Representatives of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development of the Canadian Parliament have come to Ukraine to monitor the human rights situation. Canadian parliamentarians also met with the Ukrainian historian, Ruslan Zabily, who was persecuted by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). UNIAN has been notified by the press center of the Liberation Movement Research Center, that the planned meeting of the Standing Committee in Lviv on May 17 will include Ruslan Zabily, the historian who was detained...

Seven members of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development of the Parliament of Canada visited the gate of the Central Clinical Hospital "UKRZaliznytsia" in Kharkiv and spoke with the supporters of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Member of the Canadian delegation, MP Bob Dechert, told journalists that the delegation appealed to the Ukrainian authorities with a request to meet with Tymoshenko. However, this request was denied. Parliamentarian Dechert stated...

Mississauga-Erindale MP Bob Dechert is part of a group of Canadian federal politicians visiting Ukraine to conduct hearings into a number of different matters. Dechert, who also serves as parliamentary secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird, is part of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. The committee is in Ukraine to host several hearings on issues such as selective prosecutions, the country's economy and business climate, human rights groups, political developments in Ukraine, preparations for elections and regional economic development. As well, the committee will meet with the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine...

Just days after reclaiming the Russian presidency, Vladimir Putin has canceled his planned visit to the United States, where he'd been scheduled to attend a major economic summit and meet with President Obama. The White House confirmed in a statement late Wednesday that Putin told Obama on a phone call he'd be sending Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in his place. Putin claimed he was too busy finalizing cabinet appointments to make the May 18-19 G-8 Summit at Camp David. Yet the Obama administration had moved the gathering to the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland from the planned venue in Chicago partly to accommodate Putin. Whether or not the...

Following the failed attempt on the part of both the United States and Ukraine to provide Ukraine with a NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) at the April 2008 Bucharest NATO Summit, Ukrainian membership in NATO has become a dormant if not a non- issue. The United States once a strong advocate of Ukraine has been silent. Much of it can be explained by a change of administrations in both countries. Certainly, the Obama administration has been less forthcoming on Ukraine than the Bush administration. Undoubtedly, the Yanukovich regime has stifled what was once a grand design of European integration by President Yuschenko and has transformed Ukraine into a global pariah. So then what is Ukraine’s current outlook for NATO membership. The answer...

By looking at statistics, one would think Ukraine is a well-educated nation. It has the eighth largest number of university students in the world, according to Dzerkalo Tyzhnia weekly. It has more than 800 licensed universities and other higher education institutions. Yet in reality, its education sector is a pit of corruption rather than a thriving melting pot of research and innovations, where the students are milking cows. As a result, none of the nation's universities feature in the world's top 1,000 rankings, while its education ministry is a great subject for investigative journalists. Before the summer university entry campaign kicks off in...

Seven and a half years ago, scenes of jubilant crowds celebrating the outcome of Ukraine's Orange Revolution -- a new presidential vote after a rigged election was annulled -- filled TV screens around the world. Now the country is back in the headlines, thanks to the controversial detention of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a heroine of the revolution, and threats to boycott next month's Euro 2012 soccer matches in response. Viktor Yanukovych, the man defeated in 2004 by rival Viktor Yushchenko, is now president and stands accused by critics of persecuting his political opponents, Tymoshenko among them. And the promise of the 2004 Orange Revolution, where millions joined in...

The Ukrainian government is negotiating the issue of rouble-denominated government bonds, making the country no longer reliant on International Monetary Fund assistance. Ukraine's 2010 IMF assistance package of US$15.6 billion was suspended in March 2011 because of the country's refusal to continue with IMF reforms, in particular raising household utility prices to reduce subsidies to the state gas company Naftohaz Ukrainy. This confirms what the Nikolai Azarov government has been discussing since summer 2011. Three November 2011 auctions for three- and five-year government bonds with 8.22 and 8.75% returns, respectively, failed to attract buyers, and...

The Regionnaires must be getting desperate. When the vast majority of Ukraine’s population thinks of you as thugs, crooks, and vandals a few months before an election you can’t possibly win, there’s only one thing to do. No, not go straight, silly. You go to Burson-Marsteller, of course, a self-styled “leading global public relations and communications firm” that has a special relationship with the world’s rogues. You pay B-M a ton of money and you hope they can remove your stench. Andrew Rettman of the EUobserver broke the story on April 27th: Robert Mack, a senior manager at Burson-Marsteller, told EUobserver: “Our brief is to help the Party of Regions communicate its activities as the...