Staunton, May 22 – What is taking place in Donetsk and Luhansk is not a civil war because it isn’t a struggle about the definition of the direction of all of Ukraine, Yevgeny Ikhlov argues. And it isn’t a fratricidal armed conflict because local elites are not providing the insurgent forces with support. Instead, he […]
Ukraine At War
Ukraine Liveblog Day 94: Russian-Backed Separatists Launch Attacks Near Donetsk
Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. For an overview and analysis of this developing story see our latest podcast. Please help The Interpreter to continue providing this valuable information service by making a donation towards our costs. An interactive map of the situation: View Ukraine: April, 2014 in a larger map For links to individual […]
The West’s Real Double Standards in the Ukrainian Crisis
Staunton, May 22 – For months, Moscow officials and commentators have complained about what they say is a double standard on the part of the West, arguing that Western governments and writers are condemning Russia for doing in Ukraine exactly what the US and the West more generally have done elsewhere. Such complaints are in […]
Self-Proclaimed Donetsk Republic is ‘Russia without Putin,’ Roshchin Say
Staunton, May 21 – The Donetsk Peoples Republic is “a beautiful example for those who love to shout the slogan ‘Russia Without Putin’” because the situation there demonstrates, perhaps by the Kremlin’s design, what could happen in the Russian Federation as a whole if Putin were to be replaced, according to Aleksey Roshchin. In a […]
Ukraine Liveblog Day 93: Akhmetov Tells Donbass to ‘Fight, Fight, Fight’
Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. For an overview and analysis of this developing story see our latest podcast. Please help The Interpreter to continue providing this valuable information service by making a donation towards our costs. An interactive map of the situation: View Ukraine: April, 2014 in a larger map For links to individual […]
Putin’s ‘Controlled Chaos’ Policy in Southeast Ukraine Could Backfire on Russia, Pastukhov Says
Staunton, May 19 – Vladimir Putin’s plan to “organize administered chaos” in southeastern Ukraine is proving to be far harder than his promotion of separatism in “religiously and ethnically united enclaves like Abkhazia or South Osetia and consequently he appears likely to be deeply disappointed, according to Vladimir Pastukhov. That is to say, the St. […]
Putin’s Russia ‘Already Almost a Totalitarian State,’ Democratic Activists Say
Staunton, May 19 – Putin’s Russia is “already almost a totalitarian state,” one in which “citizens are losing their individual rights” and “government propaganda is stupefying people,” according to a declaration of 52 leading human rights activists, opposition political leaders, and commentators, who collectively form the December Roundtable. Among those who signed it were Lyudmila […]
Kremlin Playing with Orthodox Terrorism Just as Tsars Did with Black Hundreds, Mitrokhin Says
Staunton, May 19 – The selection of Aleksandr Boroday and Igor Girkin to leading positions in the self-proclaimed “Donetsk Peoples Republic” in Ukraine not only shows the absence of mass support for that entity and its goals but shows that the Kremlin is playing with something many had assumed did not exist – “Orthodox terrorism,” […]
Ukraine Liveblog Day 92: Gunmen Storm Election Offices Across East Ukraine
Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. For an overview and analysis of this developing story see our latest podcast. Please help The Interpreter to continue providing this valuable information service by making a donation towards our costs. An interactive map of the situation: View Ukraine: April, 2014 in a larger map For links to individual […]
Moscow Devotes Little Scholarly Attention to Ukraine Because Little Official Demand For It
Staunton, May 19 – Russian diplomats in Kyiv don’t speak Ukrainian and have not studied Ukrainian history or culture, a reflection of a general conviction among officials that they have no need to do so, according to Viktor Mironenko, the head of the Center for Ukrainian Research at the Moscow Institute of Europe. And those […]