not Serious
A US Senate resolution calling for visa sanctions against Ukrainian officials for jailing former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko last October has caused great controversy in Kyiv. Tymoshenko’s opposition party, Fatherland,...
Ukraine to Keep Cutting Russian Gas Import in 2013
Ukraine has indicated that a cut in Russian natural gas purchases will be deeper next year than expected thus far, to 24.5 billion cubic meters (bcm). This means that Ukrainian...
Ukrainian Officials Deny Lying About Botched Arms Contract with Iraq
Zerkalo Nedeli, an influential Ukrainian weekly, has accused the country’s Defense Minister Dmytro Salamatin of misinforming President Viktor Yanukovych over a contract to deliver armored personnel carriers to Iraq. Salamatin...
Ruling Party, Opposition Run Neck and Neck in Ukrainian Election Race
A parliamentary election campaign has been officially under way in Ukraine since July 30. The ruling Party of Regions (PRU) will compete for victory with the united opposition formed by...
Ukraine Increasingly Relies on Chinese Finances
China has preliminarily agreed to lend more than $7 billion to Ukraine. In addition, an agreement has been signed between the two countries’ central banks on a currency swap worth...
Ukraine Insists on Russian Gas Import Cuts
After failing to persuade Russia to change the current gas contract, Ukraine is threatening to break it. The state-owned oil and gas company Naftohaz Ukrainy will cut Russian gas imports...
Ukraine Reveals Ambitious Plans to Cut Dependence on Russian Gas
Ukraine’s Energy Ministry has come up with amendments to the National Energy Strategy, according to which gas imports will decline from 40 billion cubic meters (bcm) last year to as...
CLOUDS GATHER OVER YUSHCHENKO’S INTERIOR MINISTER
The team of Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has mounted an offensive against Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, one of a handful of ministers loyal to President Viktor Yushchenko. Lutsenko spearheaded...
YUSHCHENKO LOSING HIS PARTY
The People’s Union-Our Ukraine (NSNU) political party has ignored President Viktor Yushchenko’s call for change. The second stage of the NSNU’s third congress on November 11 failed to replace the...
EX-GOVERNOR BACK HOME – A HOT POTATO FOR UKRAINIAN POLITICIANS
Former Sumy region governor Volodymyr Shcherban has returned to Ukraine from self-imposed exile in the United States. In Ukraine, he is suspected of several crimes, and for those who helped...
WILL UKRAINE JOIN WTO ANY TIME SOON?
Ukraine is an inch from joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), which President Viktor Yushchenko has proclaimed to be his strategic goal. This feat would be the only legacy of...
OUR UKRAINE QUITS CABINET — BUT HINTS AT RETURN
The pro-presidential Our Ukraine bloc will be in opposition to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych’s cabinet, Our Ukraine’s formal leader, Roman Bezsmertny, declared in parliament on October 17. He urged the...
YUSHCHENKO PICKS DONETSK MAN FOR SECURITY CHIEF
On October 10 President Viktor Yushchenko appointed one of Ukraine’s most influential businessmen, Vitaly Hayduk, as secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC). Yushchenko had reportedly been about...
YUSHCHENKO’S PARTY CONSIDERS OPPOSITION OPTION
The Our Ukraine bloc of six right-of-center parties, which supports President Viktor Yushchenko, has withdrawn from talks on joining the government coalition with the Party of Regions (PRU), the Socialists,...
YUSHCHENKO, YANUKOVYCH WRESTLE OVER GOVERNORS
As President Viktor Yushchenko struggles to adapt to a situation in which his party controls neither the cabinet nor the parliament -- and the prime minister is not his ally,...
YUSHCHENKO, YANUKOVYCH LOCK HORNS OVER RESPECTIVE POWERS
President Viktor Yushchenko is slowly coming to the realization that he has to co-exist with a disobedient prime minister that he cannot dismiss. This is a consequence of the constitutional...
YANUKOVYCH’S REMARKS ON NATO HEAT UP COALITION DEBATE
President Viktor Yushchenko’s camp has reacted to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych’s September 14 statement to the effect that Ukraine is not ready for a NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) with...
WHAT NEXT FOR THE UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION?
Tables have turned in Ukrainian politics as a result of the March parliamentary election and the ensuing formation of a broad coalition in parliament. There is no longer a strong...
WILL YUSHCHENKO’S PARTY SPLIT?
President Viktor Yushchenko’s camp in parliament, as well as the party whose honorary chairman he is -- People’s Union-Our Ukraine (NSNU) -- may split. Not all of Yushchenko’s supporters have...
YANUKOVYCH DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM CRIMEA’S RADICAL SLAVS
Russian will not become an official language; Ukraine will not be federalized; the state will protect Crimea’s indigenous Muslim population -- Crimean Tatars -- but illegal land grabs made in...
UKRAINE SENDS MIXED SIGNALS
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko’s team is trying to dispel the fears widespread in the West that Ukraine may swerve on its foreign political course after the appointment of Viktor Yanukovych...
YUSHCHENKO, YANUKOVYCH REACH COMPROMISE
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has decided not to disband parliament. Instead, he nominated Viktor Yanukovych, who lost the presidential election to him in December 2004, for prime minister. These were...
YUSHCHENKO’S INITIATIVE REVEALS HURDLES TO UKRAINIAN UNITY
The constitution gives Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko 15 days to endorse the parliamentary majority’s choice for prime minister, and Yushchenko has used this entire interim trying to persuade his rival,...
YUSHCHENKO LAYS OUT HIS CONDITIONS FOR ACCEPTING YANUKOVYCH
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who is reluctant to approve the parliamentary majority’s choice for prime minister -- his 2004 presidential election rival Viktor Yanukovych -- has decided to explain his...
UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT, CABINET IN LIMBO
No cabinet is emerging in Ukraine to replace the outgoing one of Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov. Meanwhile, President Viktor Yushchenko may disband parliament at any time and call new elections....
TABLES TURNED IN UKRAINE
Long-time opponents of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko allied with defectors from his camp to outplay him in a bid to secure control over the government. The Orange coalition, which was...
PARTY OF REGIONS BLOCKS PARLIAMENT
Ukraine still has no new cabinet in place, and the parliament elected in March still has not started work either. On July 4 President Viktor Yushchenko described this situation as...
ORANGE REVOLUTION PARTIES RE-ESTABLISH GOVERNMENT COALITION
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine bloc, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, and the Socialist Party (SPU) have agreed to revive the Orange Revolution government coalition that existed until September 2005,...
YUSHCHENKO’S PARTY CHOOSING COALITION PARTNERS
As the clock ticks down to June 24, when President Viktor Yushchenko may disband the Ukrainian parliament if no group has been able to form a majority there, coalition talks...
END OF ORANGE COALITION LOOMING?
Talks to establish a government coalition between President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, and the Socialists have apparently fallen through. Our Ukraine has acquiesced to Tymoshenko's demand...
PARTY OF REGIONS CONTINUES TO PLAY ON YUSHCHENKO’S WEAKNESSES
The Ukrainian opposition, entrenched in the south and east of the country, continues to score points in its tug-of-war with Kyiv. More councils are raising the status of the Russian...
COALITION TALKS: YUSHCHENKO DECIDES TO STEP IN
President Viktor Yushchenko will strive to carry on as the main powerbroker in Ukraine despite the constitutional reform that came into effect on January 1, 2006. This assertion was probably...
INCONSISTENT LANGUAGE POLICY CREATES PROBLEMS IN UKRAINE
The Party of Regions (PRU), which strengthened its grip on Ukraine's Russophone east and south after the March 26 parliamentary election, continues to probe the government's weaknesses, challenging it on...
REGIONS OF UKRAINE COMES BACK, TAKES UP LANGUAGE ISSUE
Though defeated in the Orange Revolution, regional elites scored a strong performance in Ukraine's March 26 general election, strengthening the position of their main party -- the Party of Regions...
YUSHCHENKO’S TEAM REJECTS TYMOSHENKO’S PRIME MINISTERIAL AMBITION
Yulia Tymoshenko's desire to return to the prime minister's chair has become the main obstacle to restoring the Orange Revolution coalition in order to form a majority in Ukraine's newly...
TYMOSHENKO SET TO OUST NEW MAYOR OF KYIV
Banker Leonid Chernovetsky has managed to secure the legitimacy of his election as Kyiv mayor. On April 10, the Shevchenkivsky district court in Kyiv ruled that there was no proof...
ORANGE REVOLUTION LEADERS DECIDE TO RE-UNITE
After weeks of difficult consultations, the Our Ukraine bloc of President Viktor Yushchenko, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, and the Socialist Party have decided to re-establish their alliance. On April 10,...
MAVERICK BANKER WINS MAYORAL ELECTION IN KYIV
The mayoral election in Kyiv, which was held simultaneously with the national parliamentary elections on March 26, produced a sensation. Leonid Chernovetsky, a maverick nouveau riche whose bid for city...
ELECTION DEFEAT A COLD SHOWER FOR YUSHCHENKO
The Our Ukraine (NU) bloc of President Viktor Yushchenko lost the March 26 parliamentary elections not only to the opposition Party of Regions (PRU) of Viktor Yanukovych, whom Yushchenko defeated...
YUSHCHENKO CHOOSING BETWEEN TYMOSHENKO AND YANUKOVYCH?
Ukraine will abstain from assessing the Belarusian presidential election until after the OSCE delivers its verdict, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said on March 20, one day after Belarusian President Alexander...
UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES CAMPAIGN FOR RUSSIAN LANGUAGE
The Russian language issue has been employed in the run-up to the March 26 Ukrainian parliamentary election probably more actively than in any past poll. Unlike in previous elections, where...
THREE PARTIES TO CONTEST UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
The March 26 parliamentary election in Ukraine will be contested by an unprecedented 45 parties and blocs, but this impressive number is misleading. Opinion polls show that over 30 of...
OUR UKRAINE, PARTY OF REGIONS LOOK FOR COALITION ALLIES, MAY FIND EACH OTHER
Just a year ago, the idea of a union between president-elect Viktor Yushchenko and his arch-rival Viktor Yanukovych, defeated and disgraced by vote-rigging accusations, would have been bizarre. But current...
XENOPHOBES TO CONTEST SEATS IN UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT
Ukraine's parliamentary election campaign is in full swing. In accordance with political reform approved in December 2004 (see EDM, January 3), the election scheduled for March 26 will be contested...
YUSHCHENKO CHALLENGES CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
On January 1, 2006, Ukraine began its transformation from a semi-presidential republic into a parliamentary democracy. The reform is in line with the constitutional amendments that the Verkhovna Rada (parliament)...
TYMOSHENKO COMES UP WITH ELECTION STRATEGY
Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has formed an electoral bloc on the basis of her Fatherland party for next year's parliamentary polls. Tymoshenko apparently believes that her own high...
PARTY OF REGIONS ENLISTS AKHMETOV FOR POLLS
The Party of Regions of Ukraine (PRU) of Viktor Yanukovych, who was Viktor Yushchenko's main opponent in last year's presidential election, has come up with its list for the March...
ORANGE COALITION CRUMBLES AHEAD OF POLLS
The Orange Revolution team that swept Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko into power a year ago enters the 2006 parliamentary election campaign -- officially underway since November 26 -- divided into...
SECURITY COLONEL’S REVELATIONS: A PROVOCATION AGAINST YUSHCHENKO?
Two weeks ago, a retired colonel from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Valentyn Kryzhanivsky, accused SBU chief Ihor Drizhchany of corrupt activities ranging from election rigging to smuggling. The...
ATTEMPT TO PURGE YUSHCHENKO PARTY FAILS
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...
YUSHCHENKO CHANGES PROSECUTORS
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...
LYTVYN’S BLOC – AN UMBRELLA FOR KUCHMA’S PEOPLE?
Ukrainian Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn has decided on the format of his participation in the March 2006 parliamentary polls. The much-advertised mega-bloc between Lytvyn, President Viktor Yushchenko's People's Union-Our Ukraine...
ALLY CLEARED OF CRIMINAL CHARGE – A TRAP FOR YUSHCHENKO?
The Ukrainian Prosecutor-General's Office closed a criminal case against former National Security and Defense Council (NRBO) secretary Petro Poroshenko on October 20. This was the only case launched against a...
WILL U.S. DEPORT FORMER SUMY GOVERNOR TO UKRAINE?
U.S. authorities have detained a prominent representative of Ukraine's old regime, former Sumy Region governor Volodymyr Shcherban, in Florida. Like disgraced former prime minister Pavlo Lazarenko in New York six...
YUSHCHENKO TRIES TO REVERSE HIS RATINGS SLIDE
Last week Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko appealed to the nation in an effort to reverse the dwindling popular trust in his government and to save the parliamentary election campaign for...
WILL NEW PRIME MINISTER MAKE CRIMEA ANY BETTER?
Following recent events in Kyiv, Ukraine's only autonomous republic, Crimea, has dismissed its prime minister. The two events were not directly linked. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko fired Prime Minister Yulia...
UKRAINE’S PRIME MINISTER: QUIET MAN IN, FIERY LADY OUT
In the person of Yuriy Yekhanurov, who Ukraine's parliament approved as new prime minister on September 22, President Viktor Yushchenko has acquired a quiet professional who should run the economy...
DID BEREZOVSKY FINANCE UKRAINE’S ORANGE REVOLUTION?
The legitimacy of Viktor Yushchenko's victory in the Ukrainian presidential election last December has been called into question by reports suggesting that Russian maverick tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who lives in...
UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER DESIGNATE PROMISES STABILITY
Revolutionary passions in Kyiv should give way to pragmatism after the departure of Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was fired on September 8. President Viktor Yushchenko has made it...
YUSHCHENKO WANTS TO ERECT NEW BARRIER FOR RIVALS
Preparations for next spring's parliamentary election have de facto started in Ukraine, as President Viktor Yushchenko came up with a proposal for raising the barrier that parties and blocs of...
UKRAINIAN MEDIA DISCUSS LIFESTYLES OF PRESIDENT’S SON, PRIME MINISTER
The integrity of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has been called into question by a barrage of media reports suggesting that they or their families live...
DONETSK REGIONAL LEADER RELEASED FROM CUSTODY, VISIBLY TAMED
On August 2 the Kyiv Court of Appeals released from custody Donetsk regional council head Borys Kolesnykov. He is one of the two top representatives of the old corrupt elite...
WHAT LIES BEHIND ALLEGED “PLOT” TO KILL TYMOSHENKO?
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has lost a battle in her crusade against the “oligarchs.” The Supreme Economic Court has ruled in favor of former president Leonid Kuchma’s son-in-law, Viktor...
UKRAINIAN POLICE TARGET DONETSK TYCOON
The uncrowned king of the Donbas, Renat Akhmetov, may be in serious trouble. Though Akhmetov has not been formally charged with any crime yet, Kyiv investigators do not conceal that...
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...
YUSHCHENKO’S PARTY PROJECT A FAILURE?
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's dream of unifying the right-of-center political continuum into a mega-party in order to win the 2006 parliamentary elections has failed to materialize. The party's formal head,...
TYMOSHENKO EMBROILED IN DISPUTE BETWEEN TYCOONS
A shadow has been cast on the integrity of Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, as two "oligarchs" vie for control over a lucrative steel business. For the past several weeks...
GONGADZE’S KILLER REPORTEDLY FOUND IN ISRAEL
The investigation into the murder of crusading journalist Heorhiy Gongadze apparently suffered a severe setback last week. Secret information about the whereabouts of General Oleksiy Pukach, whom the Prosecutor-General's Office...
CHAIR SHAKY UNDER UKRAINE’S CHIEF PROSECUTOR
"I will go! I am fed up!" Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Sviatyslav Piskun declared during a call-in at the Fakty newspaper on Friday, June 17. "I think one should discuss things like...
UKRAINIAN CABINET DECIDES TO RE-SELL STEEL MILL
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's cabinet has decided to re-privatize Ukraine's largest steelworks, Kryvorizhstal, ending months of uncertainty. The government of President Leonid Kuchma sold 93% of Kryvorizhstal's shares to...
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...
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,...
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;...
UKRAINIAN VICTORY DAY SEES NO RECONCILIATION WITH INSURGENT ARMY VETERANS
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has failed to reconcile Red Army veterans with former fighters of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) on the 60th anniversary of the end of World War...
WILL TYMOSHENKO AND YUSHCHENKO ENTER ELECTIONS TOGETHER?
According to recent polls, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has greatly benefited from the Orange Revolution and the ensuing popular optimism. She and her Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc are very popular...
UKRAINE STRENGTHENS CURRENCY, RUSSIAN OIL COMPANIES BENEFIT MOST
On April 23 Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko claimed a victory over Russian oil companies, saying they had agreed to her cabinet's demands to lower gasoline prices in Ukraine. But...
WILL YANUKOVYCH UNIFY UKRAINE’S NEW OPPOSITION?
Former Ukrainian prime minister Viktor Yanukovych has taken his first steps to unify the opposition for the first time since he lost the presidential election to Viktor Yushchenko last December....
YUSHCHENKO OPPONENT IMPRISONED, SUSPECTED OF EXTORTION
On April 6 the Ukrainian police, for the first time since the Orange Revolution, detained a top representative of the old Kuchma regime. Donetsk Region Council Chairman Borys Kolesnykov, suspected...
BEREZOVSKY THREATENS TO OPEN PANDORA’S BOX CREATED BY FUGITIVE UKRAINIAN BODYGUARD
Russian emigre tycoon Boris Berezovsky claims that he has the tape recordings made by Mykola Melnychenko, the fugitive former bodyguard of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, in Kuchma's office in...
UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT CONTINUES SHIFT TOWARD YUSHCHENKO
As Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko prepares to visit Washington, DC next week, his support in the Ukrainian parliament grows even stronger. The camp that supported the Kuchma regime has shrunk,...
SHOULD UKRAINIAN NATIONALISTS MERGE WITH NEW PARTY OF POWER?
Ukraine's two strongest nationalist parties have refused to merge with President Viktor Yushchenko's new People's Union Our Ukraine party (NSNY). Addressing the party's founding congress on March 4, Yushchenko made...
FORMER MINISTER’S DEATH HAMPERS INVESTIGATION INTO GONGADZE MURDER
Former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko, who many observers believe had masterminded journalist Heorhiy Gongadze's disappearance in 2000, was found dead in his country house near Kyiv on March 4....
WILL SPEAKER LYTVYN GO INTO OPPOSITION?
Parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn's People's Party of Ukraine (PPU), formerly the Agrarian Party, may fill the niche of the non-Communist opposition to the new authorities ahead of the spring 2006...
UKRAINIAN JUSTICE MINISTER THREATENS TO QUIT OVER OIL RE-EXPORT BAN
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's radicalism and a conflict of interest have nearly cost Justice Minister Roman Zvarych his position just two weeks after his appointment. The cabinet-imposed ban on...
YUSHCHENKO MOVES TO CLEAN UP DONETSK, ENDING ITS COZY RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GOVERNMENT
On February 10 Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko visited the heavily industrialized and densely populated Donetsk region, whose representative, Viktor Yanukovych, finished a disputed second in the 2004 presidential election. Yushchenko...
UKRAINE HAS NEW CABINET
On February 4 Ukraine's parliament approved President Viktor Yushchenko's choice for prime minister, his populist ally Yulia Tymoshenko. She mustered 375 "yes" votes in the 450-seat body, beating the record...
TYMOSHENKO STEAMS ONWARD TO PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE
Ukraine's new president, Viktor Yushchenko, nominated his populist ally, Yulia Tymoshenko, for prime minister on January 24 (see EDM, January 26) and submitted her candidacy to parliament on January 28....
WHO STANDS IN OPPOSITION TO YUSHCHENKO?
Yesterday, January 23, opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko was sworn in as president of Ukraine. The tables have been turned in Kyiv, and those who ruled yesterday are coming to grips...
WILL YUSHCHENKO’S COALITION COLLAPSE?
While Ukraine 's president-elect Viktor Yushchenko deliberates about whom to choose for prime minister (see EDM, January 10), differences within his motley team are threatening to break it up from...
WHO WILL REPLACE YANUKOVYCH?
Viktor Yushchenko, who was elected Ukraine's president on December 26, has promised to come up with a candidate for prime minister this week. The candidate will need to be approved...
WAS YUSHCHENKO POISONED?
Ahead of the December 26 repeat presidential runoff, which will again pit opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko against Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, debate has resumed over Yushchenko's mysterious illness. On December...
UKRAINE WITHOUT A CABINET
Last week Ukrainian opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko won a major victory. The opposition achieved one of its main goals -- the invalidation of the November 21 runoff -- and...
WILL TYHYPKO REPLACE YANUKOVYCH?
As opposition protests mount, Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's chances of proving that the presidential elections were not rigged in his favor get slimmer. Now there are signs that the...
UKRAINIAN TELEVISION STOPS LYING
The information blockade around opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has broken. Channel 5, which is controlled by Yushchenko's aide Petro Poroshenko, is no longer the only television channel to give air...
TRICKERY MARS UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL RUNOFF
Polls closed in the decisive presidential election runoff yesterday (November 21) between Viktor Yushchenko, the candidate of the center-right coalition of market liberals and nationalists, and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych,...
YANUKOVYCH HAS MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE ON HIS SIDE
Ahead of the November 21 presidential runoff between Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, the pro-Russian Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOCMP) has strongly...
UKRAINE: MIXED REACTIONS TO BUSH’S RE-ELECTION
The news of George W. Bush's re-election has drawn scant comment from Ukrainian policymakers. This is not surprising, given the fact that the U.S. elections took place just two days...
UKRAINIAN TV JOURNALISTS PROTEST CENSORSHIP
Attempts by President Leonid Kuchma's administration to silence dissenting opinions on television ran into resistance at a decisive moment in the presidential election campaign. Journalists from most of Ukraine's nation-wide...
WAR IN IRAQ WORKS TO KUCHMA’S BENEFIT
By Oleg Varfolomeyev Kyiv has used the war in Iraq to mend relations with the United States, which seemed to be irreversibly spoilt last year when Washington accused President Leonid...
KUCHMA’S MEN LINE UP FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
By Oleg Varfolomeyev The October 2004 election will end the controversial ten year rule of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. The veteran leader of this nation of 48 million people is...
THE DONETSK TEAM IN KYIV: SUCCESS STORY OR STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL?
By Oleg Varfolomeyev To stay afloat, the Ukrainian cabinet chaired by former Donetsk governor Viktor Yanukovych must constantly keep an eye on Viktor Medvedchuk, the ambitious head of the presidential...
KUCHMA’S REFORM DRAFT: A TRAP FOR THE OPPOSITION?
By Oleg Varfolomeyev Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has come up with a plan seemingly designed to reduce the powers of the president and to boost those of the parliament. But...
YUSHCHENKO’S RUN: AN UPHILL STRUGGLE
By Oleg Varfolomeyev The favorite in Ukraine's next presidential election, slated for October 2004, is not likely to change between now and then. Viktor Yushchenko, who served as Central Bank...
MUZZLED MEDIA IN UKRAINE
By Oleg Varfolomeyev Ukrainian media are losing the fight for freedom of expression as self-censorship, government intrusion into editorial policy, and intimidation of dissenting media and individual journalists reach a...
A REGIONAL BOSS FOR UKRAINE’S CABINET
By Oleg Varfolomeyev Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has reshuffled his government. Accused by Washington of having sold early-warning radars to Iraq, haunted by the tape scandal, snubbed by Western leaders...
A CORNERED KUCHMA CASTIGATES AMERICA
By Oleg Varfolomeyev On November 16 Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma dismissed his prime minister, Anatoly Kinakh, replacing him with Donetsk Governor Viktor Yanukovich. Yanukovich's nomination now goes to the fractious...
KUCHMA VS YUSHCHENKO: TWO GENERATIONS VYING FOR POWER IN UKRAINE
By Oleg Varfolomeyev Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's second and last term--a stint of good intentions and mediocre results--is coming to an end. Ironically, in the Western mind Kuchma's Ukraine stands...
IS UKRAINE READY TO JOIN NATO?
By Oleg Varfolomeyev After years of waffling between allegiance to Russia and the West, Ukraine has signaled its readiness to join NATO. Ukraine's Security Council secretary, Yevhen Marchuk, announced on...
UKRAINE’S “EUROPEAN DREAM”
By Oleg Varfolomeyev Ukraine was instrumental in breaking up the Soviet Union back in 1991, when its parliament proclaimed independence immediately after the abortive August coup in Moscow. Although it...
YEVHEN MARCHUK: UKRAINE’S MYSTERIOUS CANDIDATE.
By Oleg Varfolomeyev Many observers in Ukraine see Yevhen Marchuk, who spent over thirty years climbing up the career ladder in the security services and one year as prime minister,...