Politics

Ukraine wary of KGB terror files BBC News ● How the New York Times Helped Tyrants The New American ● Ukraine coalition ‘close to collapse’ Telegraph.co.uk ● Our Ukraine party will not recall its ministers from Tymoshenko … Kyiv Post ● Yushchenko convinced in victory of Our Ukraine at future election Kyiv Post ● Ukraine, Russia battle over shared history eTaiwan  ● Constitutional Instability In Ukraine Leads To ‘Legal Turmoil’ RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty ● Crimean Tatars Divide Ukraine and Russia Jamestown Foundation ● Ukraine parliament confirms election date United Press International ● Biden to Visit Georgia and Ukraine The Moscow Times ● Russia may start new gas war – Ukraine president guardian.co.uk ● Ukraine in “shit” again – Yanukovych UNIAN News Agency ● Putin threatens ‘action’ if Ukraine fails to pay gas tab by July 7 Ukrainian Journal

Economy

EU optimistic on Ukraine gas dispute Financial Times ● E.Europe, Austria meltdown panic over -ECB’s Nowotny Forbes ● Ukraine gambling ban takes effect Financial Times ● Gazprom says Ukraine June payment not a concern Forbes ● Cyprus and Ukraine sign tourist agreement Financial Mirror ● WTO panel says Ukraine import surcharges unjustified Reuters ● Ukraine state bank Oshchadbank sees improved profit guardian.co.uk ● Ukraine to pay USD 250mn for gas imports in June. ISI ● Israel closes tourism office in Kiev JTA ● Ukraine helps Pakistan for agriculture sector Pakistan Observer ● Ukraine, Ethiopia Boost Trade Ethiopian Review

Continue reading Ukrainian news round-up – June 29, 2009 →

Holodomor

Jewish group objects to ‘Great Famine’ case Jewish Telegraphic Agency ● Ukraine blames Ukrainian regime, not Russia, for inducing Holodomor, SBU head says ZIK ● History Under Lock and Key St.Petersburg Times ● Kremlin secrecy extends to Holodomor archives Kyiv Post ● More than million people currently living in Ukraine suffered from Holodomor UNIAN News Agency

Politics

Heated Ukraine polls ahead Kuwait Times ● Russia’s Ideological Crusade Against Ukraine Jamestown Foundation ● Russia dismisses ambassador to Ukraine Chernomyrdin Reuters ● Chernomyrdin Fired as Envoy to Kiev The Moscow Times ● Are Ukrainian journalists missing the real story? Houston Chronicle ● Ukraine: The politics of hairstyle Christian Science Monitor ● EU ministers warn crisis-hit Ukraine AFP ● Ukraine minister resigns over Euro-2012 preparations guardian.co.uk ● Ukraine Demands Russia’s FSB Officers Out Of Crimea RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

Continue reading Ukrainian news round-up: June 19, 2009 →

Headlines

How 1989 fanned flames in Ukraine BBC • Six dead, seven missing in Ukraine mine accident Reuters • Ukraine suffered “colossal” looting during World War II The Art Newspaper • Ukrainian Intelligence Promotes Lustration in Ukraine Jamestown Foundation • A wake-up call for Georgia, Ukraine – and the West CS Monitor • Crimean Tatars Threaten to ‘Block Ukraine’s Path to Europe’ Georgian Daily • India’s defence pact with Ukraine annoys Russia Business Standard • Ukraine Says Russian Seamen Entering Sailors Immigrating Illegally RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty (who writes these headlines?) Edit: I e-mailed them and they quickly made the title more appropriate.

Politics

Ukraine Opposition Fails in ‘Coup’ Attempt New York Times • Ukraine PM to stand for president BBC News • Ukraine Defense Minister Ousted New York Times

Economy

Ukraine to boost banking sector under IMF program Forbes • Ukraine To Nationalize Three Largest Lenders – PM EasyBourse • Ukraine pays in full for gas supplied in May: Gazprom Tehran Times • Russia proposes Kazakhstan, Ukraine to coordinate grain policies ITAR-TASS • Ukraine economy down 21 percent in Q1 Boston Globe • Ukraine to boost banking sector under IMF program Forbes

Sports

Ukraine beats Kazakhstan 2-1 in WCup qualifier USA Today • Croatia and Ukraine draw 2-2 in World Cup qualifying match The Canadian Press • Ukrainian PM says preparations for Euro 2012 successful RIA Novosti • Ukrainian Players: Schevchenko Shut out of Elite FTBL.com

Editor’s note: This is the new layout for my news round-up. It’s a lot quicker for me just to display the headlines. Before I would include a blurb from the story with some analysis but it took too long and I couldn’t get the posts out as often as I liked. Hope you like it, leave me a comment!

“Any move by the West towards the former Soviet republics is seen as damaging Russia’s interests" the Russian media quoted Putin, "He has a discussion there about Big Russia and Little Russia — Ukraine" quoting a White Army commander during the Bolshevik Revolution. Putin’s reference on Sunday to "Little Russia" — a term used during the Russian Empire to describe parts of modern-day Ukraine that came under Tsarist rule — has raised hackles in Ukraine, where many consider it demeaning and offensive. A political analyst remarked"Russia is engaged in a propaganda war against Ukraine, designed to convince the West not to support Ukraine. Russia doesn’t understand cooperation with equals, only with subordinates."

Ukraine and Russia are again in the midst of a heated battle — this time, about the countries’ shared Soviet past. As Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko this week lamented that Ukraine had become "a hostage in the fight between two totalitarian regimes — fascist and communist" and called for Soviet-era symbols around the country to be torn down. He also called for Ukraine to "finally purge itself of the symbols of a regime that destroyed millions of innocent people," saying that 400 such monuments were taken down last year. His Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev ordered the creation of a presidential commission "to counter attempts to harm Russian interests by falsifying history". Last Tuesday, Medvedev announced the creation of a presidential commission to work to protect Russia’s history from being revised or re-evaluated in any way that tarnishes Russia’s image, but intellectuals fear a manipulation of Russia’s past.

65 years ago, after being falsely accused by Stalin of mass collaboration with the Nazi German invaders, the entire Crimean Tatar population was loaded onto trains and deported to Central Asia over a period of just three days in May 1944. Almost half would die over the following year. Twenty years since they first began to return, there are over 250,000 Tatars in Crimea, around 13% of the population. Once back, though, the Tatars’ troubles were hardly ended. The houses many had once owned or lived in were now occupied by Russian settlers. The State Security Service of Ukraine is establishing a special unit to investigate Stalin-era crimes against Crimean Tatars.

Continue reading Ukrainian news round-up 5/26/09 – Putin calls Ukraine ‘Little Russia’, Crimea Tartars struggle in Russian-dominate Crimea and remembering Bykivnya →

Top news stories about Ukrainians, Ukraine and beyond!

Politics

• Ukraine’s parliament has called presidential elections for October 25, 2009, but the president said he would challenge that date to mid-January giving him a full five-year term. The uncertainty stems from the fact that Mr Yushchenko was elected in January 2005, three months after mass protests at the fraudulent victory of a pro-Moscow candidate, Viktor Yanukovych, in the original October vote. The race is likely to be heated amid an economic meltdown, one of the worst in Europe, exacerbated by constant political turmoil. Both Tymoshenko and Yanukovych, whose parties voted to approve the election date, are eager to hold the vote sooner that Yushchenko wants it. The economic crisis has been quickly eroding Tymoshenko’s popularity and Yanukovych is eager to capitalize on the public’s discontent with the authorities.
• Party of Regions members blocked parliament’s doors with chairs and swarmed the podium, stalling a vote on crisis measures necessary for a crucial International Monetary Fund loan. The main opposition Party of Regions prevented the parliament session from starting because it says the government does not have a comprehensive anti-crisis program. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko says it does and accuses the opposition of seeking to sabotage her work like "Somali pirates."

Continue reading Ukrainian news round-up – April 2, 2009 →