Section: Atlantic Council (USA)
Meet Maxim Nefyodov: How Ukrainian Geeks Tackled Corruption in Public Procurement
One day in September 2013, when Maxim Nefyodov, a managing partner at the investment firm Icon Private Equity, was leaving his office on Rylskiy Lane, he witnessed a funny scene. Accompanied by eight bodyguards, President Viktor Yanukovych’s odious ally, Yuriy Ivanyushchenko, was walking from an office building to his luxury SUV.To Nefyodov...
Putin’s Illusions about Crimea
In the recent plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum [on September 3 in Vladivostok], Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the issue of Crimea’s ownership is historically closed.Despite the adamant tone, such statements do not show Russia’s confidence but instead reveal the Kremlin’s vulnerability on this issue....
Ten Things the New US Ambassador to Ukraine Should Do
On August 18, Marie L. Yovanovitch became the US Ambassador to Ukraine. Yovanovitch is not new to the country; she served as the deputy chief of mission in Kyiv—the second in command—under Ambassadors Carlos Pascual and John Herbst months before the Orange Revolution erupted. She spent the bulk of her career working in the Eurasia region, with...
Memo to the West: Reject Russia’s Illegal Duma Elections
On September 18, Russians went to the polls to elect 450 members of parliament. The big news is that Vladimir Putin’s United Russia performed surprisingly well, taking approximately 54 percent of the vote. But the underreported news is this: Russians elected four MPs from occupied Ukrainian Crimea, which is illegal and grossly violates...
Culture Under Threat: Odesa Philharmonic Orchestra as Case Study
In the last two years, it has become routine to acknowledge that the Maidan revolution unleashed torrents of creative energy in Ukraine. Myriad articles have been written about the ferment of cultural activity taking place across every discipline. Yet classic cultural institutions and performing arts groups continue to face many of the same...
Why the West Ignores Russia’s Wars
This month will mark one year since the beginning of Russia’s intervention in Syria and two and a half years since its invasion of Ukraine’s Donbas region. In Syria, Russia has indiscriminately bombed inhabited areas using virtually every type of conventional munition in its arsenal—thermobaric, cluster, and incendiary—killing around...
An Important Reform Milestone: An Independent Energy Regulator in Ukraine
It is hard to find anything that unites the Ukrainian parliament as efficiently as the body’s regular and purposeful failure to adopt the bill on the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities. Neither the demands of the expert community, nor the bill’s connection with Ukraine’s international...
Here’s What Ukrainian-Americans Are Doing For Ukraine
Ukraine’s Maidan revolution united Ukraine as a nation like never before, and it reinvigorated Ukrainian-American communities across the United States. While Ukrainian-Americans are well organized nationally through such organizations as the Ukrainian Congress Committee of Ukraine and in metropolitan areas with large Ukrainian communities,...
Ukraine’s Signature Transparency Initiative Comes Under Fire Again
In October 2014, Ukraine’s parliament passed a law requiring all public officials to file an electronic declaration disclosing their assets. The law requires the identification of assets directly held by officials, as well as those held by family members, which means officials can no longer hide illegally obtained assets in the names of...
What Poroshenko Said and Didn’t Say
Unsurprisingly Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko kicked off his annual televised address to parliament on September 6 with words of unity. “At a time when Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is still ongoing, when the military threat from the east is the most difficult strategic challenge, the issue of national unity and political...
