Oligarchs making gains: the costly nationalisation of Ukraine’s PrivatBank
On 18 December, the government in Ukraine decided to nationalise the country’s largest bank, PrivatBank. It has been owned by the oligarchs Ihor Kolomoyskyi and Henadiy Boholyubov. …read more Source: Centre for Eastern Studies...
Toning It Down
President-elect Igor Dodon’s rhetoric and actions might differ in practice from his promises during the electoral campaign, analysts believe. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Crimean political prisoners tortured on the way to court in Russian occupied Crimea
At least one of the Crimean Muslims facing fabricated ‘terrorism’ charges under Russian occupation has reported being tortured and threatened when brought to court hearings and a lawyer reports that FSB special force officers are present and used as a menacing threat when the men are taken to see the investigator. …read more Source:...
The Anger Beneath
For those seeking a Western orientation for Moldova’s future, the victory of Igor Dodon was a devastating loss – as their opinions aired in a popular Moldovan newspaper showed all too clear. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
WHAT WAS RUSSIA’S RATIONALE FOR EXPROPRIATION OF UKRAINIAN BLACK SEA GAS RESOURCES?
…read more Source: Razumkov...
John McCain Is Wrong about the Russia Hack
Doug Bandow For someone who has served in war, Sen. John McCain is easily shocked. He has joined the chorus in Washington protesting Russia’s alleged hacking of the Democrats. He and his colleague Sen. Lindsey Graham are pressing for an investigation by a newly-constituted select congressional committee. McCain naturally blamed President...
A Lukewarm Hot Springs Summit in Japan
Russian President Vladimir Putin held all the cards in the Kuril Islands negotiations with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on 15-16 December. Amid a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape there were advances, but those who expected that the two leaders would, at one stroke, resolve the decades-old territorial dispute, were disappointed. Putin...
Police from Kyiv to investigate anti-Semitic attack on Uman Synagogue
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General reports that a team of detectives from Kyiv will be sent to Uman in the Cherkasy oblast to investigate the foul attack on a synagogue during the early hours of Dec 21. …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection...
Russia prepares new criminal charges as Crimean Tatar leader refuses to be silenced
Russia appears to be concocting yet another criminal prosecution against 59-year-old Crimean Tatar Mejlis leader Ilmi Umerov over statements expressing the same position on Russia’s occupation of Crimea as that set out in resolutions from the UN General Assembly, Council of Europe and all democratic countries …read more Source:...
The Year Putin Won
To receive an email when a new post becomes available, subscribe here. The year 2016 felt like the third year since 2014 rather than, say, the 25th since the collapse of the Soviet Union. When peering into Russia’s future from a Russian vantage point, one has to mark the year 2014 as a major threshold. It changed international politics and...
