Vladimir Putin has had a very good year, and one of his crowning achievements is that he appears to have successfully bullied Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych into halting Ukraine’s march towards the European Union. Russia closed the border to Ukraine’s products, backing up traffic for miles (possibly costing Ukraine billions). Russia froze entire industries: banned cheese; stopped […]
This editorial appeared in the generally pro-Kremlin Gazeta.Ru. Its author argues that Russia must now incorporate Ukraine into the Russia fold, because the riots in the streets there are a threat to Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych, but also to Putin, as the longer they go on the further the Ukrainian populace will be from Russia. […]
Perhaps 50 to 100 thousand protesters took to the streets this weekend in Kiev, Ukraine, demanding that their President, Viktor Yanukovych, sign the agreement with the European Union. As we’ve been reporting, however, Yanukovych backed down last week, largely because of the economic backlash from Russia’s trade war. The protests recall the 2004 Orange Revolution, […]
Russia has arguably won its trade war with Ukraine, at least for now. After months of punitive measures because of Kiev’s desire to choose joining the European Union over the neo=Soviet Customs Union, last week the Ukraine suspended its move to join the EU. The move has been highly unpopular in the Ukraine, and protesters have taken […]
The Ukrainian government suspended preparations for signing the Association Agreement today after a vote in parliament failed to achieve a sufficient majority to pass legislation that would allow the jailed former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko to receive medical treatment abroad. The EU considered Tymoshenko’s release essential for progress with the agreement, which was hoped to […]
In another chapter of Ukraine’s economic and ideological struggle between Europe and Russia, the east and the west, Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovych “got lost” on his way to have meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. There remains a debate, however, as to whether Yanukovych was secretly negotiating with Putin, or whether he was being snubbed by […]
The Interpreter’s Elena Sevettaz, a Russian-French journalist, has published a book about Sergei Magnitsky, whose death in prison, and post-mortem trial and conviction, sparked protests around the world, eventually leading to the Obama administration passing sanctions against Russian officials involved in the case. The Russian government responded by blocking American adoptions of Russian children. The new […]
Russia’s trade wars are showing no signs of ending any time soon. In fact, despite signs that the Kremlin has fired a man who has been the face of Russia’s isolationist and exclusivist policies, a development which some said was a sign of change, Russia is now increasing its threats to Ukraine by making them […]
Gennady Onishchenko, head of the Federal Consumer Protection Service, has been dismissed. Onishchenko was seen as the face of many Russian isolationist policies, such as the banning of “harmful” food products from many former Soviet countries which had expressed interests in joining the European Union instead of the Russian alternative, the Customs Union. The Moscow […]
Russia has been in a trade war with Ukraine after the latter moved to enter the European Union instead of the Russian-made alternative, the Customs Union. In response, the Russian government has blocked imports from Ukraine, and even threatened to deport workers with Ukrainian accents, moves that have further isolated Russia from central and western […]
