As Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych weighs the economic benefits of the EU’s deep and comprehensive Free Trade Agreement and Russia’s Customs Union offer, Ukraine’s energy and security needs must be taken into consideration, argues Stephen Christensen. Stephen Christensen is a resident fellow at the Prague Security Studies Institute. "If Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych ever finds time to write his memoirs, October 2011 will merit its own chapter. Last month alone, Yanukovych weathered a verbal assault from the international community over his refusal to decriminalise charges against former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, sentenced to seven years in prison as a result, and navigated Ukraine to an agreement in principle with the European Union (EU) regarding a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA). Simultaneously...

"There is little time left before the Ukrainian-EU summit, which will be held in Kiev on 19 December. Both Ukrainian and European mass media are vigorously debating a range of well-known issues, such as the Tymoshenko case, Ukraine's bid for membership of the EU and even the country's geopolitical choice. At the same time, matters related to the state of the Ukrainian economy are, as a rule, either shifted to the background or not discussed at all, with Russia's influence on the economic situation in Ukraine serving as an example. Yet, it is the economy that often...

In all appearance, the EU is determined to prevent Ukraine from straying from the way of the European integration. Kyiv is trying to meet Brussels halfway by removing the unacceptable conditions. On the one hand, the evidence of this is the attempt of the European leaders to carry on a dialog with the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. The Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and his German counterpart Christian Wulff received the Ukrainian leader in Wroclaw and the Polish president is going to visit Kyiv one of these days. The MEPs regularly see the Ukrainian high-ranking officials in Brussels and Kyiv. This week the Ukrainian oligarch and owner of the FC Shakhtar Rinat Akhmetov invited the foreign ministers of Poland and Sweden Radoslaw Sikorski and Carl Bildt to go to a football match in Donetsk. Of course, this pretext was used not to make the ministers see the match. The Polish MEP Pawel Kowal commented the abovementioned event on the Channel 5: “This meeting can be a signal for...

Peter Goldring will ask former Belarusian presidential candidate Ales Michalevic if recent incarcerations of opposition politicians in Belarus, Ukraine and other former Soviet countries are signs of a slide from democracy into totalitarianism. Mr. Michalevic is to appear before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development on Thursday December 1, 2011. Mr. Goldring, Member of Parliament for Edmonton East and vice-chair of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Group is a member of the Committee and will be taking the lead on the questions. “Looking at Eastern Europe it seems to me there’s a lot of Soviet-style political chicanery going on,” Mr. Goldring says. “Recently Ales Byalyatski, a long-time human rights defender and head of the human rights organization Vyasna has been convicted in Belarus. Before that...

Today is Ukrainian Famine and Genocide Memorial Day, as proclaimed by an act of Canada's Parliament in 2008, which recognized the Holodomor, the forced famine of up to 10 million Ukrainians in 1932-33 by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin as a genocide. Canada is one of several countries, including the U.S., Argentina, Italy, Austria and Poland, to recognize the famine as genocide. Victims also have been honoured by various international institutions, including the European Parliament and two United Nations groups. On Friday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper called on all Canadians to honour "the millions of men, women and children who suffered horribly and perished during the Ukrainian famine-genocide." "The Ukrainian famine, under the oppressive Soviet communist regime of Josef Stalin, remains one of the most atrocious crimes against humanity...

The chairman of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Roman Zakaluzny, attended the official unveiling of the Spirit Lake Internment Camp Interpretive Centre on 24 November, extending congratulations to the centre's organizers, designers and managers for creating what has already become an important commemorative and educational venue recalling Canada's first national internment operations. “The hard work of James Slobodian and other members of the Spirit Lake Camp Corporation is evident in this museum which poignantly recalls the experiences of the men, women and children onceinterned here, including several members of UCCLA's Redress Council such as the late Mary Manko Haskett, her daughter, Fran, and Stefa Pawliw. Years ago UCCLA placed a trilingual plaque at the Spirit Lake camp and unveiled a statue, "Interned Madonna" here, helping set the stage for those who then went on to set up this very impressive centre." Also attending the event was Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, the Honourable...

Whereas, the government of Canada has recognized fundamental human rights in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; and Whereas, the government of Canada is providing over $100 million in capital funding for a national museum for human rights in Winnipeg and an additional $22 million in annual operational funding; and Whereas, the Government of Canada has recognized in legislation the Ukrainian Great Famine (Holodomor) of 1932-33 as an act of Genocide against the Ukrainian people; and Whereas, the Government of Canada has recognized the internment operations against the Ukrainian community during the first World War; and Whereas the report of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights recommends only 2 permanent galleries one for the Holocaust and on for aboriginal peoples; and ...

Historiography plays the key role in comprehending the Holodomor. If the former manages to answer the Holodomor-related crucial questions on the basis of undoubtedly authentic sources, politicians will choose another field for the debates that will help them remain in the public spotlight. But scholars are only at the beginning of the road that will lead them to the absolute truth in this subject. I have already lost count of my articles on the Holodomor in The Day. This article has some repetitions about the Holodomor’s mechanism, which is indispensable. But I offer here for consideration and criticism some conclusions that result from a deeper look into the nature of this tragedy. As before, I am convinced that it should be called genocide. I hope, though, that if these conclusions draw support from historiographers, they will ease public tension caused by this interpretation

As the 'long marathon' to sign the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement is reaching its end, the only issue remaining is that of offering Ukraine a clear perspective for membership of the Union, says ambassador Kostyantyn Yelisieiev. Kostyantyn Yelisieiev is a career diplomat and Ukraine's ambassador to the European Union. His comments follow: "The numerically catchy date of 11/11/11 will be remembered in the history of Ukraine-EU relations as the day when the sides 'sealed the deal'. After nearly five years and 21 rounds of rather exhaustive meetings, the chief negotiators finally shook hands on the text of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement. With only one issue left for high political consideration (the EU perspective for Ukraine), Kyiv and Brussels have stopped one step away from concluding this seminal document. The final step is the hardest. Any marathon runner...

Eight school boards in Canada will join the Ukrainian community and the governments of Canada, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec in marking Holodomor Memorial Day. On Friday, November 25, students will pay tribute to the millions of Ukrainians who perished in the famine genocide of 1932-33. The participating school boards include the Toronto District School Board (ON), Toronto Catholic District School Board...