Every Wednesday, The Interpreter’s managing editor James Miller will be speaking with Dr. Matt Sienkiewicz, a professor at Boston College, about the major headlines of the week. If you have questions you’d like Matt to address in future episodes, feel free to tweet to him: @mediastudied. If you have feedback on the content feel free to tweet to James: @MillerMENA. […]
Dan Kaszeta is a chemical weapons expert, but he has also spent many years of his life studying Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Bloc. He raises many good points about the deep internal divisions within Ukrainian society. As Ukraine is now in the midst of its second period of major popular unrest in less […]
It’s very unlikely that Ukraine will immediately become a European country as a result of the second “orange revolution” in its short post-Soviet history. But these events may have a significant impact on the situation in Russia. The Russian authorities’ passion for geopolitical games without thinking about the consequences has led to a situation where […]
This editorial was published by the deputy editor-in-chief of the pro-Kremlin Izvestia. It is a good example of the Russian government’s position on Ukrainian integration into the EU. It contains several clear pieces of spin. For example, the claim is made that Putin has ignored the crisis to focus on domestic issues, which is an […]
Vladimir Putin has had a very good year, and one of his crowning achievements is that he appears to have successfully bullied Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych into halting Ukraine’s march towards the European Union. Russia closed the border to Ukraine’s products, backing up traffic for miles (possibly costing Ukraine billions). Russia froze entire industries: banned cheese; stopped […]
This editorial appeared in the generally pro-Kremlin Gazeta.Ru. Its author argues that Russia must now incorporate Ukraine into the Russia fold, because the riots in the streets there are a threat to Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych, but also to Putin, as the longer they go on the further the Ukrainian populace will be from Russia. […]
Perhaps 50 to 100 thousand protesters took to the streets this weekend in Kiev, Ukraine, demanding that their President, Viktor Yanukovych, sign the agreement with the European Union. As we’ve been reporting, however, Yanukovych backed down last week, largely because of the economic backlash from Russia’s trade war. The protests recall the 2004 Orange Revolution, […]
Russia has arguably won its trade war with Ukraine, at least for now. After months of punitive measures because of Kiev’s desire to choose joining the European Union over the neo=Soviet Customs Union, last week the Ukraine suspended its move to join the EU. The move has been highly unpopular in the Ukraine, and protesters have taken […]
The Ukrainian government suspended preparations for signing the Association Agreement today after a vote in parliament failed to achieve a sufficient majority to pass legislation that would allow the jailed former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko to receive medical treatment abroad. The EU considered Tymoshenko’s release essential for progress with the agreement, which was hoped to […]
In another chapter of Ukraine’s economic and ideological struggle between Europe and Russia, the east and the west, Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovych “got lost” on his way to have meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. There remains a debate, however, as to whether Yanukovych was secretly negotiating with Putin, or whether he was being snubbed by […]
