tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100074742008-07-23T17:55:01.984+03:00Kiev Ukraine News BlogNicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comBlogger3878125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-55593550525669410262008-07-23T17:48:00.003+03:002008-07-23T17:55:02.097+03:00Ukrainian Prosecutors: No Suspects In 4-Year Probe Into President's Dioxin PoisoningKIEV, Ukraine -- After investigating for nearly four years, Ukrainian prosecutors acknowledged Wednesday they don't have a single suspect in President Viktor Yushchenko's dioxin poisoning.
Political cartoon explaining Yushchenko's poisoning.
The announcement comes a day after Yushchenko was questioned by prosecutors a second time and hinted the investigation would produce "very unpleasant" Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-70381134314092563712008-07-22T00:30:00.003+03:002008-07-22T00:34:46.574+03:00German Chancellor Backs EU 'Associate' Status For UkraineKIEV, Ukraine -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel has backed an agreement to bring Ukraine closer to the European Union, and renewed her pledge that the former Soviet republic will some day join NATO.
Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko (R) shakes hands with German Chancellor Angela Merkel as he welcomes her in Kiev July 21, 2008.
Ms. Merkel spoke Monday in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-25071759412589536492008-07-21T06:28:00.000+03:002008-07-21T09:40:40.873+03:00Germany Lined Up By UEFA To Replace Ukraine As Euro 2012 Co-HostLONDON, England -- Germany is being lined up to replace Ukraine as co-hosts for Euro 2012 amid fears inside UEFA that the East European country will not be ready to stage the event.
President of the Ukrainian Football Federation, Grigory Surkis
Inspectors from the European game's governing body, who visited the country two weeks ago, are putting together a report on the state of preparations Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-63850562980959896352008-07-20T09:28:00.002+03:002008-07-20T09:32:50.918+03:00Moscow Mayor Calls Ukraine 'Undemocratic'MOSCOW, Russia -- Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who has been banned from entering Ukraine, said on Saturday that the recent detention of a Russian journalist in the country shows it is 'undemocratic'.
Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov
A journalist for the Russian channel TVTs, who had filmed a report about Ukrainian authorities' plans to separate the national Orthodox Church from the Moscow Patriarchate, Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-40735746192327470392008-07-19T14:48:00.002+03:002008-07-19T14:59:07.083+03:00Ukraine Targeted By Russian HackersKIEV, Ukraine -- Following on from last year’s massive cyber attack on Estonia’s computer systems when Russian hackers, purportedly funded by the FSB (the modern equivalent of the KGB), brought the country’s computer systems to its knees in response to the removal of Soviet statues and war memorials.
A Russian hacker's calling card.
It looks as if those same hackers with the same funding are Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-40534745870852874082008-07-19T04:32:00.004+03:002008-07-19T04:45:00.230+03:00Ukraine-NATO War Games Concern RussiaMOSCOW, Russia -- Russia on Friday said it was concerned by joint NATO-Ukraine naval exercises in the Black Sea, saying the leaders of the ex-Soviet state were trying to force their people into NATO membership against their wishes.
A British auxiliary navy ship sails in front of a sculpture in the port of Odessa. US troops are holding military exercises near the Russian border in ex-Soviet Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-9625332361366097582008-07-18T07:59:00.003+03:002008-07-18T08:06:22.425+03:00Ukraine Ruling Coalition Heading Toward CollapseKIEV, Ukraine -- The hero and heroine of the Orange Revolution are once again on the brink of divorce. And it's ordinary Ukrainians who are paying the price.
Yulia Tymoshenko and Viktor Yushchenko during the 'Orange Revolution'.
In the seven months since President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko reunited in a coalition government with vows to carry out crucial reforms, Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-33059801307146914882008-07-17T09:46:00.003+03:002008-07-17T09:51:53.594+03:00Moscow Refuses To Send Yushchenko Poisoning Suspect To UkraineKIEV, Ukraine -- Russia has refused to extradite a former Ukrainian security service deputy head suspected of involvement in the poisoning of President Viktor Yushchenko in 2004, Ukraine's top prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Viktor Yushchenko before (L) and after alleged poisoning.
The Prosecutor General's Office said that since Moscow considers Wolodymyr Satsiuk, or Vladimir Satsyuk, to be a Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-43502911884846851092008-07-16T17:35:00.002+03:002008-07-16T17:41:26.088+03:00IMF Urges Ukraine To Control InflationKIEV, Ukraine -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged Ukraine to take immediate measures to control inflation, as sustained high inflation would greatly harm the country's economy.
IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn
At a press conference in Ukraine's Black Sea resort of Yalta on Tuesday, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn expressed the organization's anxiety over Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-78915218431869127382008-07-16T07:57:00.003+03:002008-07-16T08:04:13.783+03:00Next Stop BeijingTERNI, Italy -- The seventeen year old Margaryta Pesotska from Ukraine is one of the surprise young European qualifiers for the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing. One month from now she will stand on her own as the lone table tennis athlete from Ukraine at the biggest stage of them all.
Ukraine's Margaryta Pesotska
This night in Terni, Italy a different but in many ways as rewarding task had toNicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-58927890548485085842008-07-15T17:59:00.002+03:002008-07-15T18:04:12.612+03:00Saving The Ukrainian President's FaceKIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has lost a lot since the heady days of his country’s Orange Revolution – executive power (due to constitutional changes), voter support (due to endless infighting) and international prestige (for lack of reform).
David Zhvaniya
More recently, his reputation as a martyr for democracy has also come under threat.
This last laurel was Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-6275791687214986562008-07-14T21:20:00.004+03:002008-07-14T21:32:02.918+03:00Ukraine's Move To West Stalls Amid Political RowKIEV, Ukraine -- In December 2004, pensioner Vladyslav Leontovych joined hundreds of thousands of fellow Ukrainians in Kiev's central square to help overturn a rigged presidential election and usher in the Orange Revolution.
Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko and President Viktor Yushchenko are at war with each other -- once again.
“There was this fantastic national uprising, we had such unity,” Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-44410252276687047132008-07-14T16:44:00.003+03:002008-07-14T16:54:00.620+03:00US-Ukraine Military Exercises Get Under Way In Black SeaKIEV, Ukraine -- U.S.-Ukrainian military exercises began on the Black Sea on Monday amid anti-NATO protests that demonstrated the deep hostility among some in this former Soviet republic toward the Western military bloc.
Members of Ukraine's Progressive Socialist Party confront the police as they take part in a rally against the Sea Breeze-2008 NATO military exercises in the Black Sea port of Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-67764376916285763842008-07-13T19:55:00.003+03:002008-07-13T20:00:08.431+03:00Klitschko Knocks Out Thompson To Keep Boxing World TitlesHAMBURG, Germany -- Ukraine's Vladimir Klitschko knocked out America's Tony Thompson in the 11th round to retain his WBO and IBF world heavyweight titles.
Vladimir Klitschko (R) of the Ukraine exchanges punches with Tony Thompson of the US during their WBO heavyweight title fight July 12 in Hamburg, Germany. Klitschko knocked out Thompson in the 11th round to retain his WBO and IBF world Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-68414538668878110332008-07-13T09:56:00.002+03:002008-07-13T10:00:51.270+03:00U.N. Denies Ukraine's Genocide ClaimNEW YORK, NY -- The United Nations General Assembly has decided not to put genocide claims by Ukraine onto its current session agenda, Russian officials said Saturday.
Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin
Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin lobbied the General Assembly against opening discussions on Ukraine's claim that the catastrophic 1932-33 famine, which historians blame on Josef Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-89311795677794622222008-07-12T18:53:00.003+03:002008-07-12T18:59:26.777+03:00Ukraine PM Accuses President Of Sabotaging BudgetKIEV, Ukraine -- Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, once allied with Ukraine's president in "Orange Revolution" protests against election fraud, accused him on Saturday of torpedoing a budget intended to improve living standards.
Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko
Tymoshenko, prime minister for a second time, survived a confidence vote in parliament on Friday launched by the opposition on grounds thatNicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-22629974078369534622008-07-12T16:08:00.003+03:002008-07-12T16:14:04.787+03:00Sarkozy Supports Partnership Deal Between EU And UkraineKIEV, Ukraine -- French president Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the European Union's presidency, on Friday backed a new partnership agreement between Ukraine and the EU.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy (L) with former British prime minister Tony Blair (R).
"France will urge its partners in European Union and European Commission to push for a new agreement between the EU and Ukraine to Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-87182701696619093442008-07-12T07:37:00.002+03:002008-07-12T07:41:21.530+03:00Ukraine's Tymoshenko Survives No-Confidence VoteKIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko survived a no-confidence vote called by the opposition in protest at her pro-Western government's handling of high inflation and other economic ills.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko accepts the congratulations of Parliament of winning a No-Confidence vote on July 11, 2008.
The motion, launched by opposition leader and former Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-84203274322989039102008-07-12T07:13:00.003+03:002008-07-12T07:22:44.593+03:00Wizz Air Ukraine Takes OffKIEV, Ukraine -- Wizz Air Ukraine had launched its first service from Kiev Borispol Airport to Simferopol at 6am yesterday, July 11th, in line with the earlier announced plan. The brand new Airbus A320 aircraft left fully loaded with 180 passengers on board.
Wizz Air Ukraine schedule for summer 2008.
The first ever Ukrainian low fare flight was inaugurated by Minister Vinsky, who greeted the Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-6168633163116166552008-07-12T02:47:00.000+03:002008-07-12T02:47:00.673+03:00Comrade Lenin: Alive and WellMOSCOW, Russia -- The New Russia may have finally embraced free-market capitalism, but Vladimir Lenin, founder of Soviet communism and one of the great murderers of the twentieth century, still casts a long shadow across the Russian landscape.
Architect of the 'Evil Empire', Vladimir Lenin.
Indeed, when I journeyed to Russia with my family last summer to research my forthcoming novel, Moscow Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-37807797598167832512008-07-11T04:55:00.002+03:002008-07-11T05:00:07.326+03:00'Alarming Rise' In Ukraine RacismLONDON, United Kingdom -- There has been an "alarming rise" in the number of racially motivated attacks in Ukraine, according to a new Amnesty International study.
Amnesty International UK says hate crimes are on a rise in Ukraine.
The group says more than 60 people were targeted in racial attacks last year. Four people have died this year alone.
The government, it says, fails to recognise theNicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-31274690605340874632008-07-11T04:17:00.003+03:002008-07-11T04:27:32.342+03:00Work On Ukraine Crisis Stadium Stalls - Euro 2012 ThreatenedKIEV, Ukraine -- Things are back to normal this week at Ukraine's 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium, with its badly-needed overhaul at a full stop, and political bigwigs once again accusing each other of ruining the former Soviet republic's chances of hosting the Euro 2012 football championship.
Kiev's Olympic Stadium as it looked in 1980 during the Summer Olympics.
Only four crew without tools, Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-18429523798284518042008-07-10T17:06:00.004+03:002008-07-11T14:32:46.112+03:00Rus Festivities Likely To Spark New Fight With MoscowKIEV, Ukraine -- Worn out by the relentless war of words between Ukraine and Russia, both still squaring off over the future of the Black Sea Fleet, Crimea, language, natural gas and NATO, among other things?
Archbishop of Constantinople, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Expect more of the same during Kyiv’s big plans this summer to commemorate the 1020th anniversary of when the ancient Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-64684616717744959922008-07-10T06:51:00.000+03:002008-07-11T09:58:21.592+03:00Taiwan Firm Sues Ukraine Over Euro 2012 StadiumTAIPEI, Taiwan -- A Taiwan firm said Thursday that it has sued the Ukrainian government for breaking an agreement for the firm to renovate a Kiev stadium for the Euro 2012 football championship.
Archasia Design Group (ADG) filed the suit with the Kiev Circuit Administrative Court against the Ukrainian sports ministry for making false charges against the company in order to break the agreement, Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10007474.post-13797740606492784792008-07-08T17:12:00.003+03:002008-07-08T17:17:50.431+03:00Ukraine Looking For Tips On Hosting Euro 2012VIENNA, Austria -- Ukraine hopes it can learn something from Euro 2008 co-host Austria as it struggles to prepare for the 2012 European Championship.
Ukraine hopes to learn from Austria's Euro 2008 experience.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko was making a one-day visit to Vienna on Tuesday to see if his country could benefit from Austria's recent experience hosting the tournament with Nicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11870310932017443794noreply@blogger.com