Latest Articles about Europe
WHEN ETIQUETTE IS AN ALIEN CONCEPT
"Etiquette" is a loan word in Russian, as in other languages, but the practice does not seem to have been borrowed along with the word by some Russian diplomats, particularly when assigned to the Baltic states. On March 29, Russia's ambassador to Lithuania, Boris Tsepov,... MORE
RUSSIA’S BLACK SEA FLEET CAUSES INCIDENT IN UKRAINE
On March 23-24, a Russian naval landing force held for approximately 24 hours a beachhead near Feodosia on Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, as part of a military exercise not authorized by Ukraine. At 6am on March 23, a Russian marine infantry unit based in Temryuk, Krasnodar... MORE
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, after several groups defected from it to join the factions linked to parliamentary chair Volodymyr... MORE
AUTHORITIES REACT TO PROTESTS IN MINSK
Recent events in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan clearly affected the traditional "Independence Day" demonstration in Minsk on Friday, March 25, when the Belarusian authorities reacted with a fearsome display of force and intimidation along the central street of the capital city. The march, dubbed the "Day... MORE
YUSHCHENKO PROPOSES INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIUM FOR CENTRAL ASIAN GAS
On an official visit to Ashgabat on March 22-23, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko proposed creating an international consortium to build, own, and operate a new large-capacity gas pipeline from Turkmenistan via Kazakhstan and Russia to Ukraine and on to Western Europe. Yushchenko outlined the concept... MORE
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 Leonid Kuchma. One new scandal is that Kyiv sent 12 long-range surface-to-air missiles to Iran... MORE
UKRAINE SEEKING PARTNERS FOR ODESSA-BRODY OIL PIPELINE EXTENSION
Meeting in Kyiv on March 21, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and the German and Polish Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Joschka Fischer and Adam Rotfeld, discussed using and extending the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline as originally intended for transporting Caspian oil to European countries. Following the meeting,... MORE
Mixed Response to Vendors’ Protests in Belarus
Protests by Belarusian entrepreneurs against the imposition of an 18% value-added tax (VAT) on all imports from Russia have continued for the past two weeks. The reaction of the Lukashenka government has been described aptly as a "stick and a carrot" policy: a combination of... MORE
Putin in Kyiv
On March 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a one-day working visit to Ukraine. The event was designed to signal a major improvement in the atmosphere of bilateral relations. For Putin, it was both a fence-mending move toward Ukraine and an international damage-limitation move after... MORE
UKRAINE CONTINUES TO CHALLENGE RUSSIA’S ROLE AS A CENTER OF GRAVITY IN POST-SOVIET LANDS
As Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko on March 19, Kyiv defies Moscow's leadership role in the post-Soviet space. On March 14, Yushchenko held an unprecedented meeting with a group of about 20 top Russian business executives, including... MORE