 RFE/RL Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova Report 6/8/2010 A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova. For more stories on Eastern Europe, please visit and bookmark our Eastern Europe page . |
| Belarus  Belarus Activist 'Guilty Of Hooliganism' Minsk's Pershamay District Court found Syarhey Kavalenka, a member of the Belarusian National Front (BNF), guilty of "using vulgar language in a public place" on May 8, the eve of Victory Day. More  Belarus Activists Leave For Canada, U.S. Leading members of the Belarusian opposition -- including a presidential hopeful -- left today for a visit to Canada and the United States. More  Belarusian Investigator On Hunger Strike In Jail An investigator in the Belarusian Prosecutor-General's Office who was herself arrested three months ago has gone on hunger strike. More  NGO In Belarus 'Under Pressure' The nongovernmental organization Moving Forward in Belarus has told RFE/RL's Belarus Service it is coming under pressure from the authorities. More  Belarus Sentences Conscription Objector An opposition activist in Belarus has been sentenced to one year of "restricted freedom" for avoiding military service. More  Belarus Sends Tajikistan Flood Aid Belarus has dispatched 32 tons of humanitarian aid to Tajikistan by air. More  The Worst Of The Worst Repressive Countries Freedom House, an international independent organization monitoring democracy and human rights, today released its report titled "Worst of the Worst: The World's Most Repressive Societies." More  Tankers Of Venezuelan Oil On Way To Belarus Ukraine says three tanker loads of crude oil from Venezuela will reach Belarus this month. More  Moldova Welcomes Russian-German Initiative On Transdniester Moldova's prime minister has welcomed a joint Russian-German initiative to step up efforts aimed at solving the two-decade conflict over Moldova's separatist Transdniester region, RFE/RL's Moldovan Service reports. More  Transdniester Reporter Stuck In Jail A court in Moldova's separatist Transdniester region today extended by a further 30 days the pretrial detention of independent journalist Ernest Vardanean. More  Moldova To Hold Early Polls In The Fall Moldova's ruling coalition today announced it will hold a referendum in September to change the way the country's president is elected More  The EU's Declaration Of Impotence What is worrying is the degree to which Brussels' bureaucratic horizons seem to shape (and limit) its conception of foreign-policy making. That the removal of special representatives could badly wrong-foot partner governments in unstable regions never seemed to enter the heads of Ashton or her team. More  EU Plans To Scrap South Caucasus, Moldova Envoys EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has reportedly proposed abolishing the positions of EU special representatives for the South Caucasus and Moldova. If approved by the EU's member states, the move would signal a drastic downgrading of the EU's involvement in its eastern neighborhood. More  Moldova Hits The Gas When Moldova's acting president, liberal Mihai Ghimpu, was recently asked by a reporter, "Who is going to pay Gazprom for the natural gas consumed by the Transdniester separatist region?" Ghimpu took a big pause before answering. More  Two Ukrainian Opposition TV Channels Stripped Of Frequencies A court has stripped two Ukrainian TV channels -- Channel 5 and TVi -- of their new broadcast frequencies. More  EU-Russia Rapprochement Set To Continue EU member-state ambassadors in Brussels today are debating a new proposal to intensify foreign-policy cooperation between the bloc and Moscow. The proposal was part of a joint memorandum signed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Dmitry Medvedev during their weekend meeting in the German town of Meseberg. More  Polls Show Strong Yanukovych Support Four months after his election victory to vanquish the forces of the so-called Orange Revolution, new polling indicates that President Viktor Yanukovych has the support of 65 percent of Ukrainians. More  Ukraine's New Rulers: What Do They Want? Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, now on the eve of his 100th day in office, has promised comprehensive reforms that would establish stability and prosperity in his ailing country. But the opposition says the government's plans are only a cover for plundering the economy and bringing the country back into Russia's orbit. More  Kyiv Court Bans Anti-Yanukovych Protest A Ukrainian opposition party says it has been barred from holding a protest in Kyiv today against President Viktor Yanukovych's policies. More  Senior Ukraine Official Sacked For Bribe The Ukrainian government says it has dismissed Deputy Environment Minister Bohdan Presner for accepting a bribe. More  In Georgia and Moldova, Worries That EU Special Reps -- And Their Protection -- May Vanish Officials in Moldova and Georgia are reacting with concern to speculation that the EU is poised to remove special representatives appointed to their regions. If confirmed, the change would signal a major downgrading in the EU's strategic interest in both Chisinau and the countries of the South Caucasus. More  EU-Russia Summit To Steer Forward Course, Without Rocking The Boat At an EU-Russia summit today in Rostov-na-Donu, the Russians will be looking to secure guarantees of visa-free European travel. The EU, for its part, will be looking for opportunities to guide Russia's economic development. Both goals are a reflection of a pragmatic new stage in EU-Russian relations -- the desire to look to the future, while keeping controversy to a minimum. More  Wolf-Dog Hybrid To Fight Crime In Ukraine Steppe gray wolf Akella has been living in the police canine section for over a year, after local police took him in as month-old cub. Akella lives side by side with a female German shepherd, and Luhansk police hope this pair will produce a new breed of talented sniffer dog. More  Ukraine's Killer Wreath Virals We wrote last week about Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych being attacked by a rogue wreath, while paying his respects at Kyiv's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. More  Jewish Writer Comes Home To Ukraine Bruno Schulz was both a Polish and Jewish writer and happened to be born in what is historically Ukrainian territory, but was once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and then interwar Poland. He was killed by the Gestapo during World War II. More |
