After the reported death of an additional two servicemen yesterday in Ukraine as reported by Kiev’s military spokesman Andrei Lysenko and increased heavy weaponry presence on both sides in the contested region of Luhansk has prompted calls by both separatists and Kiev to meet again on June 23 in Minsk. The last meeting in the…
Ukraine has threatened to issue a debt moratorium and cease making payments to creditors if terms favorable to the government are not reached by the end of June. This latest piece of news comes as the Ukrainian government continues debt restructuring negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, although with a deadline fixed at the end…
The G-7 has again begun to mull tougher sanctions on Russia. The catalyst for the discussions is an alleged outbreak of Russia-fueled violence in eastern Ukraine. There has been increasing amounts of coverage of certain areas of eastern Ukraine in which a perceived buildup of Russian military equipment has been able to reach separatists in the…
Despite some encouraging signs related to Ukraine’s economy, the International Monetary Fund issued a statement yesterday saying that the Ukrainian economy has declined sharply as a result of the conflict, and that it may continue to do so should sporadic instances of fighting in eastern Ukraine continue. IMF Mission Chief Nikolay Gueorguiev has spoken in…
The head of the International Monetary Fund is in Kiev to gauge the impact of the IMF’s $17.5 billion stimulus on the Ukrainian economy. Thus far, indications have been positive, according to Nikolay Gueorguiev, who has stated specifically that the project has been well implemented and that “stability is taking hold.” The second, $2.5 billion tranche…
The last time the EU Eastern Partnership Summit took place, it was 2013, and we lived in a different world. The results of that meeting, with former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych choosing to go with Russia’s offer of a $9 billion development fund in exchange for EEU association over an EU Association Agreement, sparked the…
The Wall Street Journal published an interesting piece on the hardships facing Ukrainian businesses attempting to compete in the European Union. The headline message of the piece is that it is proving much more difficult for the Ukrainian economy to shift away from its legacy affiliation with Russia and adapt in phases to the competitive…
Opposition members and colleagues of the assassinated Boris Nemtsov released a report estimating the number of Russian soldiers secretly fighting in eastern Ukraine. Apparently Nemtsov was working on the report before he was shot in February in Moscow – the report, only 65 pages long, details that some 70 Russian troops were killed in eastern…
US Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Moscow to engage in talks with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The two statesmen are expected to broach not only the subject of Ukraine, but also those of Western sanctions, regional cooperation and extremism. The visit has predictably drawn a healthy amount of attention in…
Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a return to normal relations yesterday during a diplomatic summit just after a larger boycott of the Victory Day parade celebrating the end of WWII on Saturday. Despite the boycott, two dozen other world leaders flew to Russia including guests of honor Xi…
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