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 […]
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 […]
Vladimir Pastukhov writes this saucy analogy for the liberal newspaper, Novaya Gazeta. In it he compares Russia’s reaction to Ukraine’s attempts to join the European Union to the actions of a scorned wife as her husband leaves her for a better offer. For more information, see our analysis of the Customs Union and our newest […]
As a former official of the Russian Foreign Ministry, I cannot pass by a turn in our foreign policy without comment. When I worked in the ministry, it was exclusively pragmatic: no ideology, only national interests, expressed primarily in cash. Visited by the young Putin in 2001, the Greeks laughed at him in their newspapers; […]
Russia has levied sanctions against Ukraine, backing up hundreds of freight trucks at the border, all in protest of Ukraine’s decision to enter the European Union instead of the Moscow-centric Customs Union. The move may cost Ukraine $2.5 billion this year alone. Now, there are signs that Russia could turn its already infamous anti-immigration policies […]
By the end of the year, tough customs measures taken by Russia against Ukrainian goods could cost Ukraine up to $2.5 billion. Ukrainian exports of goods to Russia have virtually stopped. This is according to the statement by the Federation of Employers of Ukraine (FEU). Vehicles carrying Ukrainian products are subject to additional scrutiny for […]
