The world was waiting for Ukraine to take its first step towards joining the EU this week, but a few days ago its president announced a not-entirely-unexpected U-turn. Valery Kalnysh reports from Kyiv.
The government is pushing forward automatic enrollment in a pension scheme not because the population is ageing or to save itself money, but in order to drive investment, says Craig Berry.
In 2009 six post-Soviet nations signed up to the EU Eastern Partnership, aimed at deepening political cooperation and economic integration. Progress has been uneven because old habits die hard and closer integration with the EU has many opponents. Viorel Ursu and Iryna Solonenko consider the varyi
Protests against the proposed mining of nickel and copper in the heart of Russia’s Black Earth belt have been escalating, and so has the media smear campaign against the protesters. Konstantin Rubakhin, an activist himself, sees this as a positive sign.
The Angara, the only river draining Lake Baikal, might disappear by 2020, as it is progressively dammed for massive hydroelectric schemes designed to aid the development of … China.
31% of new jobs in the UK in the 3 months to June were with estate agents. This isn't any solution to the economic crisis or the housing crisis. Samir Jeraj reports.
Ukraine, caught between Russia and the EU, has spent almost twenty years avoiding a decision about which way to turn, but with the possible signing of an Association Agreement with Europe in Vilnius just over two months away, it can prevaricate no longer.
The Russian Orthodox Church has, since the late 1990s, become an increasingly powerful force in Ukrainian politics and society. But the violent desecration of a piece of modern art shows it is also increasingly intolerant of different viewpoints.
The prosperous South East can no longer afford to subsidise the rest of the United Kingdom. Or so runs the conventional wisdom. The facts, on the other hand, are rushing headlong in the opposite direction.
Moscow’s recent overtures to Ukraine and Armenia concerning membership of the Russia-led Customs Union have been heavy on threats and hard-ball politics, and rather short on attempts at actually explaining the benefits of joining the Union instead of pursuing European Union integration. Which offe
Well-off Russian bureaucrats have got used to having a second home abroad, whether it’s a cottage in Ukraine or a castle in Spain. But these are now under threat from Vladimir Putin’s latest intervention – a ban on foreign bank accounts. Mikhail Loginov reports.
Lake Baikal, the largest freshwater lake on the planet, is part of Russia’s DNA, and many romantic ballads sing of its size and beauty. Beyond the lake is a different story. Do Trans-Baikal Territory and its capital Chita have a future or is this a godforsaken backwater? Mikhail Loginov investigat
