President Yanukovych has done a deal in Moscow, and the protesters on the streets are holding their ground. But what about the oligarchs, who hold sway over so many areas of life in Ukraine? Their recent behaviour has been akin to equivocation, says Oleksander Andreyev.
Far-right agents provocateurs have been infiltrating the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine, and provoking the police and protesters to violence. Anton Shekhovtsov reports
How do we (and Ukrainians) make sense of what is happening in Ukraine? Is the hashtag #euromaidan of any help in understanding Ukraine's choice between the EU and Russia?
The complicated relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan that have erupted since the break-up of the USSR belie the fact that in the past the two nations often coexisted more or less harmoniously. Maxim Edwards visited the mountain mausoleum of Baba-Hadji, an ancient symbol of erstwhile good relat
Since the break-up of the USSR, the South Caucasus has trodden a chequered path, both political and economic. Is democracy really what the people want? Or just what Western donors and investors think they should have? Stephen F Jones reflects
In Kyiv, Metropolitan Pavel – aka ‘Pasha the Merc’ – has succeeded in closing down Ukraine’s only specialist HIV/AIDS clinic, which was inconveniently located in the grounds of the Pecherskaya Lavra. A new clinic has yet to open, and now all the patients can do is pray…
When Ukrainian postgraduate Pavlo Lapshyn was sentenced for racially-motivated murder and terrorism in the West Midlands, the response from Ukrainian media was to distort facts; from authorities to remain silent; and from British journalists to pin blame on UK society. These approaches obscure the
Mikheil Saakashvili, ex-president of Georgia, was once hailed as the very archetype of a model post-Soviet leader – smooth-tongued and sharp-suited. But was the fluency with which he promoted himself as a modern messiah merely a case of pouring old Georgian wine into new bottles?
In 2009 six post-Soviet nations signed up to the EU Eastern Partnership, aimed at deepening political cooperation and economic integration. Progress has been uneven because old habits die hard and closer integration with the EU has many opponents. Viorel Ursu and Iryna Solonenko consider the varyi
Russia’s seizure in international waters of the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, the arrests, refusal of bail and charges of piracy for activists and crew alike has provoked worldwide outrage. But what are the reasons for Moscow’s heavy-handedness; and why has the official western response been so
An ethnic Russian is killed at a Moscow street market, supposedly by a migrant from the Caucasus; the ensuing riot by nationalist extremists leaves one dead, twenty people injured and hundreds arrested. Daniil Kislov looks at what lies behind the hostility directed at migrant workers in Russia.
Ukraine, caught between Russia and the EU, has spent almost twenty years avoiding a decision about which way to turn, but with the possible signing of an Association Agreement with Europe in Vilnius just over two months away, it can prevaricate no longer.
