Politics

Hours after he was sworn in as America’s 45th president, Donald J. Trump and his wife, Melania, swayed together to a rendition of the Frank Sinatra classic “My Way,” as hundreds of their wealthiest and most influential supporters held aloft smartphones to capture the Trumps’ first dance following the inauguration. Serhiy Kivalov, a Ukrainian lawmaker known for pro-Russian initiatives, took photos of the dance, as well as of his coveted tickets and passes to the soiree where it took place, the Liberty Ball at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, posting them on Facebook and declaring that “it was an honor” to attend...

On September 10, 2001, I published a column about Belarus, the former Soviet republic squeezed between Russia and Europe. It described how the Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko was stealing elections, keeping tight control over the media and the economy, harassing political opponents and occasionally murdering them. Lukashenko, I wrote, was Europe’s longest-standing dictator. Yet only a few months earlier, President George W. Bush had given a rousing speech on the need for Europe, whole and free. “No more Yaltas,” he had said — meaning no more agreements like the one Roosevelt and Stalin signed in 1945, dividing Europe in half. Belarus loomed large as an obstacle blocking that dream...

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has given Russia two weeks to provide information about Pavlo Hryb’s state of health and the medical treatment (if any) that he is receiving. The Court in Strasbourg was asked to intervene after a recent court hearing needed to be adjourned because Hryb was suffering acute stomach pains, and after the medical specialist treating the young man since early childhood warned that the conditions in the prison where he is being held could lead to haemorrhaging endangering his life. Hryb was just 19 when the Russian FSB abducted him from Belarus and imprisoned him in a SIZO [remand prison] in Krasnodar. Russia is ignoring the fact that Hryb has a very serious blood circulation issues, including portal hypertension, and needs specialist care and appropriate conditions. Neither are provided in a Russian SIZO...

Russia’s state security service, better known as the FSB, announced the completion of a high-tech fence on the Isthmus of Perekop, Crimea’s bottleneck that connects the Kremlin-occupied peninsula with Ukraine’s Kherson Oblast, BBC reported on December 28, 2018. The project started in 2017, three years after the peninsula was illegally annexed by Russia. Now, 60 kilometers of the two-meter high fence towering on the Isthmus, which is the only one legal way to enter Crimea from Ukraine...

Ukraine is asking Canada to apply more sanctions to Russia as fresh tensions between the Eastern European neighbours threaten to erupt into open conflict. Ukrainian Ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko made the appeal during an appearance before a Commons committee on Tuesday, December 4, 2018. He also asked that Canada extend its military training mission in his country and support its bid to join the NATO military alliance. Ambassador Shevchenko also confirmed that Ukraine is close to buying high-powered sniper rifles from a Canadian company, but said Kyiv is still hoping the federal government will agree to provide weapons as aid...

In the spring of 2015, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was desperate for Mark Zuckerberg’s help. His government had been urging Facebook to stop the Kremlin’s spreading of misinformation on the social network to foment distrust in his new administration and to promote support of Russia’s invasion and occupation of parts of Ukraine. To get Zuckerberg’s attention, the president posted a question for a town hall meeting at Facebook’s Silicon Valley headquarters. There, a moderator read it aloud, The Washington Post recalls. “Mark, will you establish a Facebook office in Ukraine?” the moderator said, chuckling, according to a video of the assembly. The room of young employees rippled with laughter. But the government’s suggestion was serious...

ON BOARD THE GERMAN FRIGATE HAMBURG (Reuters) - Worried by a military build-up on its doorstep, Germany is leading efforts to coordinate NATO and European Union naval forces better in the Baltic Sea to counter Russia’s beefed up presence in the area. On Monday, October 29, Germany begins exercises off the Finnish coast involving 3,600 sailors and troops, 40 ships and 30 aircraft from more than a dozen countries. The maneuvers will focus on keeping crucial sea routes open in times of conflict. “The Baltic Sea is our front yard, so we and our neighbors obviously want to be able to move freely on the sea lines of communication,” Captain Sven Beck told reporters...

On Friday, October 26, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton visited Moscow in order to discuss the United States plans to withdraw from the landmark Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The major topics of discussion included North Korea, Ukraine and Syria. The 1987 accord between the United States and the former Soviet Union was also expected to come up. The INF treaty, negotiated by then-President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1988, required elimination of short-range and intermediate-range nuclear and conventional missiles by both countries. The United States believes Russia is in violation of...

In his remarks on Ukraine’s Constitution Day President Poroshenko noted the need to codify in the basic law Ukraine’s aspiration to join NATO and EU. Such commitments to Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic choice are appreciated. However, policy analysts believe that the best demonstration of the veracity of these pledges will be staying the course on implementation of genuine reforms. In addition to the anti-corruption court, reform agenda priorities include overhauling the national security and defense system. Every major provision of the reform process laid out in the recently adopted law on national security is based on recommendations from the international advisory group, experts and diplomats representing the European Union, NATO, and the US. The process leading up to...

Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Petro Poroshenko, President of Ukraine, spoke yesterday about recent events. Following the call, Ms. Lagarde issued the following statement: “I am very encouraged by the adoption of the law on the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) by the Ukrainian parliament, which is an important step forward in the authorities’ fight against corruption. The new law paves the way for setting up an independent and strong anti-corruption court that together with existing institutions (NABU and the Special Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office) will contribute to delivering the accountability and justice that the people of...