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Ukraine’s president and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which comes under his jurisdiction, have reacted sharply to the Georgian-Russian conflict. President Viktor Yushchenko has close personal relations with President Mikhail Saakashvili with whom he is direct contact on a daily basis (www.president.gov.ua, August 9). The Yushchenko-Saakashvili relationship is a political alliance based on the shared aims of the 2003 Rose and 2004 Orange revolutions, a common desire to join NATO and support for an alternative to Russia energy sources through the GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova) regional group. Ukraine and Georgia have also supported pro-U.S. positions in the...

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has said officials in Russia were hindering an investigation to determine who was behind his poisoning during the 2004 presidential election campaign. The president told The Times Russian laboratories were refusing to provide samples of the dioxin poison, even though he had discussed the matter with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin. He also said Russia was refusing to extradite three suspects. "Three laboratories in the world were producing dioxin of this formula. It is very easy to determine the origin of the substance; there is nothing magical about it," he told the Times. "Two laboratories provided samples...

[Dec, 2004] A criminal investigation into the poisoning of the Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko began yesterday after tests showed that his blood contained 1,000 times the normal level of dioxin. The poisoning caused the severe chloracne which led to the disfigurement of his face. The results of the investigation are likely to prove politically explosive amid feverish speculation that Mr Yushchenko was the victim of a Cold War-style poisoning by members of the country's intelligence services.

Sen. John McCain has asserted his opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin a number of times, going so far as joining with Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., in 2005 to introduce legislation calling on President Bush to suspend Russian's membership in the Group of Eight. That opposition, however, is being called into question by links that have been established in various reports between McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, and Ukrainian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who is suspected of having ties to organized Russian crime. Davis even arranged for McCain to meet Deripaska at a time when Davis' lobbying firm was working under...

TORONTO -- This week, Ukraine's President, Viktor Yushchenko, will travel to Israel -- a nation for whom the term "genocide" has become an indelible part of its collective memory -- where he is expected to ask Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to endorse a UN resolution put forth by Ukraine recognizing the Soviet-era forced famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine as an act of genocide. For Prime Minister Olmert and members of the Knesset, it will not be an easy decision to make, since Jewish leaders have long maintained that the Holocaust was unique and should not be equated with other genocides.

KIEV (AFP) - Pro-Western parties were poised for dramatic victory Tuesday in Ukraine's cliffhanger parliamentary election, although their Moscow-backed rival remained defiant and each side accused the other of fraud.With barely more than one percent of ballots left to count in Sunday's snap election, the Orange Revolution alliance of President Viktor Yushchenko and firebrand reformist Yulia Tymoshenko held an almost unassailable lead.Their arch rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, had not yet conceded defeat.But his Regions Party, while the single biggest in parliament with more than 34 percent of the vote, lagged well behind the combined tally of about 45 percent...

KIEV (AFP) - Pro-Western parties in Ukraine narrowly defeated their Moscow-backed rivals in snap parliamentary elections Sunday, exit polls indicated, but the apparent victory was unlikely to end months of political unrest. Four exit polls released after voting in the former Soviet republic gave President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party and the allied Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc a razor-thin lead over parties backing Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. The result meant that Tymoshenko, a fiery reformist politician, could seize the premiership from her bitter adversary Yanukovych, who is seen as being close to Ukraine's former ruler Russia. Tymoshenko, who helped Yushchenko to...

via translation - Ukraine: thousands of soldiers move towards Kiev KIEV - Several thousands of soldiers belonging to the troops of the ministry for the Interior, carried out by their commander, honest to president Viktor Iouchtchenko, move towards Kiev, in spite of the order of their minister, faithful to the Ukrainian government, affirmed Saturday the ministry. “On May 26 (...) of the units of the interior, strong troops several thousands of people, took the road towards Kiev”, affirmed the ministry all while being said “worried” by this situation. “The order on their displacement was given personally by the commander of...

KIEV (Reuters) - President Viktor Yushchenko said on Friday he was taking control of interior ministry troops loyal to Ukraine's prime minister, a direct challenge to the rival he has confronted for months. Yushchenko issued his decree hours after riot police controlled by the interior minister took over a key building in Kiev following scuffles. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich's supporters planned a rally in the city centre later in the day. The decree concerns troops largely responsible for maintaining public order and not the army, which is controlled by one of pro-western Yushchenko's few allies in the cabinet. Tensions boiled...

KIEV (Reuters) - Riot police pushed aside protesters massed outside a Ukrainian courthouse on Wednesday, allowing judges inside to assess whether embattled President Viktor Yushchenko acted legally in ordering a snap election. About 4,000 protesters backing Yushchenko's call for an early election -- but opposing the Constitutional Court's examination of the presidential decree -- had been waving flags outside the building from early morning. The sitting got under way after about an hour's delay, with 15 of the 18 judges present. Yushchenko, long at odds with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich over Ukraine's future direction, has dissolved the chamber and ordered...

KIEV, April 3 (Itar-Tass) - Ukraine is getting immersed in a deep political crisis with unpredictable consequences. The parliamentary majority has given a hostile reception to the presidential decree on the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) and does not intend to obey it. The confrontation between political forces will inevitably spill out into to the streets. The opposition leaders have already called for a new Maidan (permanent rally) in downtown Kiev. Yuri Lutsenko, leader of the People's Self-Defence movement, has stated that a platform for speakers will be set up in Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosty) on Tuesday and rallies...

Ukraine is facing its second general election in less than two years after President Viktor Yushchenko last night dissolved parliament, citing "unconstitutional" behaviour by the Moscow-friendly government of Viktor Yanukovich, prime minister. In a move aimed at ending months of political gridlock caused by a stand-off with his long-standing rival Mr Yanukovich, the president said in a television address that it was his "duty" to call fresh elections, accusing the government of the "the politics of intrigue and fraud". The poll will take place on May 27, he said. Mr Yushchenko urged Ukrainians to remain calm saying "the situation is...

· 'Lame duck' Ukraine president plans to appeal · Former orange revolution ally votes with opposition The man who led Ukraine's orange revolution two years ago has been transformed into a lame-duck president following a humiliating parliamentary vote that effectively strips him of all powers. Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's opposition leader turned president, no longer has the power to veto the choice of prime minister or foreign minister. Lawyers for President Yushchenko said yesterday that they were preparing to appeal, describing the move as "unconstitutional". However, Mr Yushchenko appears to be the big loser in Ukraine's latest constitutional battle, which has...

Political crisis deepens in Ukraine Representatives of the western orientated Orange revolution ‘Our Ukraine’ bloc drop out of negotiations with pro-Russian politicians. Report by Halyna Pastushuk, Kyiv 07.10.06 This week the electorate of Our Ukraine Bloc, at least those who have not got disappointed in their orange idols, have sighed with relief. Our Ukraine is not longer going to be in coalition with those against whom it was fighting during the legendary Orange revolution. Roman Bezsmetny said that Our Ukraine Bloc is ready to start negotiations with the representatives of oppositional powers regarding common plans for future actions. Although, I...

MOSCOW – President Viktor Yushchenko reached across the Orange Revolution's barricades Thursday and nominated his arch rival to lead Ukraine's government out of nearly five months of political paralysis. The deal, reached as a constitutional deadline that expired Wednesday night, creates a "grand coalition" between the pro-Western Mr. Yushchenko's Our Ukraine movement and Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions, which favors closer ties with Russia. Ukraine's parliament, the Supreme Rada, is expected to elect Mr. Yanukovych as prime minister on Friday. Critics suggest the accord has betrayed the Orange Revolution and played into Moscow's hands. Some, including Yushchenko's former ally Yulia...

Ukraine’s Supreme Rada is to endorse Viktor Yanukovich as prime minister on Friday. President Viktor Yushchenko has given in, agreeing to nominate his long-standing rival for prime minister. Yanukovich’s comeback in office means not only the defeat of the Orange. Ukraine is also in for a new redistribution of property that the White and Blue will certainly launch.

After four months in deep freeze, Ukraine has a new government. But some fear the new government will deal a fatal blow to the spirit of the Orange Revolution. KYIV, August 4, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Lawmakers in the Ukrainian parliament have finally put an end to Ukraine's four-month political impasse, voting to approve Viktor Yanukovych as prime minister. Speaking just before the vote, Yanukovych -- who has experienced a remarkable political comeback since his defeat to pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko in the 2004 Orange Revolution -- vowed to work to unite a Ukraine riven by discord: "I am confident that this...

PM Yanukovych: what now for Ukraine and Poland? Russian backed Victor Yanukovych, who lost the 2004 Orange Revolution election in Ukraine, has been nominated as Prime Minister. How does the situation in Ukraine affect Polish Ukrainian relations? Report by Agnieszka Bielawska 04.08.06 Yanukovych will share power with president Viktor Yushchenko who had no other choice but appoint him as prime minister in view of the looming threat of the dissolution of Parliament and new elections. The Yanukovych block which holds a majority in Parliament is known for its pro Russian sentiments and reluctance towards western integration. Poland watched the events...

KIEV, Ukraine — After four months of wrangling, Ukraine's pro-Western president faced a midnight deadline Wednesday to decide whether to accept his chief political rival as the country's next prime minister. President Viktor Yushchenko can also dissolve parliament and call new elections, but doing so would prolong the political turmoil that has seized this ex-Soviet republic since March's indecisive parliamentary election. A return to power for Viktor Yanukovych, a former prime minister, would complete a startling comeback. His attempt to win the presidency in the 2004 election was marred by fraud and triggered the mass protests known as the Orange...

KIEV, August 3 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has submitted the candidature of Viktor Yanukovych for the post of prime minister to parliament, the leader of the Socialist faction said Thursday. "The Rada [parliament] secretariat has received Viktor Yanukovych's candidacy," Vasily Tsushko said, adding that the president had made the right choice. Yushchenko took a significant step toward resolving the country's protracted political crisis early Thursday by backing his long-time rival and the parliamentary majority's choice for the prime minister's job. "I decided to nominate Yanukovych as prime minister," Yushchenko said after consultations with Yanukovych and parliamentary speaker...