Taras Kuzio
Taras Kuzio is a professor of political science at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy and an associate research fellow at the London-based think tank, the Henry Jackson Society. He is also the winner of the 2022 Peterson Literary Prize for Russian Nationalism and the Russian-Ukrainian War: Autocracy-Orthodoxy-
Contact Taras Kuzio
Articles by Taras Kuzio
Nine Things Western Analysts Got Wrong About Russia and Its Invasion of Ukraine
Executive Summary: Many analysts in the West have misunderstood the conflict in Ukraine, leading to the mishandling of aid to Ukraine. Many Western analysts overlooked the historical myth-making that the...
Iranian-Russian Alliance Deepens Amid Global Conflicts
Executive Summary: Iran and Russia have steadily strengthened their bilateral cooperation over the past couple of years, primarily based on the destruction of common adversaries, a shared ideological alignment, and...
Xenophobia and Desire for Monopoly of Power Dominate Kyiv’s New Approach to Crimea
When writing about xenophobia and racism, Western scholarly and media writing about Ukraine inevitably focuses on Western Ukraine and the rise of the Svoboda nationalist party. But in fact, Council...
Ukraine’s Energy Multi-Vectorism: Seeking Energy Independence with the West While Leasing Pipelines to Russia
Ukraine’s energy sector mirrors the country’s pursuit of a multi-vector foreign policy. Kyiv believes it can extract benefits from East and West without giving up its national sovereignty. Since 2010,...
Ukraine Continues to Play with the Rules, Not by the Rules
In October 2002, President Leonid Kuchma visited Warsaw where North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Javier Solana told him, “Sometimes Ukraine seems to be playing with, not by, the...
Dmytro Firtash Launches New Opaque Gas Intermediary
For 20 out of the 22 years of Ukraine’s independence (with the exception of the period 2009–2010), the country’s domestic energy market has been dominated by opaque gas intermediaries. Gazprom’s...
Murder and Selective Use of Justice in Ukraine (Part Two)
One month ago (February 14), Kyiv’s Pechersky District Court launched investigatory proceedings into the 1996 murder of then Ukraine’s wealthiest oligarch, Yevhen Shcherban. Yet, as investigative journalist Tetyana Chornovil has...
Murder and Selective Use of Justice in Ukraine (Part One)
On February 25, President Viktor Yanukovych arrived to a frosty reception in Brussels for a European Union–Ukraine summit (Kyiv Post, February 25), less than two weeks after Kyiv’s Pechersky District...
Ukraine’s Security Forces: Bloated, Incompetent and Still Neo-Soviet
More than 20 years after independence, Ukraine’s security forces are over-manned, incompetent and largely remain neo-Soviet in their operating culture. On January 18, the prosecutor’s office accused former Prime Minister...
Ukraine Sliding From Oligarchy to Cronyism
The recent appointment of a second government led by Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov confirms Ukraine’s evolution from an oligarchy to a cronyist state whereby positions of power are increasingly being...
Ukraine’s Arms to Syria Set to Grow, While Ukrainian Nationals Are Targeted by Anti-Assad Forces
A meeting in Morocco on December 12 by The Friends of Syria representing 100 countries recognized the opposition National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Force as the sole representative...
Ukraine Facing Economic and Financial Instability
Political instability in post-election Ukraine may soon be be compounded by economic and financial instability that has the potential for social unrest. The World Bank calculates that Ukraine has the...
Berkut Riot Police Used to Falsify Ukrainian Parliamentary Elections
The Ministry of Interior’s Berkut riot police has never intervened in Ukrainian elections to the same degree as during the October 28 parliamentary elections. Berkut assisted regional governors in securing...
UDAR – Our Ukraine Pragmatists in a Radical Opposition Era
Six exit polls at the closing of the October 28 parliamentary election gave the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms (UDAR), led by boxing champion Vitaliy Klychko, between 13–15 percent of...
Eight Reasons Why Ukraine’s Party of Regions Will Win the 2012 Elections
Opinion polls have shown a gradual growth of support for the Party of Regions ahead of the October 28 parliamentary elections, which will give them a plurality in the legislature....
Ukraine Is Falling Behind Moldova, Georgia and Armenia in European Integration
In the European Union’s second Eastern Partnership Integration Index (EPII) report, trends evident already last year are continuing (https://eap-index.eu/). Ukraine is moving “away from its one-time status as the ENP...
Racism and Xenophobia in Ukraine During Euro 2012
Ukraine, which with Poland co-hosts the Euro 2012 football championship from June 8-July 1, has been lambasted for corruption and racism. Widespread reports have focused on Ukraine spending more than...
Ukraine’s Opposition Program Requires Another Revolution
Ukraine’s united opposition, Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchina (Fatherland) party and Arseniy Yatseniuk’s Front Zmin (Front for Change), held a congress on May 12 on the symbolic St. Sophia’s Cathedral Square in...
Growing Ukrainian-Russian Arms Export Cooperation
Although President Viktor Yanukovych publicly portrays his foreign policy as multi-vector – balancing between Russia and the West – in reality, there has been a substantial shift in Ukraine’s orientation...
Jamestown Analyst Taras Kuzio Interviewed by CNN
Jamestown Foundation analyst Taras Kuzio was interviewed by CNN on May 10, 2012 about the institutional reform failures of the Orange Revolution.
Russia’s Growing Influence in Ukraine: Economics and Energy
The Ukrainian government is negotiating the issue of ruble-denominated government bonds, making the country no longer reliant on IMF assistance. Ukraine’s 2010 IMF assistance package of $15.6 billion was suspended...
Ukraine, Russia and Georgia: Chameleon Politicians and Arms Exports
In February 2012, Giorgi Baramidze, Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia and State Secretary for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, revealed that Ukraine is continuing to supply weapons to Georgia. “Moscow’s position...
Dialogue of the Deaf: Ukraine and the EU Talk Past Each Other
On March 20, the Ukrainian parliament voted to accept a report by its Temporary Investigative Commission that looked into the January 2009 gas contract signed by Prime Ministers Yulia Tymoshenko...
Russia Takes Control of Ukraine’s Security Forces
The Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza (March 1) (https://wyborcza.pl/1,75248,11261360,Tajna_historia_przejmowania_Ukrainy_przez_Rosje.html) provided details of Russia’s growing grip over Ukraine’s security forces. According to Gazeta Wyborcza, then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin only dropped...
Ukraine Prepares for Elections with Putinization of Security Forces and Repression of Opposition
On February 24 on three Ukrainian television channels, President Viktor Yanukovych said, “There is a law and it should be observed, I believe. And a fight within the law is...
Viktor Yanukovych Two Years on: Why Many Got Him Wrong
February 25 will mark the second anniversary of Viktor Yanukovych’s election, during which attitudes toward him and his administration have hardened. But this was not always the case, and views...
Yanukovych Provides a Krysha for Organized Crime
The Party of Regions has acted as an insurance agency and protection racket for former state officials accused of abuse of office by giving them parliamentary seats and immunity from...
Calls for Visa Black List and Sanctions on Ukraine Grow Louder
On the second anniversary of Viktor Yanukovych’s election as Ukraine’s fourth president, threats of visa black lists, sanctions and international sanctions by the European Union and the US are growing...
Yanukovych Awaits a Third Term or a Third Sentence
Front for Change party leader, Arseniy Yatseniuk, said in an interview in Fokus magazine “In effect in the country there is a two party system. The post-Soviet system confronts the...
The “Blackmail State” Re-Emerges in Ukraine
Since Viktor Yanukovych’s election victory, four strategies have been adopted against the opposition that in particular targets Yulia Tymoshenko and her eponymous bloc (BYuT). BYuT became the dominant national democratic...
Will 2012 Bring Popular Revolt to Ukraine?
Surveys and polls show there is widespread popular anger, frustration and contempt for the Viktor Yanukovych administration that has managed to anger many different groups in every Ukrainian region. Imprisoned...
Ukraine’s International Isolation Grows
The EU’s refusal to initial the Association Agreement (which includes a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement) at the December 19, 2011, EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv was a geopolitical setback....
Ukraine and Georgia Approach Justice In Eurasian and European Ways
Corruption and corporate raiding are growing at an alarming rate in Ukraine since Viktor Yanukovych came to power. The country dropped 18 places this year in Transparency International’s annual rankings,...
Ukraine Moves to State Capitalism and “Militocracy”
On November 8, Segodnya ran the headline: “Within the authorities there is a ‘silent coup’ taking place.” Segodnya was referring to the consolidation of “The Family” loyal to President Viktor...
Paranoia Grows In the Yanukovych Regime
On November 2, President Viktor Yanukovych made a startling warning at an enlarged government meeting. He said “Law enforcement organs have told me there are purchases of weapons in preparation...
Yulia Tymoshenko’s Imprisonment: The Yushchenko Factor
Former President Viktor Yushchenko is an important, but underestimated, aspect of the sentencing of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko to seven years imprisonment and a three year ban from government work....
Why Yulia Tymoshenko Will Remain Imprisoned
Western policymakers and Ukrainian experts are perplexed as to why President Viktor Yanukovych agreed to the court quickly sentencing Yulia Tymoshenko on October 11 to a seven year sentence, a...
Can Ukraine Hold Free Elections Next Year?
The October 11 sentencing of Yulia Tymoshenko to seven years imprisonment makes it impossible to hold free elections in one year’s time on October 31, 2012. The EU has already...
Surreal Eastern Partnership Summit: EU Gives Ukraine Last Red Card
The September 29-30, Eastern Partnership summit in Warsaw was another typically EU empty diplomatic soirée. The Viktor Yanukovych administration has ignored Western criticism of political repression and the EU has...
Poor Ukrainian-Russian Ties Reflect Yanukovych-Putin Relationship
Ukraine’s poor relations with Russia are nothing new as they also existed under the “pro-Russian” Leonid Kuchma. Nevertheless, Kuchma had to deal with the more democratic Russian President Boris Yeltsin,...
Ukrainian Multi-Vectorism: Satisfying Europe While Craving a Managed Democracy
Ukraine’s next parliamentary election will take place in 2012. During this period the Viktor Yanukovych administration will attempt a precarious balancing act to satisfy the West. At the same time,...
EU Sends Confusing Signals On Ukraine and Belarus
The EU is sending contradictory signals toward its Eastern Neighborhood, which indicates it has not learnt its lessons from dealing with Belarus. The EU continues to talk tough about not...
Psychiatric Abuse For Political Purposes Returns to Ukraine
The Soviet abuse of psychiatry for political purposes isolated thousands of political and religious prisoners in psychiatric hospitals. Some of these practices continued in post-Soviet countries such as Russia and...
Tymoshenko Arrested, Ukrainian Foreign Policy Moves Toward a Crisis
The arrest of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko on August 5 derails Ukraine’s integration into Europe at the same time as its relations with Russia are poor (video of arrest here:...
The West Treats Ukraine Differently to Belarus
On June 28, an open letter to President Barack Obama was signed by nineteen prominent experts that called for “additional measures” to visa denials and economic sanctions with the aim...
Yulia Tymoshenko Goes On Trial A Day Before Constitution Day
Opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko’s trial began on June 27, a day before Ukraine celebrated constitution day, an irony that has not bypassed Ukrainians. In a new Razumkov Center for Economic...
Russia Plans to Strengthen the Black Sea Fleet
The April 2010 extension of the Black Sea Fleet (BSF) treaty base in Sevastopol until 2042 or 2047 has three ramifications for Ukraine’s democracy, its relations with Russia, NATO and...
***Note to our readers: Retraction of statement in November 9, 2010 EDM article by Taras Kuzio. Click to read full retraction.
Note to our readers: In an article by Taras Kuzio in EDM on November 9 (“Yanukovych and Oligarchs: a Short or Long-Term Relationship?”) we reported on an alleged incident during...
The Crimea: Europe’s Next Flashpoint?
Russia has always had a difficult time reconciling itself to accepting Ukraine as an independent state and a country that is outside its sphere of influence. Russia has an even...
Bomb Explosions Hit Kirovograd Ahead of Yanukovych Visit
In the early hours of October 22, three bomb explosions occurred in the central Ukrainian city of Kirovograd, an opposition stronghold. President, Viktor Yanukovych, visited the city later that morning....
Ukraine’s Foreign and Security Policy Controlled by Russia
President Viktor Yanukovych’s foreign and security policy is controlled by Russia and coordinated with Moscow. The same conclusion is already appearing among European elites after seeing first-hand how Ukrainian foreign...
Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law in Retreat in Ukraine
Three recent episodes reflect the degree to which the rule of law in Ukraine is under pressure from its already weak position after five years of instability under former President...
Ukrainian Education Minister Tabachnyk Confirms His Russian Nationalist Credentials
Education Minister, Dmytro Tabachnyk, in Ukrainian Prime Minister, Nikolai Azarov’s, government has always been a controversial figure because of his antagonistic views towards Western Ukrainians, Ukrainian nationalism and his pro-Russian...
Ukraine’s Oligarchs and Democratic Regression: Why Are They Silent?
The image of the Viktor Yanukovych administration continues to deteriorate in the eyes of Ukrainians and Europe, as seen in opinion polls and a September 13 statement by the Political...
The Party of Regions Fashions Its Election Strategy
The Party of Regions, according to an extensive analysis in Ukrayinska Pravda (August 30), is seeking to obtain a majority in local councils in the October local elections. If the...
SBU Targets Opposition in Ukraine
There is mounting evidence that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has returned to tactics targeting the opposition last employed under President, Leonid Kuchma. It should be borne in mind...
Luzhkov Again Raises Russian Right to Sevastopol
Optimism that the April 27 Black Sea Fleet base extension treaty would calm Russian-Ukrainian relations in the Crimea have been dashed by Moscow’s Mayor, Yury Luzhkov. On July 19, Luzhkov...
Will Russia Buy Up Ukraine?
The description of Belarusian President, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, as “pro-Russian” has side-stepped the fact that he is a Soviet Belarusian nationalist which developed after 2002, when he rejected the then Russian...
Ukrainian Nationalism Again Under Attack in Ukraine
Belarus and Ukraine are the only two post-communist countries where the ruling authorities see the nationalism of their countrymen as something to be denounced and combated. Viktor Yanukovych, is the...
Ukraine Closes Road to NATO Membership
On July 1, the Ukrainian parliament voted for a new law on “The Fundamentals of Domestic and Foreign Policy” that dropped the goal of seeking NATO membership. At 8:00 pm...
Assassination Phobia Spreads in Ukraine
In an interview given last fall by the then-Party of Regions defector Taras Chornovil, the Ukrainian politician pointed to current Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s fear of assassination, saying, “Yanukovych liked...
The “Putinization” of Ukraine’s Security Forces
The “Putinization of Ukraine’s media policy” is taking place at the same time in Ukraine’s siloviki (security forces). Both steps lead Ukraine closer to Kuchma’s semi-authoritarian regime and Vladimir Putin’s...
First 100 Days of Viktor Yanukovych Explodes Six Myths
Viktor Yanukovych was elected on February 7 and inaugurated as Ukraine’s fourth president on February 25. June 5 marks his first 100 days in office.Yanukovych won the 2010 Ukrainian presidential...
The FSB Returns to Ukraine
After the second round of Ukraine’s 2010 elections, Russia demanded that President, Viktor Yanukovych, undertake measures to improve relations between both countries. Moscow demanded that Yanukovych re-admit the Federal Security...
Shift to Soviet-Russian National Identity in Ukraine
The Viktor Yanukovych administration is undertaking a radical overhaul of Ukraine’s national identity that turns its back not only on the Yushchenko era, but also on two earlier presidents. All...
Ukraine’s Foreign Policy Turns East
With less than two months in office President, Viktor Yanukovych, has undermined a twenty year-old elite consensus on national security by, as EDM (November 3, 2009) forecast, introducing a far...
Ukraine’s Old-New Siloviki
The 2006 constitution, like its 1996 predecessor, gives the president the right to appoint the Foreign and Defense Ministers, Chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Prosecutor-General, and the...
Pro-Russian Old Guard, Returns to Run Ukrainian Security Forces
President Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov are both ignoring the sensitivities of “Orange” Western and Central Ukraine by returning to positions of power individuals from Leonid Kuchma’s second...
Gas Lobby Takes Control of Ukraine’s Security Service
On March 11, the Ukrainian parliament appointed Prime Minister, Nikolai Azarov, and a new Security Service (SBU) Chairman, Valery Khoroshkovsky. As Ukrayinska Pravda (February 24) warned: “An additional bonus for...
Yanukovych Will Ignore Russian Espionage Against Ukraine
The election of the Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych as Ukraine’s president presents a fundamental shift in the country’s national security culture as outlined by his three presidential predecessors....
Yanukovych’s Election Opens Up Crimean Separatist Threat
Viktor Yanukovych’s inauguration as Ukrainian president on February 25 forced him to face the fact that the Party of Regions that he leads, has re-opened the Pandora’s Box of Crimean...
Yushchenko Facilitates Yanukovych’s Election and Buries the Orange Revolution
Two major myths promoted by President Viktor Yushchenko in Ukraine’s 2010 presidential elections were that there was no difference in policies between the two main candidates, Viktor Yanukovych and Yulia...
Russia Backs Yanukovych in Ukraine’s 2010 Elections
Russian media coverage of the 2010 Ukrainian elections from the outset portrayed it as a two-horse race between Viktor Yanukovych and Yulia Tymoshenko. In the first phase of the election...
Yanukovych and Tymoshenko: Foreign and Security Policies
Viktor Yanukovych and Yulia Tymoshenko will face each other in round two of the fifth Ukrainian presidential elections on February 7. In foreign and security policies there are seven key...
The Russian Factor in Ukraine’s 2010 Presidential Elections
The Russian factor in this year’s Ukrainian presidential elections is essentially a straw man and far less important key than five years ago. Russian political technologists openly worked for one...
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...
Viktor Yushchenko’s Foreign Policy Agenda
Viktor Yushchenko has trailed badly in opinion polls in the last year with ratings of less than 5 percent, but has benefitted from the collapse of Arseniy Yatseniuk’s election campaign...
Islamic Terrorist Threat in the Crimea
The head of the Crimean Interior Ministry, Gennadiy Moskal, has drafted new legislation to ban extremist groups in Ukraine (Ukrayinska Pravda, October 27). Moskal is also a Kyiv parliamentary deputy...
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”...
Ukrainian Presidential Candidate Yulia Tymoshenko’s Foreign Policy
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s 2010 presidential election program is entitled “Ukraine will be victorious. Ukraine that is you” and includes a strong emphasis on Ukraine’s integration into Europe. Tymoshenko’s election...
Ukrainian Presidential Candidate Viktor Yanukovych: Foreign Policy Priorities
Viktor Yanukovych was put forward as a presidential candidate at the congress of the Party of Regions on October 23 (www.partyofregions.org.ua, October 23). Yanukovych’s foreign policy can be gauged from...
Yatseniuk’s Presidential Election Campaign Stagnates
On October 1 the central election commission laid out the timetable for Ukraine’s January 17, 2010 presidential elections. However, the candidate who began his campaign first –Arseniy Yatseniuk– might already...
Who Will Washington Support in the Ukrainian Elections?
The Ukrainian media has started to debate who the United States might support in the upcoming January 17, 2010 presidential elections. This issue is closely related to the question of...
Ukraine Debates the Russian Threat
The poor state of Ukrainian-Russian relations, as vividly noted in Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's August letter to President Viktor Yushchenko, the expulsion of two Russian spies from Ukraine and Russia's...
Ukrainian-Russian Diplomatic War Intensifies
On August 10 President Dmitry Medvedev accused President Viktor Yushchenko of taking Ukraine on an "anti-Russian course" (www.blog.kremlin.ru, August 10). Moscow also recently engaged in tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions (EDM, July...
Russia-Ukraine Diplomatic War
On July 27 the Kommersant daily, citing diplomatic sources, said that Ukraine intended to expel the Russian General Consul in Odessa, Oleksandr Grachov. The Ukrainian authorities have long accused the...
Ukraine Tightens the Screw in Sevastopol
President Viktor Yushchenko announced his bid for a second term on July 18 defying pundits who believed his low popularity of 2-3 percent would deter him (www.president.gov.ua, July 18). Yushchenko...
SBU Challenges the FSB in Crimea
In line with implementing stricter security policies in Sevastopol and the Crimea, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is adopting tougher policies towards Russian intelligence activities in the peninsula. These...
Crimean Tatars Divide Ukraine and Russia
President Viktor Yushchenko has strongly condemned the 1944 deportation of Crimean Tatars on many occasions and ordered the Security Service (SBU) to open a special investigative unit examining crimes against...
Russia’s Ideological Crusade Against Ukraine
According to an interview with Ukraine's Ambassador to Russia Konstantyn Hryshchenko, the country's bilateral relationship with Russia has sunk to its lowest level since the disintegration of the Soviet Union,...
Ukrainian Intelligence Promotes Lustration in Ukraine
On May 11 in an interview with Dziennik the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) chief Valentyn Nalyvaychenko, outlined how previously secret documents from 1917-1991 were being released that will reveal details...
Yushchenko Seeks to Revive His Political Fortunes
The resignation of the Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's chief of staff Viktor Baloga has long been expected (www.pravda.com.ua, May 16, 18). He issued a strongly worded attack on Yushchenko as...
The Ukrainian-Russian Cultural Conflict
Discussions over the many conflicts between Ukraine and Russia have focused on the more well known: the status of the Russian language, unpaid energy bills and gas pipelines, withdrawal of...
Political Instability in Ukraine Raises Fears of Intervention by Security Forces
On April 13 Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said on ICTV, "There is a potential threat of a forced takeover of power (in Ukraine)." A possible cancellation of elections could be...
Russian “National Identity” and the Ukraine-EU Pipeline Deal
Ukraine's gas pipeline deal with the EU on March 23 led to an avalanche of Russian outrage that had less to do with the agreement, but exposed the Kremlin's use...
Romanian-Ukrainian Espionage Scandal Exacerbates Already Poor Relations
NATO and European Union (EU) membership for Romania was meant to consign to history its penchant for territorial claims and its poor record on national minority rights, but this was...
Gongadze Murder Still Casts a Shadow over Yushchenko Presidency
On January 27 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) issued another damning report about the poor state of Ukraine's investigation into the murder of opposition journalist Georgi...
Commentary – Territorial Claims Can Work Two Ways: Russia and Ukraine
The majority of Western comments on territorial claims arising from the breakup of the USSR focus on Russia’s demands against its neighbors. The best known, such as the Crimea and...
Russian-Ukrainian Gas Crisis Fuelled by National Identity
Western media coverage of the latest Ukrainian-Russian gas crisis has largely ignored the national identity component of the conflict, and yet this is the main factor fuelling poor relations between...
Russian Dezyinformatsia Campaign against the Orange Coalition
On December 9 it was announced that a larger orange coalition had been agreed upon in Ukraine. It was formally registered on December 16. The news came as a surprise,...
SBU Stops Separatism in Its Tracks
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has patted itself on the back for stopping separatism in three different regions: Donetsk, Crimea, and Transcarpathia (www.ssu.gov.ua, December 9). All three cases involved...
Ukraine Beefs Up Its Military Defenses with an Eye on Russia
Since the Russian invasion of Georgia in August, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has stressed the need to review defense priorities, with reference to the budgetary allocations to the military (The...
Medvedev’s Refusal To Attend Famine Commemorations Worsens Already Poor Relations
Ukraine’s relations with Russia have deteriorated to their lowest level in two decades, with Zerkalo Nedeli (November 22) stating that the Russian authorities and society have never been as negatively...
Yushchenko Uses Security Service Against Former Orange Allies
The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) is targeting the president’s former Orange ally, the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc (BYuT), as part of a strategy to undermine Tymoshenko’s popularity ahead of the January...
UKRAINIAN CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS COME UNDER STRAIN
Like the political crisis in the spring of 2007, the crisis unfolding since September has placed great strains on law enforcement agencies (see EDM, June 1, 2007). On April 2,...
RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE SEEKS TO DESTABILIZE CRIMEA
On September 29 the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) protested against an appeal made by the Russian delegation to the OSCE about the Crimea. “Methods and dirty technology created...
RUSSIAN PASSPORTS AS MOSCOW’S GEOPOLITICAL TOOL
The official protest by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on September 11 over the allegedly “unfriendly” attitudes of the Ukrainian authorities to Russia was met by a stern...
PARTY OF REGIONS SPLITS OVER GEORGIA AND NATO
The Party of Regions expelled National Security and Defense Council (NRBO) Secretary Raisa Bohatyryova from the party’s senior decision-making body, the Political Council, and from the party itself on September...
UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT EXPRESSES STRONG SUPPORT FOR GEORGIA
Ukraine’s president and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which comes under his jurisdiction, have reacted sharply to the Georgian-Russian conflict. President Viktor Yushchenko has close personal relations with President Mikhail...
YUSHCHENKO SWITCHES SUPPORT FROM OUR UKRAINE TO UNITED CENTER
On July 12 Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko’s fourth party of power United Center held its inaugural congress in pompous style at the Ukrayina Palace, broadcast live on state television Channel...
OLIGARCHS WIELD POWER IN UKRAINIAN POLITICS
The leading Ukrainian magazine Korrespondent (June 12) published its annual list of wealthy Ukrainians. The most surprising new information was the estimate of Donetsk oligarch Renat Akhmetov’s wealth. Akhmetov, the...
RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN RELATIONS REVEAL DEEPER PROBLEMS
President Viktor Yushchenko’s first meeting with newly elected Russian President Dmitry Medvedev failed to resolve the outstanding issues between Ukraine and Russia. Despite Yushchenko’s optimism that all of these issues...
IS UKRAINE RETURNING TO KUCHMA-ERA REPRESSION?
In a television interview on May 20 Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko raised the stakes in her worsening relations with President Viktor Yushchenko by bringing up the question of impeaching the...
YUSHCHENKO WILL BE MARGINALIZED BY CONSTITUTIONAL AND POLITICAL INSTABILITY IN UKRAINE
The three holiday breaks (Easter, May Day and World War II Victory Day) gave only a short respite before the two main figures in Ukrainian politics, President Viktor Yushchenko and...
THE FUTURE OF THE ORANGE COALITION WILL BE DECIDED IN MAY
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s April 14 speech to the Parliamentary Council of Europe (PACE), where she outlined her support for constitutional reforms that would transform Ukraine into a parliamentary republic...
IS THE PARTY OF REGIONS SLIDING INTO CRISIS?
The Party of Regions (Regions) should be riding high in Ukrainian polls as opposition parties traditionally have golden opportunities to increase their popularity. Instead, Regions and its leader and former...
TYMOSHENKO MOST POPULAR POLITICAL FORCE IN UKRAINE
Parliament’s March 18 vote to call pre-term elections for Kyiv’s city mayor was a second major victory for Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko this month, following the new gas contract with...
YUSHCHENKO LOOKS TO GRAND COALITION TO REPLACE TYMOSHENKO
On March 15 the government of Yulia Tymoshenko will mark its first 100 days in office, a period that has been a baptism by fire. Not only has the government...
OPPOSITION USES UKRAINE–NATO ISSUE WHEN POLITICALLY EXPEDIENT
For over a month, the Ukrainian parliament has been in a forced recess as the opposition blocked the legislature to protest a joint letter to NATO signed by President Viktor...
TYMOSHENKO REACHES OUT TO FOREIGN INVESTORS
On February 5 Ukraine was admitted to the World Trade Organization. That achievement will facilitate Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s efforts to attract foreign investment. Kicking off that campaign on...
TYMOSHENKO AND YUSHCHENKO CLASH OVER BATTLING CORRUPTION
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has made combating corruption and strengthening the rule of law central elements in her government’s policy. She is apparently starting at the highest levels of...
RUSSIA, UKRAINE TRADE HARSH WORDS OVER HISTORICAL MEMORY
On December 14 Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) issued a strongly worded statement complaining of “open nationalist, anti-Russian, and Russphobic feelings and developments in Ukraine.” Attempts are being made,...
PRAISE AND CONDEMNATION OF STALIN: RUSSIA AND UKRAINE GO THEIR SEPARATE WAYS
On November 24-25 the Ukrainian authorities marked the 75th anniversary of the 1932-1933 famine. President Viktor Yushchenko, Acting Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, former President Leonid Kuchma, and other political leaders...
GEORGIA AND UKRAINE: SIMILAR REVOLUTIONS, DIFFERENT TRAJECTORIES
The ongoing political crisis in Georgia shares similar roots with the September 2005 crisis in Ukraine (see EDM, September 8, 14, 16, 2005). The Georgian crisis began when former defense...
PRESIDENT’S PARTY IS WEAKEST LINK IN ORANGE COALITION
Friday, November 2, was the last day that the Our Ukraine-People’s Self Defense (NUNS) bloc could collect signatures to support a “democratic” (orange) coalition with the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc (BYuT)....
TYMOSHENKO THE REAL WINNER OF UKRAINE’S 2007 ELECTION
Ukraine officially announced its parliamentary election results on October 15. Unlike the 2006 elections, no political force has contested the results. The Party of Regions closed its makeshift camp in...
ORANGE REVOLUTION BACK ON TRACK AFTER UKRAINE ELECTION
Ukraine’s September 30 parliamentary elections mark a resurrection of the Orange Revolution. The two orange forces, the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc (BYuT) and Our Ukraine-People’s Self Defense (NUNS), together won 45%...
TRENDS AND OPINION POLLS REVEAL SHIFTING VOTER PREFERENCES IN UKRAINE
Ukraine’s parliamentary elections on September 30 are unlikely to bring overwhelming victories for either the “orange” camp of Our Ukraine-Self Defense and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc or the “blue” camp...
UKRAINE’S 2007 ELECTIONS WILL ALSO DECIDE UKRAINE’S NEXT PRESIDENT
Ukraine’s September 30 parliamentary elections will decide the country’s next government and most likely determine the outcome of the presidential elections two years later. As seasoned Zerkalo nedeli commentator Serhiy...
UKRAINE’S ELITES REMAIN ABOVE THE LAW
Ukraine’s orange elites are facing a growing scandal surrounding Yuriy Lutsenko, head of the pro-presidential Our Ukraine-People’s Self Defense bloc (NUNS). Lutsenko allegedly lobbied on behalf of Ukrainian New Telecommunications...
YUSHCHENKO’S MULTI-VECTOR ELECTION STRATEGY
On July 4 Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko called a high-level meeting of oligarchs, the third such gathering in his presidency. The first took place in October 2005 after Yuriy Yekhanurov...
NEW POLITICAL ALLIANCES EMERGE IN UKRAINE
As Ukraine prepares for the September 30 parliamentary elections, the balance of power among political forces is markedly shifting. The pre-democratic “Orange” camp is reconfiguring while the long-dominant Dnipropetrovsk camp...
YULIA TYMOSHENKO COMES OUT ON TOP IN UKRAINE’S CRISIS
Ukraine's parliament closed on Friday, June 15, after a tense two-month crisis. This was a success for Yulia Tymoshenko and her eponymous bloc (BYuT), who were the only political forces...
CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS DOMINATE UKRAINE’S POLITICAL CRISIS
Ukraine’s spring 2007 political crisis was the first occasion in Ukraine’s history that brought the country to the brink of bloodshed on three separate fronts. National Security and Defense Council...
“POLITICAL TOURISM” AND MANAGED CIVIL SOCIETY IN UKRAINE
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s experts on Ukraine have pointed out that the ongoing “blue Maidan” demonstrations in downtown Kyiv’s Independence Square are incompatible with democracy. Although...
UKRAINE’S COMMUNISTS AND SOCIALISTS LEFT BEHIND BY PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION DEAL
Ukraine’s constitutional crisis seemed resolved on May 4, when Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych agreed to early parliamentary elections. But the date of the vote cannot be finalized until a compromise...
TIDE SHIFTS IN PRESIDENT’S FAVOR IN UKRAINE CRISIS
Once seen as a lame duck, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko now is out-maneuvering the Anti-Crisis coalition (ACC) and the government of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. During the last week the...
OUR UKRAINE AND VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO REVIVE THEIR FORTUNES
On April 18, the opposition Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT) and Our Ukraine blocs permanently withdrew their deputies from Ukraine’s parliament. Together, the factions account for 202 of the Rada’s 450 deputies....
YUSHCHENKO RADICALIZES AS POLITICAL CRISIS DEEPENS
On Monday, April 2, President Viktor Yushchenko issued a decree disbanding parliament and plunging Ukraine into a political crisis (see EDM, April 4). Elections are set for May 27 --...
YUSHCHENKO’S PARTY THREATENED BY DEFECTIONS
On March 21 Anatoliy Kinakh accepted an offer from Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych’s government to become minister of economics. The government is allied to the National Unity (formerly Anti-Crisis)...
MORE SETBACKS FOR RULE OF LAW IN UKRAINE
On March 4, 2005, former Ukrainian interior minister Yuriy Kravchenko was found dead with two bullet wounds to the head. The official verdict was suicide. Two years on, Kravchenko’s family...
YULIA TYMOSHENKO TO VISIT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK
Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the eponymous political bloc and head of the Ukrainian opposition, arrives in the United States on Sunday, February 25, for a six-day visit that will take...
TOLERANCE REDUCES NEED FOR RUSSIAN LANGUAGE LAW IN UKRAINE
Although Ukraine’s Party of Regions introduced a new draft language law to parliament last fall, interest in the bill will decline following the unexpected death of key party ideologue Yevhen...
YUSHCHENKO, YANUKOVYCH BATTLE FOR CONTROL OF SECURITY SERVICES
Last week the head of Ukraine’s parliamentary committee on national security and defense, Anatoliy Kinakh, accused the general prosecutor’s office, the Security Service (SBU), and law enforcement of beginning to...
UKRAINE’S DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN PROSPECTS FOR 2007
Ukraine’s domestic and foreign prospects in 2007 depend upon the resolution of the political and constitutional crisis that began in 2006. Failure to resolve this ongoing crisis will lead to...
YUSHCHENKO’S REFERENDUM THREATS RING HOLLOW
President Viktor Yushchenko used the dual anniversary of Ukraine's unification into an independent state in 1919 and his own inauguration in January 2005 to provide concrete suggestions to escape the...
“BANDITS TO PRISON:” OLD GUARD USE GAS TO TAKE REVENGE IN UKRAINE ELECTIONS
Following the Parliament of Ukraine's no confidence vote against the government of Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko, (see EDM, January 11), it is still unclear who will be emerge as frontrunners...
YUSHCHENKO’S GOVERNMENT LOSES VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE
Yesterday, January 10, the Ukrainian parliament voted no confidence in the government of Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov, which has only been in place since late September 2005, when he replaced...
AS RUSSIA IS DOWNGRADED TO “UNFREE” IS IT UNFIT TO HEAD THE G-8?
It is perhaps fitting that the Ukraine-Russia gas conflict has rekindled debates whether Russia truly belongs in the prestigious Group of Eight (G-8) advanced liberal democratic market economies. As the...
TYMOSHENKO FACES RIVAL CLAIM TO BE ANTI-YUSHCHENKO ORANGE FACTION
The youth group Pora (It's Time), which played an important role in Ukraine's Orange Revolution in November-December 2004, is set to contest the March 2006 parliamentary elections in an alliance...
SECURITY GUARD MELNYCHENKO RETURNS TO UKRAINE
Mykola Melnychenko, the presidential guard who was involved in bugging President Leonid Kuchma's office between 1998 and 2000, returned to Ukraine on November 29. Exactly five years earlier Melnychenko fled...
REVISITING THE ORANGE REVOLUTION: STILL FAR TO GO
Ukraine held the second round of its contentious 2004 presidential election on November 21. When the incumbent regime of President Leonid Kuchma tried to steal the election from popular favorite...
REVISITING THE ORANGE REVOLUTION, PART ONE: CONSIDERABLE GAINS MADE
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...
WHO ARE YUSHCHENKO’S TRUE ALLIES?
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...
AZERBAIJANI-UKRAINIAN RELATIONS DETERIORATE AFTER STOLEN ELECTIONS
Ukraine has followed the lead of the OSCE in not recognizing the official results of Azerbaijan's November 6 parliamentary elections. A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman said, "We support the earlier...
UKRAINE’S CENTRIST CAMP IN DISARRAY AHEAD OF 2006 ELECTIONS
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...
YEKHURANOV REFERS TO OLIGARCHS AS “NATIONAL BOURGEOISIE”
Once reviled by reformers, Ukraine's wealthy business oligarchs are now being described as a "national bourgeoisie" by top government officials. After much controversy and debate, on October 24 Kryvorizhstal, Ukraine's...
YUSHCHENKO RE-AFFIRMS UKRAINE’S EURO-ATLANTIC GOALS
Last week President Viktor Yushchenko took steps to re-affirm Ukraine's desire for Euro-Atlantic integration. "Ukraine is a European country. I will never accept the idea that it is not," he...
SEPTEMBER CRISIS OVER, BUT STRATEGIC PROBLEMS REMAIN FOR YUSHCHENKO
President Viktor Yushchenko has declared that the political crisis in Ukraine is over. The turmoil began on September 5 with allegations of corruption within his inner circle (Channel 5 TV,...
PACE ASKS FOR FULL INVESTIGATION OF GONGADZE CASE
On October 5 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) issued a resolution requesting that the Ukrainian authorities deal with different aspects of the investigation into the murder...
RUSSIA STILL GETS IT WRONG ON UKRAINE
Russian leaders were delighted, even gleeful, when Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was fired in early September. Their unabashed gloating confirms that Moscow still does not realize why its interference...
WILL YUSHCHENKO FOLLOW THE PATTERN OF SERBIA’S KOSTUNICA — OR DJINDJIC?
This week has been both good and bad for Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. Good, because his new government headed by Yuriy Yekhanurov is taking shape. The new government is set...
IS PORA TURNING AGAINST YUSHCHENKO?
Pora, the non-governmental organization that played a decisive role in Ukraine's Orange Revolution, has adopted a highly critical stance towards the ten-point memorandum signed last week by President Viktor Yushchenko...
SIGNS DEAL WITH YANUKOVYCH TO GET PRIME MINISTER APPROVED
The Ukrainian parliament confirmed Yuriy Yekhanurov as prime minister on September 22 with 289 votes. His candidacy had been rejected by parliament two days earlier when only 223 members of...
YUSHCHENKO PRIME MINISTER NOMINEE REJECTED BY PARLIAMENT
On September 20 the Ukrainian parliament failed to approve Yuriy Yekhanurov as prime minister, seven days after President Viktor Yushchenko submitted his candidacy. Yushchenko disbanded the government headed by Yulia...
BEHIND UKRAINE’S POLITICAL CRISIS (PART 2)
The Orange Revolution and subsequent election of President Viktor Yushchenko showed that Ukrainian society wanted "change." But as the Economist (September 8) pointed out, the "Orange Revolution promised much but...
BEHIND UKRAINE’S POLITICAL CRISIS (Part 1)
The removal of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's government on September 8 came as a surprise in Ukraine, as it had not been accused of corruption until days earlier. On September...
YUSHCHENKO FINALLY ACTS TO CLEAN UP HIS GOVERNMENT
Yesterday, September 8, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko fired his government and removed top officials accused of corruption. Oleksandr Zinchenko, the former head of the presidential secretariat, had leveled the startling...
DIVISION OPENS IN UKRAINIAN LEADERSHIP: WILL YUSHCHENKO FALL IN?
It was no secret that the alliance that brought Viktor Yushchenko to power in Ukraine had its disagreements. The alliance, forged in the second round of the 2004 presidential elections,...
TANGLED RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN GAS DEALS PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR CORRUPTION, INFLUENCE
Russia plans to triple gas prices ahead of Ukraine's parliamentary election and only months before winter begins (International Herald and Tribune, August 1). A recent commentary in Ukrayinska pravda (August...
UKRAINIAN PARTIES SCRAMBLE FOR MEDIA, FOREIGN ALLIES, AHEAD OF PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
When the Ukrainian parliament reconvenes in early September, the March 2006 parliamentary election campaign will officially begin. Over the summer Ukrainian political parties have been energetically seeking media resources (especially...
THE MYTH OF UKRAINE’S “THIRD FORCE” IN PARLIAMENT
Parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn has made another trip to Moscow on August 1 to seek political support for the March 2006 parliamentary election (Ukrayinska pravda, August 1). But the choice...
NEW DATA CREATES DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF ORANGE REVOLUTIONARIES, VOTERS
Democratic Initiatives, a well-established, Kyiv-based sociological think tank, has just published a new study, Politchnyi portret (no. 32, 2005). Democratic Initiatives was one of four Ukrainian sociological organizations involved in...
YUSHCHENKO AND TYMOSHENKO CALL FOR CREATION OF PARLIAMENTARY MAJORITY
After Ukraine's parliament recessed for summer on July 8, the government issued a damning indictment of parliament and parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn for not facilitating the passage of legislation required...
UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER TO BE PROGRESSIVELY MARGINALIZED
While President Viktor Yushchenko remains outwardly confident that his Our Ukraine party, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc, and parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn's People's Party (NPU) will enter the 2006 parliamentary...
FEW REAL SIGNS OF CRISIS FOR YUSHCHENKO AND ORANGE REVOLUTION
Western media reports are increasingly claiming that the Orange Revolution is floundering in Ukraine. The Independent (July 25) asserted, "There is a growing consensus in Ukraine that Mr. Yushchenko and...
NEW UKRAINIAN LEADERSHIP EMBRACES SOVIET-STYLE CONSPIRACY THEORIES
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko sent an open letter to Ukrayinska pravda yesterday (July 26) following his public broadside against the publication at a press conference one day earlier. Yushchenko has...
WITH PARLIAMENT IN RECESS, YUSHCHENKO MOVES TO ASSERT AUTHORITY
Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko has used the past week, with parliament closed for summer recess, to assert his authority in key state institutions. Yet these latest moves have failed to...
RESOLUTION OF GONGADZE MURDER BLOCKED
Despite hopes to the contrary, the election of a new president of Ukraine has not sped the investigation into the murder of opposition journalist Heorhiy Gongadze. At the Davos World...
KYIV’S ROLE IN IRAQ MAY MAKE IT VULNERABLE TO TERRORIST ATTACKS
Ukraine responded to the July 7 terrorist attacks in London by expanding preventative measures to combat potential terrorists. With Ukraine contributing the fourth-largest contingent of troops in Iraq, the Ukrainian...
INTERNAL DIVISIONS MAY DEFEAT YUSHCHENKO’S WTO ASPIRATIONS
The Ukrainian parliament went into summer vacation this week after adopting only six of the 14 legislative acts needed for possible WTO membership. Two related laws were adopted earlier. The...
YUSHCHENKO ELECTION COALITION DIVIDED OVER ROLE FOR LYTVYN
As the Ukrainian parliament adjourns today for its summer recess, Western observers are increasingly noting the divisions inside President Viktor Yushchenko's team. However, such commentaries typically focus on the wrong...
CRIMINAL CHARGES REACH SENIOR LEADERS OF UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION
Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko has publicly announced that he is seeking to strip 16 parliamentary deputies of their immunity from prosecution (Interfax-Ukraine, June 28). All 16 figure in criminal...
UKRAINIAN ECONOMIC ROUNDTABLE FAILS TO CONVINCE INVESTORS
As President Viktor Yushchenko promised, Ukraine held a mini-version of the annual Davos World Economic Forum. As The Economist (June 16) wrote, "The government hoped to give investors more clarity"...
UKRAINIAN AUTHORITIES FILE CRIMINAL CHARGES OF SEPARATISM
On June 22-23 the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General's Office finally introduced the first criminal charges of separatism against two eastern Ukrainian leaders: Viktor Tykhonov, head of the Luhansk oblast council, and Yevhen...
PEOPLE’S UNION-OUR UKRAINE MAKES SURPRISING CHOICE TO LEAD KYIV BRANCH
On June 18, President Viktor Yushchenko's new "party of power," People's Union-Our Ukraine (NS-NU), finally held its inaugural congress. Speculation had been rife that Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko would become...
SOCIAL DEMOCRAT-UNITED LEADER MEDVEDCHUK AWAITS HIS FATE
In an interview long promised but only given yesterday (June 16) to Ukrayinska pravda, Social Democratic Party of Ukraine-United (SDPUo) leader Viktor Medvedchuk was asked if he was ready to...
WASHINGTON CONCERNED UKRAINE MAY NOT JOIN WTO THIS YEAR
During President Viktor Yushchenko's April visit to Washington, he enumerated three goals to be achieved this year: joining the WTO, lifting the Jackson-Vanik trade restrictions, and obtaining free-market economy status....
MEDIA BIAS DECREASES IN UKRAINE, BUT THROUGH DUBIOUS MEANS
Six months into the Viktor Yushchenko presidency, the media and information situation in Ukraine remains mixed. The good news is that oligarch control over electronic media is on the decline....
CRIMINAL CHARGES FILED AGAINST FORMER UKRAINIAN PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Criminal charges have been filed against the People's Democratic Party (NDP), led by former Ukrainian prime minister Valeriy Pustovoitenko. NDP's bank accounts have been frozen. The Ukrainian Prosecutor-General's Office revealed...
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...
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....
Loose Nukes and Al-Qaeda
In an article in the January-February issue of Foreign Affairs, Graham Allison, director of the Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, pointed...
RUSSIA ASKS COUNCIL OF EUROPE TO INVESTIGATE “POLITICAL REPRESSION” IN UKRAINE
Russian President Vladimir Putin justified his policy of supporting Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in the 2004 Ukrainian presidential elections by stating that it was Russian policy to only work with...
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...
SKINHEAD ATTACKS ON THE RISE IN UKRAINE
Since the Orange Revolution in November-December 2004, there have been a growing number of attacks by extreme right groups against Westerners in Ukraine. These attacks are commonly blamed on "skinheads,"...
KYIV DIVIDED ON HOW FAR TO GO WITH RE-PRIVATIZATION
Foreign investors are showing more interest in Ukraine since the Orange Revolution. Nevertheless, they remain cautious because of uncertainties surrounding the threat of re-privatization. Until this issue is resolved, something...
MOSCOW CONTINUES TO UNDERMINE DEMOCRACY IN INDEPENDENT UKRAINE
Russian President Vladimir Putin's plans to purchase Leonid Brezhnev's residence in the Crimea have collapsed. USSR Dacha No.1, "Hlitsyniya," is among the Ukrainian properties excluded from privatization. Nevertheless, Putin attempted...
MORE PROBLEMS FOR YUSHCHENKO GOVERNMENT AS JUSTICE MINISTER CAUGHT EXAGGERATING HIS ACADEMIC RECORD
Two weeks after Ukrayinska pravda (April 14) published an expose on Roman Zvarych, the Minister of Justice finally admitted in the Ukrainian Weekly (May 1) that he did not have...
UKRAINE MOVES CLOSER TO NATO MEMBERSHIP
At the April 20-21 summit of NATO foreign ministers in Vilnius, Ukraine was invited to begin an Intensified Dialogue on Membership. The Intensified Dialogue is commonly viewed as the precursor...
KYIV CONTINUES TO REDEFINE RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA
While Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko cancelled her visit to Russia this month, Defense Minister Anatoliy Grytsenko and National Security and Defense Council Secretary Petro Poroshenko did make it to...
YUSHCHENKO TURNS FOCUS TO SOUTHERN UKRAINE AND CRIMEA
Anatoliy Matvienko's confirmation as prime minister of Crimea on April 20 follows an April 4 Odessa court decision to overturn the 2002 mayoral elections and confirm Eduard Hurfits as mayor...
UKRAINE ASKS RUSSIA TO BEGIN PREPARATIONS FOR WITHDRAWING BLACK SEA FLEET
After canceling her scheduled visit to Moscow last week, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko explained her reasons to the BBC (April 15). Not only was she infuriated at Russia's unwillingness...
RUSSIA BECOMES HAVEN FOR THOSE FLEEING UKRAINIAN JUSTICE
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko cancelled her first official visit to Russia this week. The Russian Prosecutor-General's office has continued to insist that she be brought in for questioning in...
TYMOSHENKO TAKES ON THE OLIGARCHS
A congress of Ukraine's oligarchs is scheduled for April 13 under the guise of the "Assembly of Ukrainian Metallurgists" (ukrrudprom.com, April 11). Representatives from 62 metallurgical enterprises will attend the...
U.S.-UKRAINE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP RECEIVES BOOST
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's three-day official visit to the United States cemented a new strategic partnership. On April 4 Yushchenko attended meetings with President George W. Bush and two days...
YUSHCHENKO VISIT TO U.S. HERALDS RETURN TO “GOLDEN ERA”
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's official visit to the United States on April 4-6 is set to radically transform U.S.-Ukrainian relations and return them to the "golden era" under President Bill...
SERBIA, GEORGIA, UKRAINE, KYRGYZSTAN: UKRAINE DEBATES NEXT REVOLUTION
Last week's violent revolution in Kyrgyzstan was different from the peaceful transformations in Serbia, Georgia, and Ukraine. At the same time, this fact has not stopped debates in Ukraine and...
UNDER KUCHMA, UKRAINE SENT MISSILES TO IRAN AND CHINA
Since President Viktor Yushchenko was inaugurated on January 23, Ukraine's Interior Ministry (MVS), Security Service (SBU), and Prosecutor-General's office have made daily revelations about massive, high-level corruption under former president...
BEREZOVSKY HOPES TO SELL ORANGE REVOLUTION TO RUSSIA
Exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky is planning to visit Ukraine in the very near future, a trip that may prove uncomfortable for Ukrainian authorities because of two factors. First, Berezovsky...
UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CHARMS WASHINGTON
Ukraine's new Foreign Minister, Borys Tarasyuk, visited Washington, DC, on March 10-11 to prepare for a four-day state visit by President Viktor Yushchenko in the first week of April. Tarasyuk's...
WILL MELNYCHENKO TAPES BE USED AS EVIDENCE IN GONGADZE PROSECUTION?
As an Interior Ministry colonel confesses to the murder of opposition journalist and Ukrayinska pravda founder Heorhiy Gongadze, one major issue remains; namely what evidence will the courts accept? (Segodnya,...
YUSHCHENKO CREATES NEW PARTY OF POWER
On March 4-5, President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc transformed itself into a political party, the People's Union "Our Ukraine." The original boc was formed after parliament's April 2001 no-confidence...
KYIV LAUNCHES FAR-REACHING REFORM OF INTERIOR MINISTRY
It was inevitable that radical, democratizing reforms would be launched within the Ukrainian Interior Ministry (MVS) after the appointment of Yuriy Lutsenko as interior minister. Already, the new atmosphere inside...
CLOSING THE BOOKS ON THE GONGADZE CASE
On March 1, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko made the sensational announcement that the murderer of opposition journalist Heorhiy Gongadze had been apprehended (Ukrayinska pravda, March 1). Three senior Interior Ministry...
UKRAINE MOVES A STEP CLOSER TO EUROPE
During President Viktor Yushchenko's first month in office, he visited Europe twice, appearing at the European Parliament, EU, Council of Europe, and NATO. After a month of such visits and...
YUSHCHENKO POISONING INVESTIGATION NEARING CLIMAX
During a February 15-16 visit to Lviv, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko optimistically predicted that the investigation into his near fatal poisoning in September 2004 would soon be finalized. "There is...
MOVEMENT TOWARD UNIFICATION OF PRO-YUSHCHENKO CAMP STALLS
Among the political goals announced by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is a plan to unify the political parties that comprise the "Our Ukraine" bloc into a single political party (Ukrayinska...
YUSHCHENKO ANNOUNCES NEW EMPHASIS ON OBSERVING THE RULE OF LAW IN UKRAINE
Since the December election of President Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's Prosecutor-General's Office has launched a variety of new investigations, some already leading to criminal charges. One of Yushchenko's fundamental reforms will...
PROFOUND GENERATION SHIFT FOLLOWS UKRAINE’S ORANGE REVOLUTION
Now that the Ukrainian parliament has confirmed Yulia Tymoshenko as prime minister (see EDM, February 7), the country is witnessing a radical generational change. New people, pro-Western and not tainted...
THE RISE AND FALL OF UKRAINE’S SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Ukraine's Social Democratic United Party (SDPUo), the oligarchic party that gained the most from Leonid Kuchma's second term in office, is now faced with a deep crisis that will ultimately...
PORA! TAKES TWO DIFFERENT PATHS
The radical youth group and anti-Leonid Kuchma youth movement PORA! (It's Time!) has been acclaimed for its contribution to Viktor Yushchenko's victory in Ukraine's recent presidential elections. The two wings...
YUSHCHENKO OUTLINES UKRAINE’S DESIRE TO “RETURN TO EUROPE”
This week the EU finally came round to the conclusion that Viktor's Yushchenko's support for Ukraine "returning to Europe" is no hollow rhetoric. Former president Leonid Kuchma also spoke of...
YULIA TYMOSHENKO TO BECOME UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER
One day after he was inaugurated as Ukraine's third president, Viktor Yushchenko appointed a powerful and radical triumvirate. Yulia Tymoshenko, of the eponymous bloc, was named prime minister; businessman Petro...
DID UKRAINE’S SECURITY SERVICE REALLY PREVENT BLOODSHED DURING THE ORANGE REVOLUTION?
On January 17, the New York Times published a sensational expose alleging that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) had been key to preventing bloodshed during the Orange Revolution. The...
NO LONGER NEEDING U.S. SUPPORT, KUCHMA WANTS TO BRING TROOPS HOME ON HIS WATCH
On January 10, President Leonid Kuchma held a meeting to discuss the deteriorating situation in Iraq. Eight Ukrainian troops died when a bomb they were defusing went off accidentally on...
VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO DECLARED UKRAINE’S PRESIDENT
On January 10, Ukraine's Central Election Commission (CEC) officially declared opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko to be Ukraine's third president. The final vote count stood at 51.99% for Yushchenko compared to...
DETAILS EMERGE OF SECOND RUSSIAN PLOT TO ASSASSINATE YUSHCHENKO
As Viktor Yushchenko prepares for his inauguration as Ukraine's third president, he knows that Ukraine-Russia relations will be one of the most difficult issues he faces. The Economist (December 29)...
POLITICAL REALIGNMENT BEGINS IN UKRAINE
The ruling centrist and oligarchic elites that supported President Leonid Kuchma over the last decade are now rushing to adapt to the reality that Viktor Yushchenko is Ukraine's new president....
YUSHCHENKO VICTORY TO SPEED UP UKRAINE’S DEMOCRATIZATION AND EUROPEANIZATION
Ukraine is undergoing radical change in anticipation of a Yushchenko victory in the repeat presidential runoff on December 26. Challenger Viktor Yushchenko will have eight months to undertake sweeping and...
“ORANGE REVOLUTION” EXPOSES EU’s DEFICIENT UKRAINE POLICY
One of the biggest ironies of Ukraine's democratic "Orange Revolution" is that it will cause difficulties in the European Union, an organization that claims to embody "European values." Had former...
POLAND PLAYS STRATEGIC ROLE IN UKRAINE’S “ORANGE REVOLUTION”
U.S. President George W. Bush has thanked Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski for their assistance in negotiating a compromise to resolve Ukraine's ongoing political crisis (Lithuanian...
PRO-KUCHMA CAMP CONTINUES TO DISINTEGRATE
In the aftermath of the scandalous second round of the Ukrainian presidential election on November 21, the pro-Kuchma parliamentary majority, established originally to back up Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's "coalition...
UKRAINE RE-SCHEDULES PRESIDENTIAL RUNOFF, BUT HAS YUSHCHENKO SETTLED FOR A SMALLER PRIZE?
The December 4 Ukrainian parliamentary session should have been a second day of victory for the opposition. Instead, Viktor Yushchenko and his allies failed to obtain what they sought and...
YANUKOVYCH-GATE UNFOLDS AFTER UKRAINIAN ELECTIONS
The first year of Leonid Kuchma's second term as president of Ukraine was marked by a scandal that eventually became known as Kuchmagate. The affair was triggered by the release...
SECURITY FORCES BEGIN TO DEFECT TO VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
During yesterday's parliamentary hearings on Ukraine's post-election crisis, speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn promised not to use force against demonstrators. Similarly, during Sunday's meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, Security...
VIKTOR YANUKOVYCH LOSES CONTROL IN KYIV, RETREATS TO DONETSK
As the political standoff continues in Ukraine, the only conclusion that can now possibly be made is that the pro-presidential camp never sought to hold free and fair elections in...
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY DENOUNCES MASS ELECTION FRAUD IN UKRAINE AS CIS UPHOLDS OFFICIAL RESULTS
The entire international community has condemned the second round of the Ukrainian presidential election, held on November 21. The only exception has been the CIS Election Observers Mission, a body...
WHAT NOW FOR LEONID KUCHMA?
With the second round of Ukraine's election set for November 21, President Leonid Kuchma will soon become an ex-president. The final vote tally is due no later than 15 days...
UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES SCRAMBLE TO COLLECT MORE SUPPORT AHEAD OF RUN-OFF
On November 10, the Central Election Commission issued the final results of the October 31 Ukrainian presidential election. The final tally gave challenger Viktor Yushchenko a slight lead of 0.55%....
DEEP CONTRADICTIONS CLOUD YANUKOVYCH’S FOREIGN POLICY
Unlike the 1994 and 1999 races, foreign policy issues have not played a central role in Ukraine's 2004 presidential campaign. The main opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, has deliberately stayed away...
POST-ELECTION BLUES IN THE YANUKOVYCH CAMP
Rumors from sources close to the Russian presidential administration have suggested that Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych might be ready to withdraw from the second round of the presidential elections,...
WHY YANUKOVYCH LOST ROUND ONE AND WHY HE WILL LOSE IN ROUND TWO
Five days after the election, the final results are still not declared in Ukraine's presidential election. Nevertheless, as opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko declared: "Whatever the authorities might say to us,"...
YUSHCHENKO WINS FIRST ROUND OF UKRAINE’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Challenger Viktor Yushchenko won the first round of the Ukrainian presidential elections on October 31 (Itar-Tass, November 2). According to official Central Election Commission (CEC) figures, Yushchenko won 16 oblasts...
WHO LOST UKRAINE? WESTERN POLICY HAS BEEN CONFUSED, MISUNDERSTOOD, AND UNCOORDINATED
Throughout 2004 Western delegations to Ukraine and statements by governments and international organizations have repeatedly asked the Ukrainian authorities to conduct free and fair elections. During the summer both houses...
TENSION BUILDS AS UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ENTERS HOMESTRETCH
On the eve of the October 31 Ukrainian presidential elections, the political situation in the country may be spiraling out of control. President Leonid Kuchma cancelled a one-day visit to...
FRONT RUNNERS BATTLE IT OUT IN UKRAINE’S LAST PRESIDENTIAL POLLS
Ukrainian media have published the last opinion polls allowed by prior to election day (Ukrayinska pravda, October 15 and 18). Although the results vary among different polling organizations, some show...
UKRAINIAN LEADERS CRACK DOWN ON YOUTH GROUPS AHEAD OF ELECTION
On October 15 Ukrainian Prime Minister and presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych told foreign diplomats in Kyiv that the government is taking all measures to ensure a free and fair election...
FRAUD FEARED IN UKRAINIAN DIASPORA VOTING
Millions of Ukrainian citizens living abroad have the right to vote in the October 31 presidential election. While provisions for expatriates have been made previously, this election marks the first...
UKRAINIAN AUTHORITIES TARGET STUDENT AND YOUTH ELECTION-MONITORING GROUPS
As Ukraine's presidential election approach, the authorities are increasingly nervous about the increased visibility of youth NGOs monitoring the election. October has seen an especially large number of intimidation tactics...
LARGE-SCALE ANTI-AMERICAN CAMPAIGN PLANNED IN UKRAINE
Since October 1 representatives from the headquarters of Ukrainian opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko have discovered over 150 tons of illegal election materials that are both anti-American and anti-Yushchenko (see...
FAKE LETTER FROM YUSHCHENKO’S DOCTOR QUESTIONS POISONING CLAIM
The attempted poisoning of opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko last month has taken a new turn that suggests a return to Soviet-era KGB methods. A fake letter from the Austrian...
UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS INCREASINGLY DENOUNCE OPPOSITION AS “EXTREMISTS” AND “TERRORISTS”
On the third anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych remains convinced that his country should take an active role in combating terrorism (UNIAN, September 11)....
FALSIFICATION OF ELECTIONS ALREADY UNDERWAY IN UKRAINE
Although Ukraine's presidential elections are still six weeks away, last week the authorities hinted at two methods it could use to secure the election of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. First,...
RUSSIANIZATION OF UKRAINIAN SECURITY POLICY
Confirming the growing Russianization of Ukrainian security policy, Defense Minister Yevhen Marchuk was dismissed on September 22. Marchuk had only been appointed to this post in June 2003. His removal...
RUSSIA AND STATE-SPONSORED TERRORISM IN UKRAINE (Part 2)
As in many post-communist states, Ukrainian authorities control "loyal nationalist" groups. Paradoxically, although presidential front-runner Viktor Yushchenko is regularly assailed as a "nationalist," his Our Ukraine bloc has only one...
Russia And State-sponsored Terrorism In Ukraine (part 1)
Leading opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko is the target of a range of dirty tricks intended to defeat his bid to succeed Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. As Russian political commentator...
Was There A Second Attempt On Yushchenko’s Life?
On Saturday September 18, opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, the front-runner in the October presidential elections, spoke in front of 70,000 supporters in Kyiv upon his return from Vienna. Yushchenko warned...
Yushchenko Continues To Lead In Ukrainian Presidential Elections
Opinion polls are again at the center of Ukraine's 2004 presidential elections. The gap between Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych continues to remain stable at 5-8% (Ukrayinska pravda,...
Ukraine’s Pro-presidential Parliamentary Majority Disintegrates
The pro-presidential majority in the Ukrainian parliament collapsed when 15 out of the 30 deputies in the moderate Democratic Initiatives-People's Power faction defected. The disintegration is a major blow to...
Ukraine’s New Nationalism And The Controversial Danube Canal
On September 8, Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Dan Geoana declined an invitation to visit Ukraine to discuss recent bilateral problems. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesman Markian Lubkivskyi reiterated Ukraine's interest in...
Stratfor Report Suggests Democratic Revolution Possible In Ukraine
Is a Georgian-style democratic revolution possible in Ukraine? While clearly refuting any similarities between Georgians and Ukrainians, the authorities are also increasingly nervous. A U.S. STRATFOR intelligence commentary that predicted...
Is Washington Sending Mixed Signals To Ukraine?
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visited Ukraine in mid August to discuss Ukraine's military contingent in Iraq. Since August 2003, Ukraine has had 1,576 troops in Iraq deployed 130...
Ukraine Celebrates Its Last Independence Day Under Kuchma
Ukraine celebrated the 13th anniversary of its independence from the USSR on August 24. The occasion is now regularly marked by a Soviet-style military parade and lengthy speeches elaborating national...
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry Shadowing Presidential Candidates
A new scandal is unfolding in Ukraine that is likely to add to the growing realization that this year's Ukrainian presidential elections cannot be described as free and fair. On...
Television Coverage Highly Biased In Ukraine Election Campaign
Senior U.S. State Department officials have reiterated their threat that if Ukraine's elections in October are not free and fair, then Ukraine has no chance of being invited to join...
Prime Minister Yanukovych And Media Freedom
Equal access to the media during this year's Ukrainian presidential campaign is a key issue in determining to what degree Western governments, the Council of Europe, and the Organization for...
Twenty-six Candidates Compete To Be Ukraine’s Next President, Four Of Them Seriously
Candidate registration for the October 31 Ukrainian presidential election officially closed on August 6. Next, all candidates must collect 500,000 signatures by September 20 (Ukrayinska pravda, August 5). The number...
Half Of Kyiv’s Leading Parties Reject Yanukovych
At its party congress at the end of July, Unity (Yednist) refused to back Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych for the upcoming presidential elections (Ukrayinska pravda, July 24). Unity is headed...
Yushchenko Finally Gets Tough On Nationalists
The leader of the All-Ukrainian Party "Liberty," Oleh Tyahnybok, was expelled from the Our Ukraine parliamentary faction on July 20. Tyahnybok was excluded after giving an anti-Russian, anti-Semitic speech at...
Rising Abuse Of State-Administrative Resources In Ukrainian Elections
In late July, the Ukrainian Ministry of Families, Children, and Youth unofficially organized a youth forum to rally support for President Leonid Kuchma's candidate in the upcoming presidential elections, Prime...
What Do Ukrainians Really Think Of Yanukovych?
Members of the pro-Leonid Kuchma camp continue to project an outward appearance of optimism surrounding their candidate, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, and his chances of winning this year's elections. In...
Pro-kuchma Parties Compete For Rural Vote
The Peasant Party of Ukraine (SelPU) held its congress on July 16-17 and changed from an opposition party to one controlled by the pro-Leonid Kuchma camp. Its new leader, Tetiana...
Ukrainian Interior Minister Calls His Agency The “armed Organ Of The Authorities”
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...
Ukraine’s Multi-vector Energy Policy
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...
Former Party-of-power Divided Over Supporting Yanukovych
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...
A Decade Of Kuchma: Success Or Degredation?
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...
Is A Free Election Possible In Ukraine?
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...
Eu-ukrainian Relations Hampered By Clash Of Civilizations
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...
Will Contradictions Undermine Viktor Yanukovych’s Election Campaign?
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...
Opposition Divided Ahead Of Ukrainian Presidential Elections
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...
Ukraine Turns Down Early Membership Prospecyt In Nato
President Leonid Kuchma was finally able to meet President George W. Bush at the June NATO summit in Istanbul. Over the last three years the Bush administration had rebuffed attempts...
Russian And Ukrainian Authorities Resort To Inter-ethnic Violence To Block Yushchenko
A November 2003 document prepared by Russian "political technologists" working for Viktor Medvedchuk, head of the Presidential Administration, has been leaked to Ukrayinska Pravda (June 25). The report outlines how...
Viktor Yushchenko Lines Up High-profile Election Team
On the eve of the official July 3 launch of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential elections, front-runner Viktor Yushchenko announced three important steps in his campaign strategy. The three-pronged approach will...
Unresolved Gongadze Murder May Be Issue In Ukrainian Elections
Tension has again re-surfaced surrounding the autumn 2000 murder and beheading of Ukrainian opposition journalist Heorhiy Gongadze. On June 17, Hryhoriy Omelchenko, head of the parliamentary committee investigating the murder,...
Russians Run Censorship Of Ukrainian Media
In the best traditions of investigative journalism, the opposition Ukrayinska Pravda (June 3 and 11) newspaper has uncovered, for the first time, how Ukrainian oligarchs and their Russian advisers censor...
Oligarch’s Privatize Ukraine Before Elections
On June 14, Ukraine's two largest oligarchic clans undertook what are likely to be one of the first of many insider privatizations before this year's elections in October. Ninety-three percent...
Dissident Oligarchs Under Attack In U.s. And Ukraine
Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko was charged with laundering US$114 million on June 4, after a five-year investigation. Lazarenko was only the second foreign leader to be put on...
Poland Lobbies Eu Membership For Ukraine
On June 13, Poland, like the other seven post-Communist states who joined the European Union (EU) in May, will participate for the first time in European Parliament elections. In preparation...
Ukrainian Opposition Candidate Targeted By “skinheads”
On June 1, Ukrainian Parliament Deputy Speaker Oleksandr Zinchenko complained of collusion between "law enforcement structures and the criminal world" in the April 18 Mukachevo mayoral elections (www.rada.kiev.ua, June 1)....
New Accusations Of Proliferation Against Ukraine
The Washington Times (May 25) published a sensational news item entitled “Dirty Bomb Easy to Buy in Ukraine”. The report was itself based on a Sky News report that investigated...
Yanukovych Tries To Clean Up His Image
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych was nominated on April 14 as the candidate of the pro-presidential camp for the October 31 presidential election in Ukraine. The nomination came six days after...
Ngos And Civil Society Under Attack In Ukraine
Valeriy Mishura, Communist parliamentary deputy and head of the Temporary Investigative Parliamentary Commission, has issued his first report to Parliament on the implications of foreign financing of NGOs (Ukrayinska Pravda,...
Former U.S. President Bush Visits Ukraine
Former U.S. President George Bush was the latest in a long line of senior U.S. policy-makers to visit Ukraine on May 20-21. The visit should be understood as part of...
Ukrainian Parliament Debates Future Of Its Troops In Iraq
Yesterday, the Ukrainian parliament (Rada) debated the issue of a continued Ukrainian military contingent in Iraq, the fourth largest in the 33-member U.S.-led Coalition. Reports were heard by Minister of...
Ukraine’s Euro-atlantic Integration At Dead End
First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Oleksandr Chalyj, Ukraine's last remaining government lobbyist for Euro-Atlantic integration, resigned on May 15 (Ukrayinska Pravda, May 15). This came only days before the...
U.S. Congress Expresses Strong Support For Free Elections In Ukraine
On May 12 the U.S. Congress held a hearing entitled "The Future of Ukraine and the Interests of the United States" dealing with Ukraine's upcoming presidential election and the state...
Parliament Vote Reflects Ukrainian Political Crisis
On May 12, the Ukrainian parliament passed a resolution that recommended President Leonid Kuchma dismiss the governor of Trans-Carpathia oblast and provide a critique of "destabilizing activities" engaged in by...
Media Freedoms In Ukraine And The Cis: A Gloomy Picture
In the first week of May two human rights organizations, the Paris-based Reporters Without Frontiers and the Kyiv-based Institute of Mass Information, released reports on the state of media freedom...
Poll Numbers Show Yanukovych Closing The Gap
A debate has raged in Ukraine this month over the authenticity of poll numbers for Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Kuchma candidate in this year's October election. Pro-opposition activists have questioned how...
Kuchma Regime Using “skinheads” Against Opposition
Ukraine's prosecutor general is to report to parliament on May 12. He has already claimed that his office has undertaken 600 interviews during the course of its investigation into irregularities...
Washington Turning Screws On Ukraine Ahead Of Election
In mid May, former U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski is scheduled to visit Kyiv along with Deputy Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky. Former U.S. President George Bush will likewise...
Deception Masks Ukrainian Foreign Policy Objectives
On April 28, a presidential decree was issued entitled On the Strategy for Economic and Social Development of Ukraine "Through the Path of European Integration between 2004-2015." Such grandiose programs...
Dirty Election Tactics In Ukraine
Early next week, on May 10, Ukraine's Security Service and Interior Ministry are to report to President Leonid Kuchma regarding responsibility for large scale infringements of election and other laws...
Pressure Grows To Pull Ukraine’s Troops Out Of Iraq
On April 28 the Ukrainian contingent in Iraq lost an additional two soldiers, bringing its total to three. These most recent deaths followed the kidnapping of five Ukrainian citizens working...
Loose Nukes And Al-qaeda
In an article in the January-February issue of Foreign Affairs, Graham Allison, director of the Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, pointed...
THE EU AND UKRAINE: NEIGHBOR, PARTNER, MEMBER?
By Taras Kuzio As the European Union and NATO enlarge, a Ukraine that is trying to balance both camps and that straddles the central European-Eurasian divide is not being taken...
THE INTERNET AND MEDIA FREEDOM IN UKRAINE
By Taras Kuzio The internet is the only area of the Ukrainian media that still remains largely uncontrolled by the authorities. The internet still has a "clear image of being...
WHEN OLIGARCHS GO INTO OPPOSITION: THE CASE OF PAVLO LAZARENKO
By Taras Kuzio In the post-Soviet states, corruption is central to the manner in which the authorities control the political environment and extract loyalty from the ruling oligarchic class that...
UKRAINE: PROSPECTS FOR THE 2004 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
By Taras Kuzio The crucial event in Ukraine's political evolution will be the presidential election scheduled for October 2004. A study of previous elections from the past decade reveals some...
CENSUS: UKRAINE, MORE UKRAINIAN
By Taras Kuzio In December 2001 a long-awaited census took place in Ukraine, the partial results of which were released in December. The results confirmed fears of a demographic decline...
SHIFTING LOYALTIES? UKRAINIAN FOREIGN POLICY IN FLUX
By Taras Kuzio Since he was elected president of Russia in March 2000, Vladimir Putin has progressively downgraded relations with Belarus while upgrading them with Ukraine. Five factors have led...
UKRAINE IN CRISIS
By Taras Kuzio Ukraine is in the throes of a profound political crisis: A nascent party system is slowly emerging, but the parties embody several of the deep divisions that...
UKRAINE-EU: A TROUBLED RELATIONSHIP
By Taras Kuzio On July 4, Copenhagen will host the next Ukraine-EU summit. The session is unlikely, however, to resolve poor relations between the two once and for all because...
BALTIC STATES GET APPROVAL FOR NATIONAL MINORITY POLICIES
By Taras Kuzio The closure of the OSCE missions to Estonia and Latvia on December 31, 2001, was a significant boost to the self-confidence of the ruling elites of both...
RUSSIAN NATIONAL IDENTITY AND FOREIGN POLICY TOWARD THE “NEAR ABROAD”
By Taras Kuzio In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the only republic with no institutions of its own was the Russian SFSR. This was rectified only in 1990 by...
BACK TO THE USSR: RUSSIA HELPS MOLDOVA FOLLOW BELARUS’ LEAD
By Taras Kuzio In 2000 a constitutional crisis in Moldova pitted the executive branch against the legislature. It was resolved when the country became the first full parliamentary democracy in...
PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN THE “BLACKMAIL STATE”
By Taras Kuzio The trend towards an authoritarian, corporatist state in Ukraine has been particularly evident since 1997 with Ukraine (and Russia) regressing democratically.[1] Ukraine's regime has been described by...
GEOPOLITICAL RIVALRIES IN EURASIA
By Taras Kuzio Uzbekistan is competing with the more Russophile Kazakhstan for dominance of Central Asia and is one of the most important newly independent states of the former Soviet...
VIRTUAL FOREIGN POLICY IN BELARUS AND RUSSIA
By Taras Kuzio Since the mid-1990s Belarus and Russia have declared a "union" as their strategic foreign policy goal. But, as a Russian newspaper recently put it: "The five years...
UKRAINE FORGES MILITARY ALLIANCE WITH MACEDONIA
By Taras Kuzio During the tenth anniversary celebrations of Ukrainian independence in Kyiv on August 24, one guest was conspicuous--Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski. This was the first occasion that such...
SOVIET-STYLE ELECTION HELD IN BELARUS
By Taras Kuzio Belarus, a country that Freedom House, the New-York based human rights group, defines as a "presidential dictatorship," has been ruled by Soviet-Russophile Alyaksandr Lukashenka since 1994. [1]...
“KUCHMAGATE” CONTINUES TO DOMINATE UKRAINIAN POLITICS
By Taras Kuzio "Kuchmagate" continues to gather momentum.(1) On January 10 Prosecutor General Mykhailo Potebenko admitted that DNA testing had finally confirmed the body found near Kyiv in early November...