Verkhovna Rada – Johnson's Russia List

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine urges Congress to maintain sanctions on Nord Stream 2” – Financial Times

May 24, 2021 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Oil, Gas, Energy, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

“Completion of pipeline would be ‘victory for Russia’ and a ‘personal loss’ for Biden, says Zelensky.” “Ukraine has stepped up … pressure on Washington over the contentious Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, appealing to … Congress to maintain sanctions against the project. The Ukrainian parliament … overwhelmingly backed a resolution calling on U.S. lawmakers to override […]

The Map of Political Forces in Today’s Ukraine

July 3, 2020 JRL Russia List Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“In contemporary Ukraine, political parties rarely survive more than one electoral cycle. The super-electoral year 2019 changed the party structure once again …. A year later, there is already palpable interest on the part of the citizenry in new parties, as people have started losing trust in the current ones […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Kremlin’s anti-American propaganda in Ukraine isn’t working” – Kyiv Post/ Mykhailo Basarab

June 17, 2020 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

“Over the past six months, we have witnessed a sharp increase in anti-American rhetoric not only by the Viktor Medvedchuk’s pro-Kremlin TV channels but also by representatives of certain political groups. And this rhetoric is happening not just from the 44-member Opposition Platform For Life faction in Parliament, which officially advocates a pro-Russia policy. It’s happening among billionaire oligarch Ihor […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “What the Press Doesn’t Know About Ukraine; Reporters will have to ask a lot more questions to understand the missing context of the Trump call” – Wall Street Journal/ Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.

October 3, 2019 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

“We might not be here if the mainstream media, which loved the Steele Dossier when it seemed to incriminate … Trump, had later shown an equal interest in investigating its origins as a partisan fabrication. In his now-famous transcript … Trump mainly presses Ukraine’s new president for dirt not on the Bidens but on the known unknowns of 2016. ‘I […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine Election: President’s Party Leads, Majority Unclear” – AP

July 18, 2019 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

“… Zelenskiy’s party has the most support in opinion polls ahead of Sunday’s snap parliamentary elections, but … a solid majority in the Verkhovna Rada is far from certain. Zelenskiy … took office in May, [yet] has been stymied by a parliament dominated by his opponents. He ordered the elections to be held three months earlier than scheduled in order […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine President’s Party Leads Poll Ahead of July Election” – Reuters/New York Times/ Reporting: Natalia Zinets, Editing: William Maclean

June 27, 2019 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

“… ahead of a [July 21] snap parliamentary election …. [a] survey conducted by research group Reiting … showed Zelenskiy’s party, Servant of the People, … support[ed by] 37.3% of people who said they would vote. … The outgoing parliament … is dominated by loyalists of … Poroshenko. Servant of the People, campaigning on a pro-European, anti-corruption ticket, has no […]

RUSSIALINK: “Zelensky’s party seeking one-party majority in future Rada – election campaign head” – Interfax

May 28, 2019 JRL Russia List Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

KYIV. May 27 (Interfax) – The Servant of the People party has set itself the task of obtaining a one-party majority in the future Verkhovna Rada on the basis of an early parliamentary election. “We would not like to turn to other parties to form a coalition. Our ultimate goal is to form a coalition from one political force,” the […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine’s parliamentary coalition collapses, making snap elections impossible” – bne Intellinews

May 17, 2019 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

“The ruling coalition in the Ukrainian parliament … Verkhovna Rada[] collapsed … May 17 … [with] the withdrawal of the People’s Front faction, headed by former prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. According to Ukrainian legislation, the Verkhovna Rada should now keep working until the next parliamentary election … October 27, meaning president-elect … Zelenskiy will not be able to call a […]

Back In Parliament After Abrupt Release From Jail, Savchenko Praises Zelenskiy

April 29, 2019 JRL Russia List Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – KYIV – April 23, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/back-in-parliament-after-abrupt-release-from-jail-savchenko-praises-zelenskiy/29898734.html) Ukrainian lawmaker Nadia Savchenko has returned to parliament a week after she was unexpectedly released from jail, where she had been held for more than a year over allegations that she plotted a terrorist attack on […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Poroshenko’s team hit by defence industry corruption scandal, Tymoshenko starts impeachment process” – bne Intellinews

March 1, 2019 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Military, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

“… Poroshenko rivals in the upcoming presidential election are accusing him of ‘profiting from blood’ after an investigation revealed that the son of the president’s close business partner has been selling arms to separatist rebels in the breakaway eastern region of Donbas … [according to] a report broadcast on Ukrainian TV …. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who leads the […]

RUSSIALINK: “Poroshenko fails to make speech on martial law after several factions block Rada rostrum” – Interfax

November 26, 2018 JRL Russia List Military, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

KYIV. Nov 26 (Interfax) – Several factions in Ukrainian parliament blocked its plenary session on Monday, preventing President Petro Poroshenko from explaining his proposal to impose nationwide martial law, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction said. “A number of factions decided to block the rostrum without even allowing the president to reveal what exactly is happening in the Sea of Azov […]

RUSSIALINK: “Losing the Plot – Ukraine’s Opposition Seeks a Strategy; Ukraine’s pro-Russian opposition is targeting next year’s parliamentary elections, not the presidential ones-so is Russia. But they cannot agree among themselves on who their leader should be and what their strategy is” – Carnegie Moscow/ Konstantin Skorkin

November 23, 2018 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

“Disoriented since the downfall of former president Viktor Yanukovych, the parts of Ukraine’s opposition more sympathetic to Russia have not disappeared. They are regrouping, with an eye mainly to next year’s parliamentary elections, seeing the presidential election as all but lost. But they have yet to find a common leader or unifying idea. …”

NEWSLINK: “Savchenko kept in individual cell, has ceased hunger strike” – UNIAN (Kyiv)

July 6, 2018 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Newslinks, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

Nadiya Savchenko file photo, adapted from image at osce.usmission.gov

“Tetiana Protorchenko, the press secretary of Ukrainian Member of Parliament Nadiia Savchenko, who has been arrested on charges of plotting a coup, has said the lawmaker is kept in a single confinement cell of a detention center. ‘Nadiia is in an individual cell, she takes a shower once a week. She ceased her hunger strike two weeks ago for taking […]

NEWSLINK: “Lutsenko says Savchenko planned mass murder in the Verkhovna Rada” – Kyiv Post/Veronika Melkozerova

March 16, 2018 JRL Russia List Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

“… Lutsenko made his sensational claim the same day Savchenko returned to Ukraine from Strasbourg to give testimony to the Security Service of Ukraine as a witness in a case against Volodymyr Ruban, a Donbas war mediator accused of attempting to assassinate Ukrainian leaders and smuggling weapons. …”

NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine passes bill to get occupied regions back from Russia” – AP

January 18, 2018 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Military, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

“Ukraine’s parliament … passed a bill to reintegrate the country’s eastern territories … currently controlled by Russia-backed separatists … supporting taking them back by military force if necessary. The bill describes the areas in Ukraine’s … Donetsk and Luhansk regions as ‘temporarily occupied’ by ‘aggressor country’ Russia. … Poroshenko welcomed the new bill, saying it would help restore control of […]

Interfax: Ukrainian bill on Donbas reintegration puts an end to Minsk Agreements – Kosachyov

January 18, 2018 JRL Russia List Military, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

MOSCOW. Jan 18 (Interfax) – The Ukrainian bill on the reintegration of Donbas puts an end to the Minsk Agreements, and Germany and France should evaluate the act accordingly, Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee head Konstantin Kosachyov said on Thursday. “By adopting the odious bill on Donbas reintegration, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada essentially put an end to the Minsk Agreements [the […]

NEWSLINK Brookings/Steven Pifer: “What Ukraine’s new prime minister is (and isn’t) likely to achieve”

April 18, 2016 JRL Russia List Newslinks, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

NEWSLINK: “Groysman becomes Ukraine’s new prime minister, Parubiy takes over as speaker of parliament” – Kyiv Post

April 14, 2016 JRL Russia List Newslinks, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

Ukraine Should Shift from Cyrillic to Latin Script, Former Verkhovna Rada Deputy Says

March 23, 2016 JRL Russia List Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, March 21, 2016) To solidify its break from a Russia-dominated space, Ukraine should shift from the Russian-based Cyrillic alphabet Moscow imposed on it to a script based on the Latin alphabet used by European countries, according to Aleksandr Donyi, the head of the Last Barricade social organization and a former deputy of […]

Ukraine President Urges Coalition to Decide on Cabinet, Premier

March 1, 2016 JRL Russia List Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Daryna Krasnolutska – February 29, 2016) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ruled out an early national election and urged a majority coalition in parliament to decide on a new cabinet to end the worst political crisis since deadly street protests ousted Kremlin-backed leader Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. “We don’t have the time because it will mean half […]

Chaos in Ukraine Is Making Putin Stronger

February 18, 2016 JRL Russia List Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Aliaksandr Kudrytski, Volodymyr Verbyany – February 17, 2016) Two years after Ukrainians shed blood on the streets of Kiev to crush a Kremlin-backed kleptocracy, the country of more than 40 million people is back on the brink of failed-state status. The government’s long descent into chaos reached a new nadir this week, when amid reform delays […]

NEWSLINK: “Ukraine’s government almost fell yesterday. It’s still in crisis. Here’s what happened and why it matters. [interview with Oxana Shevel]” – Washington Post/Joshua Tucker

February 18, 2016 JRL Russia List Newslinks, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

Ukrainian Cabinet to keep working, fuss surrounding its work aimed at redistributing financial flows, seizing power – Yatsenyuk

February 3, 2016 JRL Russia List Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

KYIV. Feb 3 (Interfax) – The Ukrainian Cabinet of ministers will continue working, and if some parliamentarians disagree with this, they are free to initiate a vote of no confidence in the government, says Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. “We, as a government, will keep doing our job, we will be fulfilling the government action program, we will pursue reform, and […]

NEWSWATCH Reuters: “Ukraine health system in danger of collapse as reforms stall”

December 23, 2015 JRL Russia List Health, Epidemics, Substance Abuse, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

Medical Symbol with Pole, Serpents, Wings, adapted from image at lanl.gov

Reuters covers concerns over health care in Ukraine. A reform drive launched by the Western-leaning government installed after a pro-Moscow president, Viktor Yanukovich, was overthrown in a popular uprising last year has become mired in bureaucratic inertia, arguments and allegations of corruption. * * * [A] stalled health bill is one of many examples of the slow progress Ukraine is […]

NEWSLINK Interfax-Ukraine: “Poroshenko speaks for preserving current coalition in parliament”

December 11, 2015 JRL Russia List Newslinks, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War