Today, a regional court in Kyiv has found Yuliya Tymoshenko, Ukraine’s former prime minister and leading opposition figure, guilty of “abuse of office” stemming from her role in the 2009 Ukraine–Russia gas deal. The sentence includes a seven-year prison term with an additional three-year prohibition to hold political office, as well as the stipulation that she must pay $190 million in compensation to Ukraine’s gas monopoly Naftogaz. Tymoshenko herself, her supporters, and even her critics—as well as European leaders and legal experts—view the prosecution and the sentence as a political …
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw (Radek) Sikorski was probably being polite when he described, in a conference call on Friday with U.S. policy experts, the U.S. government as “a friend of the Eastern Partnership” initiative, a Polish-Swedish venture within the EU, which covers Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, and the three countries of the Caucasus. The disparity between the U.S. and EU in terms of economic resources dedicated to Eastern Europe is overwhelming. While the EU spends billions on supporting this partnership, the United States spends a grand total of $311 million annually …
Have Russia’s oil and gas replaced Cossack squadrons and tank divisions as the means to intimidate Europe? Will pipeline routes create new dependencies in the 21st century which may force the NATO alliance come apart at the seams? Nord Stream is a gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, with spurs to Germany’s neighbors. It will bypass Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states and Poland – the traditional transit countries. Leaders from the Central and Eastern European (CEE) worry that this pipeline will allow Russia to cut off the gas to the …
MOSCOW – Both Presidents arrived at their meeting armed with lists of unfulfilled promises. but the latest meeting between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko yielded no tangible results. Economic factors prevail in Minsk’s complaints – Belarus has yet to receive the promised 2nd tranche of Russia’s $1 billion loan. Lukashenko is rejecting Moscow’s demand to honor his country’s debt for natural gas supplies. He claims Medvedev’s had promised to retain low-priced gas deliveries.
MOSCOW – The Kremlin has not had a good week with its putative allies. Russia’s ban on imports of Belarussian dairy products (under claims they failed technical requirements) has stirred a strong political response from Minsk. The excuse of their failure to meet technical requirements has stirred a strong political response from Minsk. President Alexander Lukashenko skipped the Moscow summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and Minsk declared all summit decisions illegitimate due to Belarus’s non-attendance. Minsk even rejected the conference agreement to create a collective rapid response force.
