David Cameron’s Moscow “reset” resolved few of the fundamental issues afflicting UK-Russian relations. Yet by moving the relationship on beyond politics, the visit proved to be a rather useful one, writes Dmitri Trenin.
The Black Sea republic of Abkhazia has elected its third president since securing effective independence from Georgia in 1993. The tiny country faces economic and social difficulties, in part deriving from its lack of international recognition. But its democratic experience deserves more attention
News of the English riots and looting was greeted variously in countries around the world. In Russia, many ordinary Russians were shocked and horrified, but there were also some complacent smiles at the “stupidity” of political correctness and multiculturalism, explains Andrei Ostalsky
The disputed region of Abkhazia holds its presidential elections tomorrow. Earlier in the election campaign, Oliver Carroll travelled to Sukhum to speak to the two leading candidates, Alyksandr Ankvab and Sergei Shamba.
Abkhazia has gone to the polls to elect its third president. While the elections may provide an entertaining sideshow, there is little danger of them ever being legitimate or electing a truly independent voice, argues Denis MacShane
The West has got it wrong about on Tymoshenko. More than a simple struggle for power and influence, her trial marks a fundamental confrontation between the modern (Yanukovych) and postmodern (Tymoshenko). In a head-to-head battle, postmodernism is always likely to triumph, writes Dmitry Vydrin.
Ukraine is busy absorbing the news that opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko has been arrested under corruption charges. Most analysts consider the process to be politically motivated, and part of a strategy of power consolidation by the ruling Party of the Regions. Dmitri Travin asks if this means
Last Sunday, unknown arsonists attempted to torch the apartment of oD author and investigative journalist Aleksey Matsuka in Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine. Despite the seriousness of the crime, the reaction from the police and investigating authorities has been woefully inadequate.
Ukraine’s intellectuals are locked in binary discussion about how to deal with the country’s anti-democratic leadership: sanctions for reform, or more integration to keep the politicians away from Russia. Given that the politicians are unlikely to listen anyway, might it not be more productive to
An international outcry at the award of the prestigious Quadriga Prize to Vladimir Putin resulted in its cancellation for 2011, thus depriving the 3 other nominees of the honour they were to have received. Political relations between Russia and Germany are not affected, but there is another dimens
The recent arrest and detention of a group of photojournalists on apparently trumped-up charges continues to be a subject of heated discussion and protest in Georgia. The evidence and the so-called confessions contain a mass of contradictions and are a cause for serious concern about the real moti
Under the direction of the new Polish presidency, the EU has dangled a huge integration carrot in front of Ukraine’s misbehaving political elite. The rationale, no doubt, is to win out in an us-or-Russia scenario. But Mykola Ryabchuk remains unconvinced the Yanukovych clan needs persuading which w
