Section: The Centre for Eastern Studies (Poland)
Denys Shmyhal is the new Prime Minister of Ukraine
On 4 March, the Ukrainian parliament accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, and with him the entire government (353 votes for the motion). Speaking before the vote, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked him for his work, while blaming the government for conducting an inefficient economic policy, overseeing a decline in...
Washington’s symbolic support – US Secretary of State in Minsk
The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo visited Minsk on 1 February. This was the first visit of a US Secretary of State to Belarus in 26 years. He had visited Ukraine one day earlier, and subsequently travelled to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. During his short visit, Pompeo met with President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and the Minister of Foreign Affairs...
No breakthrough at the Normandy Four summit in Paris
On 9 December, a meeting of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany was held in Paris under the so-called “Normandy Format” dedicated to resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine. This was the first such meeting since 2016. The talks of the “Normandy Four” were followed by the first bilateral meeting of the presidents of Russia and...
The Steinmeier formula: in search of a compromise on the Donbas
On 1 October, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky announced that an agreement had been reached to implement the so-called Steinmeier formula as part of resolving the conflict in the Donbas as part of the meeting of the trilateral contact group in Minsk. …read more Source:: Centre for Eastern Studies...
Repressions and electoral fraud: regional elections in Russia
Annual regional and local elections were held on 8 September in Russia. The officials elected included 16 governors, members of 13 regional parliaments (including in the occupied territories: Crimea and Sevastopol), city mayors, city council members and municipal councillors. For the Kremlin, the elections to Moscow City Duma (city council) and...
Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners
After months of negotiations, on 9 September an exchange of prisoners took place between Russia and Ukraine, each side sending 35 people. According to media leaks, Ukraine had initially demanded the release of 150 prisoners, while the list submitted by Russia named 34 people. …read more Source:: Centre for Eastern Studies...
New hopes, old risks: the prospects for settling the conflict in Donbas
A working meeting was held on 2 September in Berlin as part of preparations so-called Normandy Format summit (leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France) for settling the conflict in Donbas. This will be the first such summit since 2016. …read more Source:: Centre for Eastern Studies...
Government of experts in Ukraine
On 29 August, Ukraine’s parliament voted through Oleksiy Honcharuk’s candidacy for the position of prime minister, together with the composition of the new government (see annex). The new cabinet received the support of the Servant of the People party and a large number of independent deputies (281 votes in total). The number of...
Ukraine: Servant of the People wins an outright majority
On 21 July 2019, Ukraine held an early parliamentary election in which Servant of the People, the party led by the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, came out as the winner. The election is decided by proportional representation and, after 93.3% of the votes had been counted, it turns out that the party has won 43.14% of the vote....
Zelenskiy: Anatomy of a success
The political situation in Ukraine since the ‘revolution of dignity’ and the Russian aggression has created a specific social context in which the public’s perception of the traditional politicians has started to deteriorate dramatically. The revolution awakened high public expectations of comprehensive reforms to the state, a new...
