(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – James M. Gomez & Kateryna Choursina – November 6, 2013) Ukraine needs a free trade agreement with the European Union to help the eastern European nation kickstart the economy and regain competitiveness on global markets, President Viktor Yanukovych said. “By choosing to get closer to the European Union, we are making a pragmatic choice for optimal […]
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MOSCOW, November 5 (RIA Novosti) Ukraine is far from paying off hundreds of millions of dollars in debt to Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom despite several payments, a company spokesman said Tuesday. “We have received several small installments for gas supplies in August, but it’s too early to speak about complete payment of the debt,” spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – November 4, 2013) Facing down Russian bullying on one side and an economic collapse that could only be months away, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has reportedly caved into long-standing pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on November 4 by saying his government would hike domestic gas tariffs. Ukraine’s hard currency reserves have been […]
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KHARKIV. Nov 1 (Interfax) – Ukraine will have no political clout in the association with the European Union, while the Eurasian Economic Union guarantees absolute equality of its members, says Russian presidential adviser Sergei Glazyev. “Our Customs Union is being set up according to the same rules as the European Union,” Glazyev said. “Both they and we work in compliance […]
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KYIV. Nov 2 (Interfax) – The Ukrainian government and the national oil and gas provider Naftogaz have basically fulfilled President Viktor Yanukovych’s instruction to significantly reduce the amount of natural gas purchases under a contract that Ukraine concluded with Russia during Yulia Tymoshenko’s premiership in 2009, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Boiko said. “Naftogaz and the government have basically fulfilled the […]
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(RIA Novosti – Fyodor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief of the Russia in Global Affairs journal, authoritative source of expertise on Russian foreign policy and global developments – November 1, 2013) Over the 22 years of Ukraine’s independence, people have grown used to its endless maneuvering. Ukraine began by proclaiming the goal of European integration, which was common to the logic of Eastern European […]
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MOSCOW. Nov 1 (Interfax) – Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has advised Ukraine to look to Brussels to raise standby loans in future. “They constantly turn to us for credits, for example,” Medvedev is quoted by Reuters as saying. “In the end, if they have such advanced relations with Brussels … let them get credits from Brussels,” he said. Russia has […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – November 1, 2013) The IMF issued a tough statement yesterday listing all the things that the Ukraine will have to do before it gets access to a new and desperately needed Stand By Agreement. But despite the tough talk, the IMF’s statement was all posturing. The EU and the IMF are in emergency talks, […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Fyodor Lukyanov, special to RBTH – October 29, 2013) Fyodor Lukyanov is a political scientist and editor-in-chief of the journal Russia in Global Affairs. Relations between Russia and Ukraine are about to cross the Rubicon. That is how many interpret the Association Agreement Kiev intends to sign next month with Brussels. The deal […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Mike Collier in Riga, Ben Aris in Moscow – October 30, 2013) The EU’s summit in Vilnius on November 28-29 has been billed as a “game changer” for relations between the EU and the countries to its east, including Russia. The surprising thing is that for once it is not the Lithuanians themselves who […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – October 30, 2013) In an intensifying fight between Russia and Ukraine, the gloves came off on October 29 when Gazprom hit Ukraine with just short of a $1bn gas bill in retribution for Kyiv’s decision to turn its back on the Russian-led Customs Union and throw in its lot with the EU with the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Panin – October 25, 2013) Turkey is interested in joining the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, and India also wants closer ties with the organization, President Vladimir Putin said at the EurAsian Economic Community summit in Minsk on Thursday. But some political analysts saw the summit in Minsk, which for the first […]
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MOSCOW. Oct 24 (Interfax) – Russia will not close its market for goods from Ukraine if the latter signs an association with the European Union, but Ukrainian products will no longer enjoy benefits, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. There is a free-trade zone in the CIS of which both Russia and Ukraine are participants, he said at a press conference […]
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MINSK. Oct 25 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed once again that Ukraine cannot be simultaneously an EU associated member and a Belarusian-Kazakh-Russian Customs Union member. Speaking to journalists in Minsk on Friday, Putin pointed out that the association agreement between Ukraine and the EU says that all possible integration associations Ukraine would wish to join in the […]
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MOSCOW, October 22 (RIA Novosti) Ukraine and Georgia will not accede to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) next year, its top official said Tuesday, dismissing speculation that two of Russia’s most strategically important neighbors might be joining. Ukraine has decided to abandon its long-standing bid to join NATO, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told journalists in Brussels on […]
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(Interfax – KYIV, October 17, 2013) Some 53% of Ukrainians support entry into the European Union, 35% do not and 12% cannot make up their mind, according to the Rating sociological group, which held its poll on September 26 – October 6, 2013. In the opinion of 47% of the respondents, Ukraine will gain more from a free trade zone […]
» Read more(Interfax – KYIV, October 17, 2013) Only 20% of Ukrainians support the country’s accession to NATO, according to the Rating sociological group, which held its poll on September 26 – October 6, 2013. A report published on the Rating website said that two-thirds of Ukrainians thought that Ukraine should not join NATO and 15% were hesitant. A relative majority of […]
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(RIA Novosti – KIEV, October 16, 2013) More than a half of Ukrainians are against the idea of making Russian the country’s second state language, according to a survey released by an independent Ukrainian pollster on Wednesday. Sociological Group “Rating” said 43 percent of respondents are in favor of the idea, while 51 percent are against. Five percent said […]
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(Interfax – KALUGA. October 15, 2013) Moscow does not consider Kyiv’s choice in favor of association with the European Union to be fatal or dramatic, although this would pose certain difficulties for the Belarusian-Kazakh-Russian Customs Union’s and Russia’s market, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said. “Do we think that this is a dramatic or fatal choice? Of course we don’t […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, October 15, 2013) Moscow has no plans to dissuade Kiev from signing a free-trade deal with the European Union, a Russian government spokesman said ahead of Tuesday’s meeting between Russian and Ukrainian premiers. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Mykola Azarov in Kaluga, a city some 150 kilometers (93 miles) […]
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(RIA Novosti – KIEV, October 11, 2013) Russia has hit back at Ukraine after the Ukrainian prime minister threatened to stop all natural gas imports from Russia within the next few years unless the current gas contract is reviewed. On Thursday, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Mykola Azarov told RIA Novosti and Rossiya 24 TV channel that “Ukraine may stop buying […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Stepan Kravchenko & Daryna Krasnolutska – October 11, 2013) Russia is mounting a last-ditch offensive to torpedo Ukraine’s shift toward Europe as President Vladimir Putin seeks to salvage his dream of a common economic space in the former Soviet Union. As Ukraine pursues an accord on European Union integration, Russia has disrupted regional trade and sent […]
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(RIA Novosti – KIEV, October 10, 2013) Ukraine may stop all natural gas imports from Russia within the next few years if the current gas contract is not reviewed, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Thursday. “Under the existing gas prices we have reduced and will continue to reduce [gas imports], and in the future and this is not […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Brian Whitmore – September 27, 2013) A former Soviet republic has its sights set on moving closer to Europe, a move staunchly opposed by Moscow. With the Kremlin’s tacit support, one of its majority ethnic-Russian cities votes to secede, sparking fears of violent conflict. Officials in Moscow vow to defend the rights of its smaller neighbor’s […]
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(RIA Novosti – KIEV, September 25, 2013) Diversification of natural gas supplies by Ukraine and Europe made “gas wars” with Russia impossible, the Ukrainian foreign minister said on Tuesday. Russia and Ukraine have long fought over natural gas deliveries, jeopardizing supplies to Europe, a major Russian gas buyer. In the row at the start of 2009, Russia halted all […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – September 24, 2013) The drama in Ukraine is startling to look like a Hollywood B movie storyline. Hero wearing tattered clothes, bloodied and battered, staggers towards the sanctuary of the waiting plane/car/spaceship as the pack of ravenous dogs/savages/aliens pursue him with glitter of revenge in their eyes. Except in […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, September 19, 2013) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has reiterated that Ukraine cannot combine its associated membership in the European Union with integration in the Customs Union. During a meeting with the participants in the 15th General Assembly of the Organization of Asia- Pacific News Agencies (OANA), he said such statements by the Ukrainian administration on its […]
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(Interfax – GORKI, September 9, 2013) A group of lawyers has arrived at the conclusion that the normative bases of the European Union and Customs Union are incompatible, and that if Ukraine joins the EU free trade zone it will not be able to take on Customs Union obligations, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov has said. “The conclusion […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, August 29, 2013) Russia denies allegations that it is forcing Ukraine to join the Belarusian-Kazakh-Russian Customs Union and urges the EU not to misinterpret the essence of the matter. “We are not forcing any decisions on Ukraine, and it is for the Ukrainian leadership and the Ukrainian people to make them on their own. We are being […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – August 29, 2013) Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov on Wednesday signaled that his country would not back out of its push toward free trade with the European Union despite Russian pressure. Azarov’s statements at a meeting of his Cabinet follow a brief spell of sweeping checks for Ukrainian imports in Russia, which […]
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(RIA Novosti – ROSTOV-ON-DON, August 23, 2013) The Moscow-led Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan may have to use protective measures should Ukraine sign an association agreement with the European Union, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. “If our neighbors [Ukraine] resort to a substantial liberalization of their customs regime with the EU, goods that are not bad in […]
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(RIA Novosti – August 22, 2013 – Fyodor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief of the Russia in Global Affairs journal, authoritative source of expertise on Russian foreign policy and global developments) Russian-Ukrainian relations are again at the center of attention. Nothing has happened between Moscow and Kiev in the three years since the signing of the Kharkiv agreement, under which Ukraine extended Russia’s […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – August 22, 2013) Russia could annul a free trade regime with Ukraine and scrap joint projects in a number of industries if Kiev signs an association agreement with the European Union, Kremlin advisor Sergei Glazyev was quoted as saying Wednesday. By signing the agreement which is slated for November Ukraine […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Tim Gosling in Prague – August 15, 2013) Russia imposed restrictions on all Ukrainian imports, the Federation of Employers of Ukraine claimed on August 14. The escalation of Moscow’s trade war against its neighbour appears a bid to step up pressure on Kyiv to drop any ambition it has to move towards the EU. […]
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(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – Donald N. Jensen – August 13, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Ukraine on July 27 to attend a joint commemoration marking the 1,025th anniversary of Russia’s conversion to Christianity. As Donald N. Jensen, Resident Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, points […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. Aug 8, 2013) Most of Russians like Ukraine and a fifth of them say the bilateral relations are improving but a half asserts the pro-Western policy of Kyiv, the Public Opinion Foundation said. The number of respondents partial to Ukraine has grown from 30% to 53% in the past four years, while the percentage of those expressing […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – August 5, 2013) The performance of popular U.S. rock band Bloodhound Gang was canceled over the weekend after one of its musicians shoved a Russian flag into his underpants at a concert in Ukraine, prompting outrage from Russian officials and calls for an investigation into the possibility that the flag fiasco was […]
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(Kremlin.ru – July 27, 2013) Vladimir Putin took part in the conference called Orthodox-Slavic Values: The Foundation of Ukraine’s Civilisational Choice. PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, friends, I just said goodbye before to President of Ukraine Mr Yanukovych. You also sent him your best wishes. Unfortunately, he has a strict schedule with a lot of events to attend: […]
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(Interfax – KYIV, July 29, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin has reaffirmed that Russia will respect any choice Ukraine will make regarding its economic integration but presumed that Ukraine may have competitive advantages only if it integrates closer with the Russian economy. “A very fierce competition is under way on world markets today for these markets. I am sure that […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, July 24, 2013) Neither Ukraine nor Russia has it easy as a result of their Soviet pasts and the collapse of Western moral leadership, but nevertheless, Ukraine by virtue of its pluralism, regionalism and more honest dealing with the past offers far more reasons for optimism than does the Russian Federation, […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, July 16, 2013) A close analysis by a group of Kremlin advisors of a message to the Verkhovna Rada by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich in whom Moscow has placed so much hope shows that Kyiv no longer views itself as part of the Russian cultural world, defines itself in European terms, and […]
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(Interfax – KYIV, June 12, 2013) Seventy-eight percent of the Ukrainians believe Russia ad Ukraine have more thins in common than they do different things, and more than half of the respondents see Russia as a brotherly or friendly country. The poll was conducted by the company Research&Branding Group in all regions of Ukraine, in Crimea, and in the cities […]
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(Interfax – KYIV, June 6, 2013) Only three social institutes – the Church, the media and the Armed Forces – enjoy confidence of Ukrainians, according to the survey done by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Razumkov Center. Some 31.7% trust the Church fully, 38.4% are inclined to trust, 10.6% are not inclined, and 9.3% have no confidence […]
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(Interfax – KYIV, June 1, 2013) Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych currently has the highest electoral rating among the possible presidential candidates, as is evident from a public opinion survey conducted in May by the Razumkov Center sociological service jointly with the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation. The respondents were offered two alternative lists of possible candidates who could theoretically run […]
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(RIA Novosti – Fyodor Lukyanov – May 30, 2013 – Fyodor Lukyanov is Editor-in-Chief of the Russia in Global Affairs journal, an authoritative source of expertise on Russian foreign policy and global developments) Astana recently hosted a Customs Union summit. The integration project is taking shape on the fly, so each summit evokes a great deal of interest. What if […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, May 24, 2013) The Russian Foreign Ministry has admitted that recent statements by Vladimir Andreyev, the Russian consul general in Simferopol, Ukraine’s Crimea, about Crimean Tatars were inappropriate. Moscow “understands [Ukraine’s] reaction to certain… incorrect wordings used by the Russian representative without proper account for the sensitive issue demanding… a weighted approach,” the Russian Foreign Ministry […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 9, 2013) A recent poll has shown that Russian citizens had less favorable opinions towards the United States and European Union as well as to Ukraine and Belarus. Currently, 48% of Russians give generally positive comments about the United States, against 53% in January. Thus, the share of those opposed to the United States grew from […]
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KYIV. April 1 (Interfax) – Most Ukrainians and Russians are amicable toward each other but the number of such people is bigger in Ukraine, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology reported on Monday. It held the poll together with Russia’s Levada Center in January-February 2013. The percentage of Ukrainians feeling friendly towards Russia grew inconsiderably, from 83% to 85%, since […]
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(Business New Eruope – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – March 26, 2013) After a four-week hiatus during which Ukraine’s feisty opposition blocked the workings of parliament in protest at President Viktor Yanukovych’s heavy-handed policymaking, the Rada resumed work in the middle of March and opened with a full-scale brawl between deputies. The opposition had been blocking parliament’s work […]
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(Interfax – Kiev, March 21, 2013) Ukrainians have almost concurred (as received) about prospect for Ukraine’s joining the Customs Union (of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia) and signing the association agreement with the EU, a survey conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) between 23 February and 11 March showed. According to the survey, 41 per cent of those […]
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