Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

RFE/RL Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova Report 5/1/2012 1:16:06 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 Some EU Envoys Returning To Minsk Ambassadors to Belarus from European Union countries are starting to return to Minsk after they departed in late February in protest of the human rights record of authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime. More   Documentary On Death Penalty Seized In Belarus Belarusian authorities have seized copies of a documentary film about the use of the death penalty in Belarus. More   UN Calls For Belarus Prison Releases The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has called on the authorities in Belarus to begin a dialogue with the political opposition and "to unconditionally release all remaining prisoners who are serving sentences for exercising their fundamental human rights." More   Minsk Allows Chornobyl March Minsk city authorities have officially allowed Belarusian opposition groups to hold a "Chornobyl Path" march on April 26. More   EU Envoys To Return To Minsk 'In Days' Slovakia's Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak has said that European Union ambassadors should return to Belarus in "a matter of days." More   Jailed Belarus Rights Activist Fined The jailed chairman of a human rights group in Minsk has received a court notice saying that he has to pay additional fees for overdue taxes. More   Belarus Schoolgirl Raps For 'Prosperity, Free Health Care,' And Against Miniskirts Ksenia Degelko, a 13-year-old Belarusian schoolgirl from Oktyabrsky, is trying to become just that with her song "I'm From a Village." Heck, she's already trending on Twitter (#degelko). More   Lukashenka Postpones Address To Nation Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has rejected a draft of the annual address to the nation and postponed the date of the address. More   U.S. Credits Minsk For Prisoner Release The U.S. government has called Belarus's decision to release a former presidential candidate and his campaign manager from prison "a significant step," but also called on Minsk to immediately release all remaining political prisoners it is holding. More   Moldova Moldova Castration Law Rejected The president of Moldova has refused to sign into law a measure that would have called for the chemical castration of foreigners and Moldovans convicted of sexually abusing children in Moldova. More   OSCE Sees Progress In Transdniester The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has welcomed the outcome of the latest round of negotiations between Moldova and its breakaway Transdniester region. More   Ukraine Freedom House Survey Suggests Fewest People In A Decade Enjoying A Free Press A new report by U.S.-based pro-democracy group Freedom House says just one in six people around the world enjoys a free press -- the lowest percentage in more than a decade. More   European Heads Vow To Skip Euro 2012 Over Tymoshenko An aide to Angela Merkel says the German chancellor is prepared to boycott Germany's matches in Ukraine during the Euro 2012 soccer championship if no improvement is seen in the case of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. More   Reward For Info On Ukraine Bombings Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has announced a reward of two million hryvni, or about $250,000, for information leading to the apprehension of the perpetrators of the four explosions in the eastern city of Dnipropetrovsk on April 27, which injured 30 people More   Eastern Ukraine Blasts Injure 27 At least four blasts have been reported in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk on April 27. More   Thousands Rally In Kyiv For Tymoshenko Thousands of Ukrainian opposition activists and supporters have rallied in Kyiv, demanding the release of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. More   Ukraine, Not So Subtly, Plays The Tymoshenko Card “If you sign the association agreement, we’ll set Tymoshenko free.” That's Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister Valeriy Khoroshkovskiy, as quoted by EurActiv, the specialized European Union affairs portal. More   5 Killed In Romania Chopper Crash Reports from Romania and Moldova say five Ukrainian pilots were killed in eastern Romania when a helicopter they were traveling in crashed near the village of Ostrav on the Danube River. More   Tymoshenko's Daughter Says Her Mother Is Badly Bruised, Still Refusing Food The daughter of jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko says her mother is badly bruised after prison guards forcibly took her to a clinic last week for treatment. More   Russia's Plastic Surgery Disasters Valeria Lukyanova is a model from Ukraine who claims to be the "most famous Russian woman on the Russian-speaking Internet." More   Work Begins On Chornobyl Shell Ukraine has begun construction of a new protection shell over the damaged reactor at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. The work to replace the existing shell, which is crumbling and leaking radiation, comes on the 26th anniversary of the world's worst civilian nuclear disaster there. More   Interview: European Parliament Chief Says Tymoshenko's Treatment 'Unacceptable' Martin Schulz, who became president of the European Parliament earlier this year, has described Ukraine's treatment of jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko a "disgrace" to the country. More   German Doctors To See Tymoshenko Ukraine has requested that German doctors be sent to examine and treat Yulia Tymoshenko after the opposition leader and former prime minister launched a hunger strike to protest her alleged mistreatment in jail. More   Ukrainian President's Millions In Book Fees Raise Eyebrows Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is famously bad with words. But that hasn't stopped him from earning more than $2 million as the author of numerous books on politics and foreign investment. Observers say such a deal isn't entirely unrealistic -- as long as everyone in Ukraine buys at least two copies of each of his books. More   European Court Hears Lutsenko Case The European Court of Human Rights has begun hearings in the case of jailed former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko. More