ISSUE #4
02/06/2012
Ukraine's ruling Party of Regions has refused to decriminalize the articles of the Ukrainian Criminal Procedures Code under which former Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko was convicted. On 31 January 2012, the Party of Regions parliamentary faction's head, Oleksandr Yefremov, said that his party had no intention to consider the decriminalization of Article 364 entitled “Abuse of power or position” and Article 365 which deals with exceeding one's power or authority. These are the articles under which Yuliya Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years behind bars. “The faction did not take other decisions,” the politician explained. READ MORE

• February 14, 2012

ISSUE #5
02/13/2012
On 9 February 2012, the Ukrainian parliament adopted in the first reading a presidential draft of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). The Ukrainian news and analysis website Lb.ua reported that the presidential draft of the CPC was registered in parliament on 13 January 2012. A group of lawmakers headed by presidential advisor Andriy Portnov has been working on it for a year and a half. READ MORE

• February 14, 2012

A group of European vote monitors say they have been denied a meeting with Russian presidential candidate Vladimir Putin because of his busy schedule

• February 11, 2012

"We are ready, upon official request from Russia, to grant extra gas to Europe," said Ukraine's Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko. In his interview to CNN, the Ukrainian minister explained that currently Ukraine receives 400 million cubic meters of gas per day on its eastern border instead of the required 500 million due to extremely cold weather in Russia. This caused a drop in the amount of gas Europe received through Ukrainian pipeline.

• February 10, 2012

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has met in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, amid continuing violence between Syrian government forces and antiregime militants.

• February 6, 2012

ISSUE #3
01/30/2012
A new criminal case which was launched against former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko will be submitted to a court in the near future.
The Ukrainian news and analysis website Lb.ua cited Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych as saying in Davos on 27 January 2011 that the criminal cases over the corporation United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU), which had been opened against former Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko would be submitted for a court's consideration in the near future. READ MORE

• February 6, 2012

ISSUE #2
01/23/2012
On 20 January 2012, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said that Ukraine and Russia are nearing the final stage of gas negotiations.
At the same time, he stressed that Ukraine considers the setting up of a trilateral consortium for managing the gas transportation system the only possible option. READ MORE

• February 6, 2012

ISSUE #1
01/16/2011
The next round of the gas talks between Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Boyko and Gazprom's CEO Aleksey Miller will be held in Moscow on 17 January. The Ukrainian news and analysis website Lb.ua quoted Miller as telling Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on 10 January 2012 that in the process of the negotiations, the Ukrainian party was linking a gas price discount to the setting up of a gas transportation consortium between the two countries. According to Miller, if Ukraine purchases 40bn cu.m. of gas, the discount will be 9bn dollars annually. At the same time, the Gazprom CEO said that the Ukrainian gas transportation system is worth 20bn dollars. READ MORE

• February 6, 2012