RFE/RL BELARUS, UKRAINE, AND MOLDOVA REPORT
18.12.2012
A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova. Test yourself by taking our latest Weekly News Quiz For more stories on Eastern Europe, please visit and bookmark our Eastern Europe page . |
BELARUS
 Wool Disclosure: The Art Of Valenki As Belarus and much of Russia and Eastern Europe endure a cold snap, it's safe to assume that many people, especially in more traditional rural areas, are turning to the classic footwear known as valenki to keep their toes warm. Valenki, which date back some 300 years, are made of raw wool and are specifically designed to combat extreme temperatures. (They don't do so well in slushy, wet conditions.) In the Belarusian village of Smilovichi, just east of Minsk, workers produce some 17,000 pairs of valenki each month at a factory that dates back to 1928. Reuters photographer Vasily Fedosenko visited the factory recently and brought back these timeless images. (11 PHOTOS) More  Freeze Frames Bitterly cold temperatures and blizzards are making life painful across Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. Health authorities in Kyiv say at least 37 people have died in Ukraine from causes attributed to cold weather. In Russia's Far East, temperatures have plummeted to minus 50 degrees Celsius. (17 PHOTOS) More  Pension Tension: Lukashenka Proposes State Payments For Bakiev Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka raised eyebrows at a meeting with journalists on December 11 when he called on Kyrgyz authorities to pay a pension to exiled former leader Kurmanbek Bakiev. More  Jailed Belarusian Activist 'Isolated' The wife of imprisoned Belarusian rights leader Ales Byalyatski says authorities are doing "everything possible" to keep him isolated at his penal colony in the eastern city of Babruisk. More  Jewish Leader On Trial In Minsk The chairman of the Judaic Religious Association of Belarus, Yury Dorn, has gone on trial for alleged bribe-taking. More  Is Europe's Last Dictator Planning A Return To Serfdom? Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's decree prohibiting workers in the wood-processing sector from quitting their jobs without their employer's permission provokes alarm in a country that still remembers centuries of serfdom. More  Lukashenka Signs Labor Curbs Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has signed a controversial decree limiting rights of workers in the lumber sector. More  A Conscript's Life: Inside The Belarusian Army The Belarusian Army considers itself a successor to the military of the Soviet Union; the traditions, relations between officers and enlisted men, and even the equipment have changed little since the 1960s. Photographer Alexander Mihalkovich took these photos of daily life during his army service in 2010-11. More  Belarusian Villagers Say Homes Destroyed Without Proper Compensation Residents of a village in northeastern Belarus have complained they have had their homes bulldozed and burnt to the ground without proper warning or adequate compensation from the authorities. More Residents of a village in northeastern Belarus have complained they have had their homes bulldozed and burnt to the ground without proper warning or adequate compensation from the authorities. More  Tymoshenko Trial 'Compromised' A top U.S. law firm's analysis of the trial of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has found that her defense was "compromised to a degree that is troubling under Western standards of due process." More  Fisticuffs In The Ukrainian Parliament Fistfights broke out in Ukraine's new parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, in successive sessions on December 12 and 13, as opposition lawmakers tried to block access to the podium following disputed elections and rumors of defections poisoning the air. (19 PHOTOS) More During the opening session of Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, on December 12, opposition deputies blocked a vote on the nomination of Mykola Azarov to a second term as prime minister. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service) More  Crimean Tatars Hold Rights Rally Some 2,000 Crimean Tatars have gathered in Simferopol, the capital of Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea, to demand that their rights be "revived." More  After Meeting Clinton, Ukrainian Activist Says Situation 'Is Not Hopeless' U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned of efforts to roll back human rights in the former Soviet Union as she met with 11 activists from the region on December 7. RFE/RL correspondent Charles Recknagel spoke with one of the activists, Oleksandra Delemenchuk of the Kyiv-based Center for Civil Liberties, about her impressions of the meeting on the sidelines of the OSCE conference in Dublin, Ireland. More  Doctored Photo Of Fake Ukrainian Gas Deal Goes Viral A Spanish ski instructor who embarrassed the Ukrainian government by duping it into publicizing a bogus gas deal worth $1 billion is now the subject of a photoshopped picture by Ukrainian blogger Roman Shraik that has gone viral. More  Tymoshenko Named For Presidential Bid Ukraine’s United Opposition Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party has announced that jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will be its presidential candidate.More  Transparency: Two-Thirds Of Countries Perceived To Be 'Highly Corrupt' According to the anticorruption group Transparency International (TI), high levels of bribery, abuse of power, and secret dealings continue to “ravage” societies around the world, despite a growing public outcry over corrupt governments. More |
