(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – January 29, 2014) At the EU-Russia summit in Brussels on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin promised that Russia would not interfere in the political conflict raging in Ukraine and rebuked European Union officials for visiting the opposition protests. Putin argued that too many mediators getting involved in the 2 1/2-month-long conflict could have […]
» Read more
(Kremlin.ru – January 28, 2014) Vladimir Putin took part in the Russia-EU summit meeting. The Russian President had a private meeting with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. The meeting was at the EU’s initiative. The meeting continued in a working lunch format with participation by the delegations’ members. Following the summit, the […]
» Read more
(Business New Europe – bne.ru – January 28, 2014) The pro-Russian leanings of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his associates have triggered a national crisis following November’s shocking decision to back out of signing a deal that would have brought the country closer to the EU. Yet the Kremlin’s hold over Yanukovych may not be restricted to the international power […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Jan 24 (Interfax) – There has been no progress in the forming of the four common spaces of cooperation between Russia and the European and the two sides should discuss how to match the European and Eurasian integration processes, officials in Moscow said. “We believe there is a great need for a frank, substantial conversation, including on the joint […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, January 24 (RIA Novosti) The Russia ruble hit a historical record low Friday, dropping to 47.32 rubles per euro at tomorrow settlement date on the Moscow stock exchange. The previous all-time low dates back to February 3, 2009, when the ruble stood at 47.25 rubles per euro. The dollar traded at 34.52 rubles on Friday, a drop of […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – January 20, 2014) An official from the European Union spoke out about several concerns over Russia during a visit to Moscow on Friday, warning that plans for a visa-free regime would be put on hold until issues of corruption and human rights are addressed. The meeting came shortly after the EU decided […]
» Read more
BRUSSELS. Jan 14 (Interfax) – It is necessary to carry out eliminations and exceptions in the European Union law for the South Stream transborder pipeline, Russia’s envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said. Moscow expects EU Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger to elaborate on the way in which Brussels will hold talks on the South Stream on behalf of the […]
» Read more
BRUSSELS. Jan 14 (Interfax) – A Russia-European Union summit, due to open in Brussels on January 28, could be a “suitable moment” to sign an agreement to further simplify visa rules, while the launch of talks on visa-free travel could send a favorable signal for further promoting the sides’ strategic partnership, Russia’s envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said. “The […]
» Read more
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, January 14, 2014) Despite Vladimir Putin’s success in getting Kyiv not to sign a European Union association agreement and constant Russian media claims that the Euro-Maidan is about to collapse, Ivan Nikashin says, “the Kremlin has lost Ukraine” this time around in because of problems having to do with the still-Soviet nature […]
» Read more
(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 11, Issue 3 – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Oleg Varfolomeyev – January 8, 2014) 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 massive anti-government protests since 2004, was dictated by a dismal state […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 8, 2014) The European Court for Human Rights last year made 120 rulings against human rights violations by Russian authorities, the Justice Ministry’s press service said Tuesday. “As of Dec. 20, 2013 the European Court for Human Rights had made 120 rulings, in which Russian authorities were found guilty of violating the principles of […]
» Read more
(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – Donald N. Jensen – January 6, 2014) In December, after a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Viktor Yanukovych, Moscow announced that it would give Kiev a $15 billion bailout and slash the gas price by one-third as a reward for Yanukovych’s rejection of an association agreement with the European Union. Donald N. Jensen, […]
» Read more
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, January 3, 2013) Ukrainians and Moldovans are not the only nations between Moscow and the European Union who would prefer to be part of the EU than any Moscow-dominated entity and certainly don’t want their country to be absorbed by the Russian Federation. A new poll shows that Belarusians have the same […]
» Read more
KYIV. Dec 31 (Interfax) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Rybak have congratulated fellow citizens with the New Year and Christmas. The prime minister recalled the main socioeconomic and political events of the outgoing year and said that the year was complicated but certain achievements were still made. “We averted devaluation of the national currency […]
» Read more
KYIV. Dec 26 (Interfax) – Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych expects the government and the parliament to work together effectively on the negotiations on the preparations for signing an association agreement with the European Union. “I expect the government and parliamentarians to work together closely on the negotiations and work on this agreement, which should be profitable to Ukraine and be […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Dec 23 (Interfax) – Ukraine’s association with the European Union does not contradict their observer status in the Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Union, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said. “No, there is no contradiction,” Ushakov told a briefing on Monday, responding to a question from Interfax as to whether Ukraine can simultaneously be an observer in the […]
» Read more
KYIV. Dec 25 (Interfax) – Ukraine will resume negotiations with the European Union on signing an association agreement after the New Year’s holidays, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara said. “Two rounds of the negotiations have already taken place in Brussels. As you know, the Christmas and New Year’s political holidays begin in Europe today, and Ukraine will resume the negotiations […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Dec 23 (Interfax) – The European Union did not have enough strength and willingness to help Ukraine recover from an economic crisis and to convince Kyiv to sign the association agreement, State Duma International Affairs Committee Chairman Alexei Pushkov said. “Why did the EU set such unattractive conditions for signing the association agreement for Ukraine and make political demands […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov – KIEV December 25, 2013) As street protests in Kiev over President Viktor Yanukovych’s U-turn on a planned deal with the European Union appear to be waning after several weeks of fervor, one sentiment voiced by pro-EU demonstrators is still ringing in analysts’ ears: “The Soviet Union did not fall in 1991; […]
» Read more
(Interfax – Moscow, December 21, 2013) Russia would like to see Ukraine participating in Eurasian integrational processes and the agreements between Russia and Ukraine of 17 December confirm a shared desire for constructive work, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. “Eurasian integrational structures are open to other partners in the CIS as well. Of course, we would like to […]
» Read more
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Olga Tanas, Daryna Krasnolutska and Kateryna Choursina – December 20, 2013) Ukraine’s opposition, determined to keep mass demonstrations alive in Kiev, were skeptical of President Viktor Yanukovych’s offer of a roundtable meeting to settle the month-long political crisis. The meeting, first brought up by Yanukovych yesterday, will start at 3 p.m. today in Kiev, according to […]
» Read more
BRUSSELS. Dec 19 (Interfax) – High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, European Commission Vice President Catherine Ashton believes that the understandings between Ukraine and Russia reached in Moscow won’t hinder Kyiv’s further advancement along the road of European integration. At an extraordinary session of the European Parliament committee on foreign affairs in Brussels on Wednesday […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, December 18 (RIA Novosti) Russia is surprised by blatant attempts to pressure Ukraine into signing an association agreement with the European Union, Russia’s foreign minister said Wednesday. Sergei Lavrov said that pressure was continuing despite Kiev’s clear choice to develop closer ties with Moscow. He spoke a day after President Vladimir Putin agreed to cut the price of […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Dec 18 (Interfax) – Russia’s Gazprom (MOEX: GAZP) and Naftogaz Ukraine, in the presence of the two countries’ presidents on Tuesday, signed addenda to January 19, 2009 contracts on the purchase-sale, delivery and transshipment of natural gas for 2009-2019. Discount President Vladimir Putin said after the signing that the documents would enable Gazprom to supply gas to Ukraine at […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, December 18 (RIA Novosti) Russia’s deal to provide Ukraine with cheaper gas may mean billions of dollars in lost profits, an investment analyst told a business newspaper in remarks published Wednesday. President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would slash the price of its gas to Ukraine by one-third on Tuesday, down to $268.5 per 1,000 cubic meters from […]
» Read more
(Kremlin.ru – December 17, 2013) Vladimir Putin met with President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych in the Kremlin. The meeting between the two heads of state was held prior to the session of the Russian-Ukrainian Interstate Commission. PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Mr Yanukovych, It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to Moscow. This is a regular meeting scheduled to […]
» Read more
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – December 18, 2013) U.S. Senator John McCain has accused Russia of trying to block Ukraine’s efforts to join the European Union. Fresh upon his return from witnessing the pro-European Union demonstrations taking place in Kyiv, McCain spoke to RFE/RL’s Golnaz Esfandiari about what may lie ahead for the country. RFE/RL: Senator McCain, You just returned from […]
» Read more
(Interfax – December 18, 2013) The so-called Magnitsky List is an utterly unfriendly step regarding Russia and Moscow will take proportionate measures if it is expanded, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said. “I think that this law is an unfriendly step regarding us and does not contribute to improving the climate in our bilateral relations with the United States. […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Gevorg Mirzayan, special to RBTH – December 16, 2013) The crisis over the country’s future intensifies as protesters backing closer ties with Europe bring the barricades back to Kiev’s Maidan Square. Opinion in Ukraine has split in two over whether the country should sign an Association Agreement offering trade and political links with […]
» Read more
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Harriet Salem in Kyiv – December 17, 2013) “I am here to support stability, I am here for the future of Ukraine, for my grandchildren,” Anna Egorovna told bne standing in Mariinsky Park. Eregorovna was one of the tens of thousand supporters that arrived in Kyiv over the weekend of December 14-15 to attend […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Dec 17 (Interfax) – The European Union is divided over the issue of signing the Association Agreement with Ukraine, but the EU is unanimous in its call for the resignation of Ukraine’s current leadership, Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee, told Interfax on Monday. “The impression is that a certain split is obvious within the […]
» Read more
BRUSSELS. Dec 17 (Interfax) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has denied that Russia pressed Ukraine to opt against signing a planned association agreement with the European Union. “We gave an honest warning, we didn’t blackmail anyone: the Commonwealth of Independent States treaty on the free trade zones has the reservation that, when a situation emerges that poses risks to […]
» Read more
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – KYIV BLOG – December 16, 2013) Some 100,000 protestors rallied on Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) in central Kyiv for the third Sunday in a row this weekend, maintaining the pressure on the increasingly embattled President Viktor Yanukovych. They were treated to a speech by US Senator John McCain and a gig by Ukrainian rock […]
» Read more
KYIV. Dec 16 (Interfax) – Ukraine has made a final choice in its foreign policy vector – integration with Europe, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said. “As we are told, the door to the European Union is open for us, same as the door of the Customs Union. That is very good, because we have a choice and we will […]
» Read more
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Graham Stack in Kyiv – December 16, 2013) As mass anti-government and pro-EU protests move into their third week in Ukraine, vox pop and opinion polls show the continued high motivation of protestors, but also the stubborn resistance of the east-west geographical fault line that shapes Ukrainian politics. December 15 saw another large crowd […]
» Read more
(Voice of America – James Brooke -December 14, 2013) James Brooke is VOA Moscow bureau chief, covering Russia and the former USSR. KYIV – To understand what is happening in Kyiv today, remember that Ukraine has a larger landmass in Europe than France, the largest nation of the European Union. From East to West, Ukraine is longer than Italy, […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – December 13, 2013 – Nikolay Surkov, RBTH) Putin says there’s room for avoiding a confrontation between the European Union and the Eurasian Union. Seeking to ease tensions and move the discussion on Ukraine in a constructive direction, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said Russia is ready to negotiate on any type of customs […]
» Read more
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – December 12, 2013) Following the Ukrainian government’s failure to retake Kyiv’s central square Maidan from protestors on the night of December 11, riot police withdrew the next day and demonstrators rebuilt biggest and better barricades using bags of packed snow, corrugated steel and iron bars. There is also clearly some last minute horse trading […]
» Read more
(Moscow News – moscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – December 11, 2013) With thousands still protesting in Kiev’s streets after Ukraine suspended plans to sign a trade association agreement with the European Union, beleaguered Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is still mulling whom to side with for closer economic cooperation – Russia or Europe. Here are six things Russian President Vladimir Putin […]
» Read more
(opendemocracy.net – December 9, 2013 – David Marples) David Marples is Distinguished University Professor in the Department of History and Classics, University of Alberta, Canada. Author of 13 books, he is also President of the North American Association for Belarusian Studies. The current conflict in Ukraine tends to cast the country’s future choices in terms of membership of either the […]
» Read more
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Kateryna Choursina, Daryna Krasnolutska & Ilya Arkhipov – December 9, 2013) Russia cast doubt that Ukraine may soon join its customs bloc, a plan that have sparked the ex-Soviet republic’s biggest protests in almost a decade and fueled calls for President Viktor Yanukovych to resign. Riot police and stick-wielding protesters squared off in central Kiev a […]
» Read more
[The Stakes in Ukraine: The U.S. should warn Putin not to stoke violence in Kiev. – Wall Street Journal editorial – December 9, 2013 – http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304014504579246330793547224] The Wall Street Journal covers the protests in Ukraine, noting that even with divisions within the country, the majority of Ukrainians want a closer relationship with Europe and a Ukraine with greater democratization: Ukraine […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Dec 9 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych met in Sochi on Friday to discuss the agenda of the bilateral interstate commission, which is to hold a session in Moscow on December 17, and they did not discuss Ukraine’s possible accession to the Belarusian-Kazakh-Russian Customs Union, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov told Interfax. “Special […]
» Read more
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Graham Stack in Kyiv – December 9, 2013) Hundreds of thousands of pro-EU protestors took to the streets again in Kyiv December 8, filling Kyiv’s central Maidan square to demand the resignation of Ukraine’s government, and erecting barricades sealing off the government district. Not only is the administration of President Viktor Yanukovych losing the […]
» Read more
KYIV. Dec 6 (Interfax) – Ukrainian opposition leaders – Vitali Klitschko of the UDAR party, Arseny Yatsenyuk of Batkivshchyna (Fatherland), and Oleh Tyahnybok of Svoboda (Freedom) – have met with the U.S. assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, Victoria Nuland. “We call upon the leaders of the European Union and the United States to resolutely condemn violent […]
» Read more
KYIV. Dec 5 (Interfax) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has assured German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle that Ukraine is determined to continue its efforts on the path towards European integration, noting, however, that extremists and neo-Nazis are obstructing this process. Azarov and Westerwelle met during the 20th session of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Kyiv on Thursday, and the […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, December 6 (RIA Novosti) Ukraine decided independently to abandon a long-anticipated trade deal with the European Union, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Friday, denying that Moscow pressured its neighbor into changing direction. “They realized that at the moment, they’re not ready for this,” he said in a televised interview on Russia’s state TV channel Rossiya 1. “In all […]
» Read more
(RFE/RL – rferl.org –Brian Whitmore – December 5, 2013) The latest threat to Vladimir Putin’s autocratic rule may be coming not from the Russian opposition but from the Ukrainian street. As tens of thousands continue to protest in Kyiv against Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to scuttle a pact with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Moscow, […]
» Read more
KYIV. Dec 5 (Interfax) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called the Western countries’ reaction to Ukraine’s refusal to sign an association agreement with the EU “hysteria.” “This situation is connected to some Europeans’ hysteria, which was caused by the fact that Ukraine exercised its sovereign right in deciding not to sign an agreement that Ukrainian experts and the […]
» Read more
BRUSSELS. Dec 4 (Interfax) – Brussels calls on Kyiv to stop playing with figures indicating how much money Ukraine needs to accumulate to proceed toward closer integration with Europe; the parties should instead start a constructive dialogue if they want to reach some tangible results on the way toward signing an association agreement, a high-ranking European diplomatic official said in […]
» Read more