Minsk is promoting the Belarusianization of Belarus while Moscow is pushing its re-Sovietization. But because both are being imposed from above, specialists on that country say, it is unclear whether the former will promote cultural...
America’s freshly appointed “Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations” Kurt Volker visited the war zone in East-Ukraine in late July. In the warn-torn village of Avdiyivka he made some remarkable statements: the conflict is...
The Minsk peace process is so far seen as the only way to stop the war between combined Russian-separatist forces and the Ukrainian army in Donbas. There was a Minsk-1 first signed in September 2014, and then a Minsk-2 adopted in February...
Today Belarus marks Freedom Day (Dzen Voli), an unofficial holiday to commemorate the creation of Belarusian People’s Republic in 1918. Rallies were held in Minsk, Brest, Homel, Hrodna and Vitsebsk. Authorities sanctioned the...
At least 11 Ukrainian soldiers are reported to have died repelling the deadliest yet 2017 attack from combined Russian-separatist forces in the east Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, which started on 29 January 2017. The land assault was...
What are the origins of the armed conflict that has been raging in eastern Ukraine since 2014? Which role did Russia play in the emergence and escalation of the originally unarmed confrontation, in the Donets Basin (Donbas), after the...
The Normandy Four meeting with the participation of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany took place in Berlin on the night of 19-20 October. The negotiations lasted for 4 hours, accompanied by protests outside the residence of...
Over the last week, Ukrainian media were full of fierce discussions regarding the removal of military units’ at three hot spots at the Donbas frontline – in Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote, and Petrivske. This process kicked off after the...
A new meeting of the leaders of the countries in the “Normandy Four” could take place on 19 October. Kyiv has emphasized the necessity to create a draft roadmap to implement the Minsk agreements, which should determine the...
I meet Carl Bildt at the airport on his way from Stockholm to Kyiv where he will be participating in the YES Annual Meeting, also known as Yalta Forum. The meeting was first organized 13 years ago in the city of Yalta, Crimea and turned...
On 28 September 2017, Ukraine’s new law on education entered into force. Called to advance Ukraine’s badly needed education reform, it has been praised for introducing the concept of competence-orientation and giving schools...
