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Jan Maksymiuk

Also by Jan Maksymiuk

January 11, 2006
Analysis: Why Did Parliament Sack Yekhanurov's Cabinet?

Opposition groups in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada on 10 January voted to dismiss the cabinet of Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov, pushing the country into a serious political crisis amid an ongoing parliamentary election campaign. Although the official reason for the no-confidence motion in the government was last week's deal on gas supplies to Ukraine, it appears that the opposition's desire to undermine the electoral chances of pro-government and pro-presidential forces played no less important role in the vote.
December 29, 2005
Can Yushchenko Survive Moscow's Gas Attack?

Russia's effort to quadruple the price of gas supplies represents the most serious challenge for Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko since his inauguration nearly a year ago.
December 22, 2005
Ukraine/Russia: Will Russian-Ukraine Gas Row Go To Swedish Arbitration?

(ITAR-TASS) Despite an apparent war of will behind the current Russian-Ukrainian dispute over gas supplies to and transit across Ukraine, official Kyiv has publicly been exhibiting a fairly relaxed attitude to Moscow's demand that gas prices be increased more than fourfold next year from the current level of $50 per 1,000 cubic meters.
December 19, 2005
Where Do We Go From Here?

In September, Belarusian President Lukashenka promised imminent "landmark" decisions to further integration with Russia. But he is still offering no clue what those decisions might be.
December 09, 2005
Parties Get Down To Crucial Election Campaign

Ukraine's parliamentary election campaign gets under way, with changes in the electoral system and a reduction in the president's powers promising a fundamental change in the way the country is governed.
November 30, 2005
EU Operation Begins Monitoring Border

The European Union has officially initiated the operation to combat smuggling, which is believed to be rife, especially along Ukraine's 400-kilometer-long border with Moldova's separatist region of Transdniester.
November 29, 2005
The Ukrainian-Russian Gas Impasse

Talks about Russian gas transit across Ukraine and Russian gas supplies to Ukraine for 2006 have come to a standstill. Failure to reach a compromise could affect a number of other European countries.
November 21, 2005
Ukraine: Why Are Ukrainians Disappointed With The Orange Revolution?

Yushchenko last year amid the Orange Revolution (AFP) Ukrainians are expected to converge on Kyiv's Independence Square (Maydan Nezalezhnosti) tomorrow (22 November) to mark the first anniversary of the Orange Revolution, which installed Viktor Yushchenko as Ukraine's president.
November 15, 2005
Kyiv Faces Battle In Gaining NATO Membership

Ukrainian Defense Minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko (pictured) was in the Czech Republic and Slovakia to discuss how to strengthen military cooperation with NATO countries. Both Prague and Bratislava assured Hrytsenko that they support Ukraine's NATO bid.
November 11, 2005
Authorities 'Cleanse' Media Ahead Of Vote

The state postal service will exclude three private periodicals from its subscription catalogue, a move seemingly intended to marginalize what's left of the opposition-minded press ahead of the 2006 presidential vote.
November 08, 2005
Leftists Commemorate Bolshevik Revolution With Antigovernment Rallies

An estimated crowd of 10,000 people took part in an antigovernment picket organized by the Communist Party in front of the government's headquarters in Kyiv.
November 03, 2005
Ukraine: Kyiv, Moscow Vie For WTO Entry

Prime Minister Yekhanurov With U.S. Secretary Of State Condoleezza Rice (AFP) Speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington on 1 November, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov reiterated Kyiv's official hope that Ukraine will become a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) by the end of this year. Ukraine's potential access to the WTO could be approved by the Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong on 13-18 December. However, it does not seem very likely that prior to this forum Kyiv will manage to receive endorsement for its bid from all interested WTO members.
October 18, 2005
Belarus/Ukraine: Ukrainian Premier Appears To Break The Ice In Minsk

Yerkhanov participated in a wreath-laying ceremony in Minsk on 18 October Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov on 18 October paid an official visit to Minsk, where he held talks with Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Belarusian Prime Minister Syarhey Sidorski. The visit suggests that Ukrainian-Belarusian relations, which soured after President Viktor Yushchenko came to power in the Orange Revolution, are warming up.
October 07, 2005
Ukraine: Europe Urges Kyiv To Push Ahead With Reforms

International critics are speaking out, but are Premier Yekhanurov (left) and President Yushchenko (right) listening? President Viktor Yushchenko's administration received two friendly but blunt messages this week urging it to further its declared European-integration aspirations through deeds rather than words. One exhortation came from the European Commission in Brussels, the other from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg.
October 03, 2005
Belarus: Can The Opposition Unite To Challenge Lukashenka?

Alyaksandr Milinkevich (file photo) A 1-2 October congress of pro-democratic forces in Minsk selected Alyaksandr Milinkevich as its candidate to challenge President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in next year's presidential election. More than 800 delegates cast their votes for three contenders aspiring to represent the unified Belarusian opposition in the 2006 presidential ballot: United Civic Party leader Anatol Lyabedzka, Party of Communists leader Syarhey Kalyakin, and Milinkevich, a representative of Belarus's civil society. Kalyakin dropped out after the first round, and Milinkevich edged out Lyabedzka in the second round, with 399 votes to Lyabedzka's 391.
September 30, 2005
Ukraine: Has Yushchenko Betrayed The Orange Revolution?

On 27 and 28 September Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko appointed some 20 ministers to the new cabinet of Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov. The appointments apparently marked Yushchenko's recovery of control over a government that found itself in a serious political crisis, triggered by public allegations of corruption in the presidential entourage and the sacking of the previous cabinet of Yuliya Tymoshenko. However, many in Ukraine and abroad wonder if Yushchenko has not paid an excessive price for getting the new cabinet down to work so quickly.
September 21, 2005
Ukraine: Orange Revolution Drowns Amid Mutual Recriminations

The recent infighting has left supporters of the Orange Revolution disenchanted The Verkhovna Rada on 20 September narrowly failed to approve Yuriy Yekhanurov as head of the Ukrainian government. With 226 votes required for approval, Yekhanurov was supported by 223 deputies. The rejection of Yekhanurov represents a serious setback for President Viktor Yushchenko in the ongoing political crisis in the country.
September 15, 2005
Ukraine: Yushchenko Choice Represents 'Stopgap' Measure

How long will Yushchenko (pictured) stick with Yekhanurov? Immediately after dismissing the government of Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko on 8 September, President Viktor Yushchenko announced that he wanted Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Yuriy Yekhanurov to form a new cabinet. On 13 September, Yushchenko submitted the candidacy of Yekhanurov for the Verkhovna Rada's approval, stressing that he wants to have a "pragmatic government." Yekhanurov needs at least 226 votes to obtain the job.
September 09, 2005
Ukraine: President Sacks Government, Offering More Questions Than Answers

Where does Yushchenko go from here? President Viktor Yushchenko on 8 September dismissed the cabinet of Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko and accepted the previous day's resignation of National Security and Defense Council Secretary Petro Poroshenko. A few days earlier, Yushchenko accepted the resignation of his chief of staff, Oleksandr Zinchenko. Thus, three of Yushchenko's closest allies and brothers-in-arms from the November-December 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine have found themselves outside the government and are not likely to return to it before the March 2006 parliamentary elections. The Orange Revolution, in accordance with a well-known saying, has started to devour its children.
September 02, 2005
Ukraine: Government Throwing Apples After Oranges

Has Viktor Yushchenko's government lost its revolutionary shine? A survey by the Razumkov Center polling agency from 5-12 August confirmed what was signaled earlier by other Ukrainian pollsters -- namely, that the new government of President Viktor Yushchenko is gradually losing its popularity, following its installation in February on a nationwide wave of enthusiasm incited by the November-December 2004 Orange Revolution. In an April poll, the Razumkov Center found that 52 percent of Ukrainians thought that the new authorities were better than the old ones; in August this indicator fell to 37 percent.

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