Russia and Ukraine, Joined at the Hip No More
By Leonid Bershidsky Russia and Ukraine have spent most of their post-Soviet history as Siamese twins, but for the last two years they’ve been undergoing political and economic separation surgery. It will probably be more or less complete in 2016, and though both twins are in for a grim period, the weaker one, Ukraine, has […] …read...
Future War of the Worlds.
Media focused now the war on “Islamic state”, but the global military giants are preparing their armies in a conflict incomparably larger scale. 01.01.2016 BY Andrzej Talaga The current clash with IS, previous Western operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and the Russian invasion in Georgia and in Ukraine – it is only an anticipation of what the...
OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Steinmeier expresses hope that holiday ceasefire in eastern Ukraine will be followed by additional progress
Berlin, 1 January 2016 – Speaking on New Year’s Day, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and German Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed satisfaction with the recent lull in violence in eastern Ukraine. “I am pleased that, based on the observations of the OSCE, the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine has been holding again for...
Strengthening dialogue, trust and security in the OSCE region at the heart of German Chairmanship in 2016
BERLIN, 1 January 2016 – As it takes over the rotating OSCE chairmanship in 2016, Germany’s top priorities will be rebuilding trust among participating States and maintaining efforts for achieving a political solution to the conflict in and around Ukraine, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier said today. The...
OSCE Chief Monitor in Ukraine: “The people of Ukraine seek peace and normalization”
KYIV, 31 December 2015 – The Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan, expressed today strong hope that the coming year will be pivotal in de-escalating the violence and taking concrete steps towards a comprehensive solution to the conflict in Ukraine. “The people of Ukraine seek peace and...
Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Alexander Hug, to hold news briefing in Kyiv tomorrow
KYIV, 30 December 2015 – The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) will hold a news briefing tomorrow in Kyiv. Alexander Hug, the SMM’s Principal Deputy Chief Monitor, will talk about the recent Mission’s activities, the general security situation throughout Ukraine and will reflect on the main challenges of 2015. Media...
Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, based on information received as of 19:30hrs, 29 December 2015
This report is for media and the general public. The SMM observed ceasefire violations in southern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The SMM visited the area of Kominternove to monitor the security situation. The SMM continued to facilitate and monitor adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs of critical infrastructure. The SMM observed...
Currency swap deal with Poland will enable Ukraine to balance foreign trade relations
Narodowy Bank Polski (NBP) and the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) agreed to establish a zloty/hryvnia currency swap line on Dec. 22. The deal, worth 1 billion euros, has been signed for six months, with the possibility of an extension, the Kyiv Post writes. “This is a correct and potentially effective move,» Volodymyr Sidenko, a senior...
What Are The Chances For Peace in 2016?
Each year more than one trillion dollars goes up in smoke. More accurately, it is stolen from the middle and working classes and shipped off to the one percent. I am talking about the massive yearly bill to maintain the US empire. Washington’s warmongers have sold the lie that the military budget has been gutted under President Obama, but...
The EU-Russia Gas Relationship
This brief contemplates the major challenges surrounding the gas trade between the European Union and Russia. The challenges include 1) the questionable reliability of Russian gas deliveries through Ukraine in the winter 2015/2016; 2) Russia’s plans to build new infrastructure for its gas exports to the EU, which will bypass Ukraine; and 3)...
