Instead of attempting to emulate Russia, Ukraine should build itself along the universal principles of human rights, democracy and prosperity. Ukraine, under President Viktor Yanukovych, is moving closer to Russia at dizzying speeds on multiple fronts – industrial, military, law enforcement and other cooperation. Once again, Ukraine has leaders looking upon Russia as a big brother worth emulating. Vladimir Putin’s Russia is, however, a case study in what Ukraine should not become. Putin likes to justify his anti-democratic rule by saying he is building a strong state. A decade into his...

What has long been desperately and hopelessly prophesied by the most perspicacious political Kassandras has come true: the Ukrainian state of Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma, and Viktor Yushchenko, fell and was replaced by the Russian protectorate of Viktor Yanukovych. Now, if experts will find out who is to bear the bulk of the blame, they can argue until they are blue in the face. The ultimate verdict is to be returned at the Last Judgment of History. Yet even now us witnesses of the dramatic spring of 2010, comparable to Berestechko and Chornobyl in terms of its implications, realize that all of us are to blame, active participants and silent majority alike....

Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev’s, May 17-18 visit to Kyiv capped a ten-week campaign to lay the basis for “reintegrating” Ukraine with Russia. It was Medvedev’s seventh meeting with Ukraine’s new leaders since early March, not counting Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin’s, similar number of meetings with them. Medvedev’s previous visit to Ukraine, on April 21, had produced the agreement to extend the basing of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet on Ukrainian territory, in return for Russia subsidizing Ukraine’s gas consumption. Moscow exploits a triple opportunity: Ukraine’s regime change through...

Opening, alongside Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, the Interstate Commission’s session, Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych, turned the clock back to 1990. Invoking that year’s declaration of Ukraine’s sovereignty (still within the USSR), Yanukovych selectively underscored the document’s stipulation of “non-bloc status” for Ukraine. The country can now “finally achieve this goal,” he declared (UNIAN, May 17). This statement implies more than repudiating the hypothesis of NATO membership. Ukraine’s new authorities have already done that, both declaratively and by disbanding the two state commissions that used to handle Ukraine-NATO cooperation programs. Going back to 1990, however...

America will defend the Ukrainian status of Crimea and Sevastopol, said US Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Alexander Vershbow. "We are continuing to support Ukrainian sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, including Crimea and Sevastopol", he said in an interview with the Ukrainian weekly Comments. "We have said many times before that we do not accept the notion of a "sphere of influence" or a "sphere of privileged interests" in the modern world ... Thus, we intend to continue to develop our partnership with Ukraine", said the representative of the US government...

Last week, I blogged here about a new Foreign Ministry policy paper that was leaked to the media calling for Russia to improve its relations with the West in order to secure badly needed investments for its modernization program. In addition to encouraging "alliances of modernization" with the United States and the European Union, the document also presages a fairly assertive Russian foreign policy in the former Soviet space. Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of the influential "Russia In Global Affairs," noted this in a recent commentary published in "The Moscow Times": The West is not the only focus of the document...

Near the end of June 1941, as the German army began its offensive on Lviv and the ruling Soviets were in retreat, Ivan Kindrat and three other medical students scurried toward the city's prison. It was commonly known as Number One. An acquaintance who lived across the street from the penitentiary told them that on the night of June 28, 1941, he had heard gunshots and blood-curdling screams coming from there...

President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Ukraine this week is a continuation of the weekly meetings between the Russian government and the new leadership in Kiev at either a presidential or prime ministerial level since Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's election in February. The series of high-level meetings don't appear to confirm Ukraine's initial intent to establish a balanced foreign policy between Russia and the West. After years of political crises...

The united Ukrainian Canadian community of greater Toronto and surrounding communities will gather on Sunday, May 30, 2010, 2:00PM at the Consulate General of Russia, 175 Bloor St. E., Toronto (Bloor and Church) to rally in defence of Ukrainian human rights and against Moscow’s interference in Ukraine. An official statement on behalf of the Ukrainian Canadian community in Toronto, protesting Russia’s actions in Ukraine, will be delivered to the Russian Consulate during the rally. A statement of support for the national democratic opposition forces in Ukraine will be delivered by a special delegation to the Ukrainian Consulate following the rally. Representatives of civic organizations and ethnic communities have been invited to participate. There will also be statements...

Ukrainian Canadians and friends of Ukraine will voice their collective support for the mounting protests throughout Ukraine, where tens of thousands of citizens are demanding an end to Moscow’s interference in their country. The palpable threat to Ukraine’s sovereignty has reached new heights, as the administration and government of the new President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, has increasingly come under Moscow’s influence. Derek Fraser, former Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine, notes in his study to the CGSUV the unprecedented influence of Russia over the Ukrainian government. Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor, is concerned that...