Tag: Kyiv

A Russian Collapse Could Flood Ukraine With Refugees From the East, Kyiv Scholar Says

December 17, 2014

Staunton, December 17 – For much of the past year, many commentators have focused on the flood of refugees from southeastern Ukraine into the Russian Federation, but now, given economic and political instability in Russia, Ukraine must be prepared for a flood of refugees from the east, according to Sergey Datsyuk. Speaking at a Kyiv […]

Putin Making Belarus Into Base For Attacking Kyiv, Minsk Analyst Says

December 16, 2014

Staunton, December 15 – Even as Moscow appears to be reducing its military actions in southeastern Ukraine, a “reduction” that is at least in part a disinformation campaign, Putin is making Belarus into a base for attacking Kyiv. The appearance of more Russian “little green men” in Gomel last week prompted some Ukrainians to ask […]

Kyiv to Launch Satellite TV Broadcasts to Russia and Russian-Occupied Crimea

December 12, 2014

Staunton, December 8 – Kyiv plans to launch satellite television broadcasting to the Russian Federation and Russian-occupied Crimea, an indication that Ukrainian officials understand that their country is engaged in an information war as well as a real one on the ground and that they are ready to engage in it just as vigorously. Anton […]

Decentralization Of Ukraine ‘Impossible’ At Present, Moscow Expert Says

Staunton, December 9 – Despite Vladimir Putin’s call for the federalization of Ukraine and Petro Poroshenko’s suggestion that he is prepared to oversee steps toward the decentralization of power in his country, nothing can be done toward either under the current crisis conditions, according to Moscow’s leading expert on Ukraine. Bogdan Bezpalko, deputy director of […]

Ukraine and Russia’s Non-Russians Reportedly Viewing Each Other as Allies, Disturbing Moscow

December 3, 2014

Staunton, December 3 – Increasingly frequent expressions of support for Ukraine by non-Russian peoples within the borders of the Russian Federation and similar expressions of support for these nations by Kyiv is disturbing many Russians who see this as an alliance of “Russophobes of all kinds.” In an article on Rusfed24.ru, Ufa journalist Svetlana Nurgaleyeva […]

New Kyiv Center Aims to Consolidate Pro-Ukrainian Muslims and Pro-Islamic Ukrainians

October 24, 2014

Staunton, October 22 – A new group appeared in Ukraine’s already complicated religious environment this week: the Ukrainian Muslim Center which its organizers say will link various groups of Ukrainians who have converted to Islam with other Muslim groups in order to “consolidate pro-Ukrainian Muslims and pro-Muslim Ukrainians.” Discussions about the possibility of forming such […]

Russian Nationalist Says Ukraine is Finished Even If It Defeats Militants

July 30, 2014

Staunton, July 30 –Some Russian nationalists are already looking beyond the defeat of the militants in eastern Ukraine by the Ukrainian military and arguing that “even if the revolt in Novorossiya is suppressed, Ukraine will no longer exist,” an assessment now less about pushing Moscow to intervene than about trying to put the best face […]

Ukraine Isn’t Divided Yet. Let’s Keep It That Way.

June 19, 2014

The overemphasis by many Western commentators on the divisions within Ukrainian society risks bringing into being the very “Yugoslav scenario” these authors ostensibly seek to avoid.   Driven by the bread-and-butter issues of economic development and corruption, the broad-based Euromaidan movement — which was initiated by a journalist of Afghan background, and which drew upon […]

Moscow Wouldn’t Have Annexed Crimea Had Other Separatists Not Appeared in Ukraine, Russian Diplomats Say Privately

June 17, 2014

Staunton, June 17 – In the corridors of the Russian foreign ministry, commentator Ruslan Gorevoy says, people are saying that Moscow would hardly have annexed Crimea if other separatist movements had not appeared elsewhere in Ukraine that Moscow could use as leverage against Kyiv and block its turn toward the West. In the new issue […]

Who’s In Control? A Dispatch From Kiev

May 4, 2014

Kiev, Ukraine —  On May 1, Ukraine’s acting president Turchynov admitted that it lost control of eastern Ukraine. The following day, on May 2, the government launched a military offensive to take back eastern cities from militants. In Slavyansk, two military helicopters were shot down, allegedly by the pro-Russian forces. In Odessa, the death toll […]