Polling stations have opened in south-eastern Ukraine for the referendum on declaring independence for the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. The vote has been declared illegal by the Ukrainian, European and US leaders. Despite a public statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin that the vote should be delayed, separatists have gone ahead and begun the process. […]
Staunton, May 9 – Moscow commentators have been denouncing the West for launching “a new cold war” against Russia, and a large share of Western commentators have assumed that this is because the Russian leadership doesn’t want one. In fact, Moscow is desperate to have that the new-old paradigm be restored at least at the […]
Following yesterday’s violence, there have been carnivalesque scenes in Mariupol today as looting has broken out, a military base has been ransacked and an abandoned armoured vehicle set ablaze in the street. Meanwhile, preparations are under way for tomorrow’s referendum. Separatist leaders appear determined to go ahead with the poll, despite a public statement from […]
Updated Daily. Pussy Riot went to Washington to lobby for additions to the Magnitsky List of Russian official human rights violators. 6 May was the second anniversary of a major opposition demonstration in 2012 in Moscow, where dozens were arrested in clashes with police that activists say were staged by provocateurs. Police detained 13 today […]
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 A live stream from […]
Staunton, May 8 Failed states come in a variety of shapes and sizes, one of Russia’s leading regionalist writers says, but on at least one important dimension, the Russian Federation is an example of a failed state while Ukraine, despite all its problems and Russian attacks, is a remarkably successful one. In a commentary on […]
Tomorrow is Victory Day, the Soviet holiday commemorating the defeat of the Nazis. Pro-Russian rallies are planned across the region. Sunday is May 11, the proposed date for the separatists’ referendum on greater autonomy for eastern Ukraine. Will these events increase tensions and further divide Ukraine? Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. For an overview […]
Staunton, May 7 – Vladimir Putin decided to go on the offensive now and in such a bold fashion because he believes that the international situation has never been as favorable to Moscow as it is now and may never be as favorable again several years in the future, according to a Moscow analyst. In […]
Staunton, May 7 The Chechen government of Ramzan Kadyrov almost certainly at the behest of Moscow is using threats and torture to get Chechens to go to Ukraine to fight for Russian separatist forces. A few have gone as losses have been reported. But resistance to this program is high. Oleg Leusenko, a Russian blogger, […]
As the body count begins to increase in eastern Ukraine and the chaos and general dystopian anarchy that has come to infect our conscious understanding of Ukraine has spread to other cities such as Odessa, many have started to wonder over whether or not the new government in Kiev will ever be able to truly […]
