Section: Atlantic Council (USA)
We Are All Ukrainians Now
My first visit to Ukraine was in February 1992 and the City of Kiev was gray, bleak and joyless as was the rest of the Soviet Union. Last month I re-visited—23 years and several other assignments later—to find a new nation of extremes. There is prosperity and there is poverty; there is peace and war; cynicism and hope; there are reformers in high...
One Year After MH17 Shootdown, Brazen Act Over Ukraine Still Poisons Atmosphere
Simon Ostrovsky will never forget the moment he learned that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 had fallen from the sky, with 298 passengers and crew aboard.”I was on a train from Kyiv to Kharkiv reading my Twitter feed, and something came down about a plane crash. Somebody said it was a Malaysian plane,” the Soviet-born US journalist...
Russian Disinformation Alienates the West from Russian Periphery
The Russian Army has released a photo of a Ukrainian tank decorated with a swastika, yet the original Reuters photograph shows no such emblem. Russia also released a photo of a Ukrainian soldier covered in Nazi tattoos, but that picture was actually taken in 2005, inside a Russian prison. Europe is revolted by any reminders of its Nazi past,...
No One Feels Safe in the New Crimea
Sixteen months after Russia’s March 2014 annexation of Crimea, the peninsula’s human rights situation is getting progressively worse. The first wave of repression targeted mainly pro-Ukrainian activists and Crimean Tatars, while in 2015 the Kremlin’s victims have been Slavs: Ukrainians and Russians. Since early this year,...
Ukraine Bank Deputy Dmytro Solohub: Economic recovery ‘difficult, but still possible’
Dmytro Solohub admits that the Ukrainian economy is “very fragile” and faces “lots of security risks”— but says he’s doing everything he can to stabilize Ukraine’s currency, control galloping inflation, and return his country to prosperity as quickly as possible.Solohub, 37, took over in mid-March as Deputy...
Earth to Russia. Come Back to Reality.
The conflict in Ukraine highlights dangerous trends in Russian foreign policy. Russian-backed separatists and the Russian military have killed thousands of civilians and Ukrainian soldiers in eastern Ukraine. It’s the starkest example of Moscow’s neo-imperialist foreign policy so far. However, even more worrisome trends have...
What Ukraine Can Learn From Poland
When the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991, both Poland and Ukraine were poor. Since then, the Polish economy has boomed, while Ukrainians are poorer than they were twenty-four years ago.Poland got its reforms right in the 1990s, and now plays a significant role in Ukraine’s reform process. This is evident in the close relations between both...
Here’s How to Make Sense of the Violence in Western Ukraine
Ukraine made headlines again when a nationalist group and police in the western city of Mukachevo exchanged gunfire that killed three on June 11. A group of 21 armed members of Right Sector seized a sports complex owned by Member of Parliament Mikhail Lanyo and reportedly beat and shot one of his employees in the process. …read more Source:...
Greek Crisis ‘Diverts Attention’ from Kyiv
Ukraine’s Economy Minister: Unlike Greece, Ukraine is embracing reforms The Greek financial crisis has diverted global attention away from Ukraine, but it also “sheds a positive light” on the Kyiv government’s achievements, Ukrainian Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius said in a July 14 interview.”Greece is...
Ukraine Must Put Reform Agenda in Overdrive While There’s Still Time
Kyiv is vibrant with intellectual and political discussions. As after any revolution the debate is about what is wrong and what should be done. Policy people acknowledge that reforms are proceeding but too slowly, while a typical business verdict is that corruption is as bad as before, but it has become more disorganized, since the old Yanukovych...
