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 not believe this year's elections will be free and fair. Even President Leonid Kuchma has... MORE

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 nor did they deteriorate. The NATO-Ukraine Action Plan was not upgraded to a Membership Action... MORE

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 campaign season formally opened on July 4. Initially, his inevitability was not considered significant, because... MORE

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 of the pro-presidential camp have united behind Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. His own Party of... MORE

Meeting on June 29 at the level of heads of state and government, the NATO-Ukraine Commission reviewed implementation of the NATO-Ukraine Action Plan adopted at the alliance's preceding summit in Prague, November 2002. The Commission's June 29 review focused both on long-term military and security... MORE

The Istanbul summit marked the entry of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into NATO as full members. In one of the keynote addresses during the summit, Latvia's President Vaira Vike-Freiberga spoke for all the ten countries that joined NATO between 2002 and 2004. She looked back... MORE

En route to Istanbul for the NATO summit, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stopped in Moldova and conferred with President Vladimir Voronin. Rumsfeld's formal purpose was to thank Moldova for contributing 44 de-mining specialists to the coalition force in Iraq until March, and its... MORE

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 by Kuchma to return to the cozy U.S.-Ukrainian relationship of the 1990s under President Bill... MORE

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 President Leonid Kuchma could win a third term by discrediting his main opponent as a... MORE

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 help Yushchenko consolidate a wide-embracing election campaign against his main opponent, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych,... MORE