Section: Research Organizations & Think Tanks about Ukraine
Italy’s Energy Policy Untouched by Turkish Stream’s Flop
In a surprising turn of events, on July 8, the Russian state-run natural gas monopoly Gazprom canceled a contract with the Italian oil and gas services group Saipem. The two companies were supposed to jointly build the first line of Turkish Stream, the Moscow-backed pipeline project to pump gas from Russia’s Black Sea coast to the...
Ukraine’s Constitutional Reform Precludes Federalization or Special Status for Donetsk-Luhansk
On July 1, President Petro Poroshenko made public the draft amendments to Ukraine’s Constitution, regarding decentralization of the country’s administrative-territorial system (Kyiv Post, July 1). The amendments redefine the relationship between Ukraine’s central government and the administrative-territorial units on three...
Ukraine’s Decommunization Laws: Legislating the Past?
In May 2015, the Ukrainian government passed four controversial laws aimed at initiating a clean break with the country’s communist past. Included in the laws are instructions on removing remnants of the communist past (monuments and street names), prescriptions on how to write the country’s history, as well as new measures to...
A Black Eye for Croatia and Romania, Poland Legislators Debate IVF
Plus, a Serbian war-crimes suspect is extradited to Croatia and a Russian court date is set for Ukrainian filmmaker’s trial. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Pentagon Concludes America Not Safe Unless It Conquers The World
The Pentagon has released its “National Military Strategy of the United States of America 2015” in June, 2015. The document announces a shift in focus from terrorists to “state actors” that “are challenging international norms.” It is important to understand what these words mean. Governments that challenge international norms are sovereign...
Digital Disruption in Ukraine: From Revolution to Information Defence
Discussion Topics Internet and the Maidan: how important was the Internet in organising the revolution? What can other democracy movements learn from the Maidan’s digital dissidents? How does Russia use the internet in its ‘hybrid war’ against Ukraine? What lessons have been learnt from Ukraine’s response? What is the...
Gas talks between Russia and Ukraine will continue in the format of the “Normandy four”
In the comment to the magazine Focus, Leading Expert of Energy Programmes of the Razumkov Centre Viktor Lohatskyi spoke of the new format of the negotiations with Russia on gas supply to Ukraine. The amount of gas we currently receive is not enough for Ukraine. However, I think that we will be able to diversify and increase supply as soon as the...
The fuss over the supposed Russian military base in Donbas is slightly overestimated
Ukraine’s volunteer Dnipro-1 Battalion released the footage on June 30 showing the separatist Russian base, which appears to have been constructed within the span of two weeks, and which has new roads, trenches, a parade square, and protective dugouts and constructions to hide the tanks and military vehicles shown there. The video was shot...
Donetsk, Luhansk ‘People’s Republics’ Announce Local Elections Outside the Minsk Process
The “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk (“DPR, LPR”) have announced their intentions to stage local elections, outside Ukraine’s constitutional and legal framework, on their respective territories. This move continues the hollowing out of the September 2014 Minsk agreement by decisions of Moscow, Donetsk and Luhansk. Staging...
Extended List of ‘Undesirable’ Foreign NGOs Compiled in Moscow
A law banning foreign and international non-governmental organizations (NGO) as “undesirable” in Russia was approved by both houses of parliament and signed by President Vladimir Putin last May. A specific list of “undesirables” is currently being prepared in Moscow, and it may include The Jamestown Foundation, along with other NGOs—most of them...
