Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

RFE/RL Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova Report 6/7/2011 8:47:52 PM 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 Belarusian Market Vendors Plan Strike Vendors at a major Minsk market announced on June 7 that they will hold "a warning strike" on June 15 to protest the market owner's decision to annul its contracts with the stall-keepers. More   Belarus: In Camera Trial For Journalist A prominent Polish-Belarusian journalist charged with insulting Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka will go on trial next week behind closed doors. More   Ex-Belarusian Presidential Candidate Says Family 'Under Pressure' Former Belarusian presidential candidate Ryhor Kastusyou says the authorities are doing everything to "turn my family into beggars." More   Leader Of Belarusian Poles In Vitsebsk Flees To Poland The local head of an embattled Polish cultural organization in eastern Belarus has fled to Poland fearing possible arrest. More   Jailed Belarusian Opposition Leader Not Allowed To See Wife, Father Jailed Belarusian presidential candidate Mikola Statkevich has been denied a visit by his wife and 84-year-old father. More   Jailed Belarusian Presidential Candidate Demands New Elections Jailed Belarusian opposition politician Andrey Sannikau has made public a letter in which he demands a new round of presidential elections. More   Activists Quizzed Over Minsk Court Fire Police in the Belarusian capital have detained three activists from the opposition European Belarus group over an arson attack on a courthouse where opposition trials have been taking place. More   Jailed Belarusian Politican Meets Wife Belarusian journalist Iryna Khalip has been allowed to meet with her jailed husband, former presidential candidate Andrey Sannikau, in his detention center in Minsk. More   EU Gears Up To Widen Belarus Sanctions, As Opposition Candidates Sentenced The EU once again is set to extend its visa sanction list and freeze the assets of more people connected to Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime in Belarus. The move, expected May 23, comes in response to the recent sentencing of more opposition figures in Minsk. But Brussels again has failed to agree on measures against companies close to the Belarusian state. More   Putin In Belarus For Bailout Talks Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is in Minsk for a visit that could result in a bailout loan deal for Belarus, which is battling a crippling economic crisis. More   Officials Thwart Jailed Belarusian Politician's Visit From His Wife The wife of jailed former presidential candidate Andrey Sannikau was kept from meeting with her husband in a KGB detention center despite having permission to do so. More   Moldova Moldova's Communists Remain Leading Party Following Local Elections More than 12,000 local posts were up for grabs in elections in Moldova on June 5, and the preliminary results indicate that the even division between the Communist Party and the three-party West-leaning ruling alliance remains the status quo. A runoff seems likely in the hotly contested race for mayor of the capital, Chisinau. More   Moldova To Review Islam Registration The Justice Ministry registered the Islamic League in mid-March, after Moldova's tiny Muslim minority had tried in vain for years to obtain some kind of official recognition, triggering a wave of protests from the dominant Orthodox Church. More   Moldovans Rally To Protest Formal Recognition Of Islam Hundreds of Moldovans have taken to the streets in Chisinau to protest the government's recognition of the country's tiny Muslim minority. More   Interview: Moldovan Foreign Minister Reaffirms Policy Of European Integration Moldovan Foreign Minister Iurie Leanca says that further integration with Europe is the only way forward for his country and the best way of resolving the long-standing frozen conflict in breakaway Transdniester. More   'EU Solution' For Transdniester Dispute Moldova's integration into the European Union is the best way to resolve the dispute over the country's breakaway Transdniester region, Moldovan Foreign Minister Iurie Leanca has told RFE/RL More   Conservatives Angered By Moldova's Recognition Of Muslims As an important round of contentious local elections approaches in Moldova, an unlikely issue has come to the fore. Orthodox Christians and conservative Communists have lashed out at the liberal ruling coalition for registering the country's first-ever Islamic NGO. More   Ukraine Yanukovych Relies On Soviet Nationalism To Stay In Power During, and since the 2004 presidential elections, the inciting of inter-regional conflict has been a strategy forged by Ukrainian and Russian political consultants (“technologists”) working for Yanukovych and the Party of Regions to ensure they remain in power. More   Ukrainian Journalists Denied Access To Presidential Residence Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych refused today to allow journalists inside his official residence despite a promise one year ago to do so. More   Ukraine Surrogacy Boom Not Risk-Free Low tariffs and relatively lenient legislation are making Ukraine an increasingly popular destination for Western couples seeking to have children through surrogacy. But cases of foreigners locked in legal limbo while trying to get their babies out of the country also abound -- leading couples to resort to increasingly desperate measures. More   The Sensational Story That Wasn't: Reports Of 'Stoning' Death Of Ukrainian Girl Turn Out To Be False A Ukrainian tragedy sparks alarming news reports around the world of a Shari'a-crazed killer stalking a young woman because of her lifestyle. As it turns out, there's not truth to those headlines. More   'The Nation’s' Dissident Problem The Polish anticommunist hero and Solidarity co-founder Lech Walesa declined a meeting last week with Barack Obama on the Polish leg of the president's European trip. "It's difficult to tell journalists what you'd like to say to the president of a superpower," Walesa told Polish broadcaster TVN24. "This time I won't tell him, I won't meet him, it doesn't suit me." More   Global Index Charts Year Of Continued Setbacks To World Peace The world became slightly less peaceful in the past year, punctuated by violent uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, but also marked by successes in countries like Slovenia and Georgia. More   Celebrating Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday, In A Multitude Of Languages Iconic American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan is turning 70. His heartfelt songs have been translated into dozens of languages and have inspired poets around the world, changing the global landscape of popular music. Here's a look at Dylan's lasting imprint in RFE/RL's broadcast area. More   Ukraine Ex-Minister's Trial Begins Former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko has gone on trial for abuse of office and misappropriation of funds. More   Crimean Tatars Mark Deportation Anniversary More than 15,000 Crimean Tatars gathered on May 18 in the center of Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, to mark the 67th anniversary of the mass deportation of Crimean Tatars. More   Ukrainian Politicians Put The Squeeze On Civil Society The Soviet Union used to propagate the notion that dissidents were funded by Western intelligence agencies. Today, those same (now, post-Soviet) elites, push an updated version of this notion, by arguing that their opponents work with Western foundations and NGOs to foment democratic “revolutions.” More