The chief of an NGO that provided aid to people fleeing Belarus was found hanged in Kyiv. His friends said he had been followed by "strangers."

Should we trust the main Russian opposition?

Local election shows that the era of political monopoly in Luhansk Oblast is drawing to an end

Seventeen members of a far-right group have been detained for attacking the headquarters of Ukraine’s largest pro-Russia political party in Kyiv

Who voted for whom, or to what extent voter preferences coincide with the results of their choices

The opposition in Ukraine is mostly reactive and it chooses actions that will be most useful for criticizing the current Administration or gaining the attention of a specific part of the electorate. What Ukraine needs most right now is a consolidating program and a party that could present its own alternative for the country

What those in power and opposition are likely to do to improve their rates and mobilize the electorate

How the Russian opposition sees Ukraine

The place of freedom and free people in today's Russia

How generations shift in the electoral field of the former Party of Regions clans

Elections in the occupied parts of Donbas will boost the strength of the Opposition Bloc in Ukrainian politics. Its strategic goal is to return Ukraine into Russia’s orbit

The Party of the Regions supposedly no longer exists in current Ukrainian politics, but it’s sent several columns out to the local elections

Why the Maidan in Ukraine has discouraged Belarusians from protests against their authorities

How and when are Ukraine’s reactionary forces most likely to strike back

Cutting access to their financial resources is the most effective way to leave the representatives of the old regime with no chance for comeback

The parliamentary election may bring only few “new faces” to parliament

On the eve of the Men’s Ice Hockey World Championship to take place on May 9-25, numerous opposition activists were arrested. As of May 9, at least 28 political inmates are kept at prison isolators in Minsk

Opposition leaders and Viktor Yanukovych signed the Agreement to Regulate the Crisis in Ukraine at the Presidential Administration on February 21. The text has been promulgated by the President's press-service

President Viktor Yanukovych threatens to put opposition leaders in jail, journalist Sviatoslav Tseholko wrote on Facebook quoting Batkivshchyna leader Arseniy Yatseniuk

The meeting of President Viktor Yanukovych and his working group with opposition leaders is over after four hours

The Yanukovych regime has refused to compromise even after the deaths of several protesters, and there is no indication that any number of victims will change this

Opposition leaders declined a deal offered to them by Viktor Yanukovych during the renewed negotiations on Saturday, January 25th.

The oppositional parties of Ukraine form national resistance headquarters and prepare for the national strike, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, head of the oppositional party “Batkivshchyna,” said during the press conference on the 30th of November.

The scandalous tax amendment and efforts to aggravate mutual distrust in the opposition

Protest sentiments are escalating in the Donbas. But distrust for politics and inert opposition make the dissent purely pragmatic and local

as a weighty bonus in the upcoming presidential elections

Yet another opposition activist in prison has a cumulative effect on the whole post-soviet sphere

Premiership with extended powers for Viktor Yanukovych may well be an alternative to the “victory at any price” in the 2015 presidential race. Read a detailed report in the article Operation Premier Yanukovych in the upcoming issue of The Ukrainian Week out on July 18

Vitaliy Klitschko is improving his rhetoric, but fails to give clear answers to crucial questions regarding the nation’s development

Despite the successful merger of the Front for Change and Batkivshchyna, the united party could face more dissent and lose voter support unless Arseniy Yatseniuk revises his approach to party building

The US may impose personal sanctions against Ukrainian top officials if Yulia Tymoshenko remains in prison, said Arseniy Yatseniuk, the newly-elected head of the Batkivshchyna political board and head of the Batkivshchyna faction in parliament, according to Batkivshchyna’s press service

How the opposition’s declaration of deeper coordination could collapse into internecine warfare

The European Parliament holds hearings on the political situation in Ukraine; US and EU Ambassadors visit Yulia Tymoshenko; Russia qualifies the statement of its General Counsel in Simferopol regarding Crimean Tatars as “inappropriate”.

The rally on May 18 – the biggest lately - provided no answers for protest-oriented voters

Ukraine’s opposition has major flaws and should make itself worthy of support, but democratically minded Ukrainians should prefer an adrift opposition to the authoritarian alternative, Alexander Motyl, American historian and professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, notes in his blog on The World Affairs Journal.

The Ukrainian majority is waiting for a solid alternative to the Yanukovych regime, but existing candidates from the parliamentary opposition are currently unable to offer one

Democracy and the rule of law in post-Soviet Ukraine

The Yanukovych regime will continue the tactics of the creeping usurpation of power, trying to avoid decisive battles and unjustified image losses

In Ukraine political power is a means of enrichment rather than governance while the opposition politicians are an extension of the business groups they claim to fight, writes The Economist.

The Ukrainian Week takes a closer look at what lies beneath Svoboda's slogans in the interview with its leader Oleh Tyahnybok about the forms and tactics of political struggle, the prospects of a revolution, the interaction of opposition politicians and stereotypes about Svoboda

The leader of the Svoboda party spoke with The Ukrainian Week, about the “Rise Ukraine!” protest campaign, elections in Kyiv, the blockade of parliament, relationships with other opposition leaders, the struggle against stereotypes and other things

While the opposition continues to announce its latest radical initiatives, the Yanukovych regime is strengthening its positions

“Ukraine can look to the U.S. for examples on how to work toward compromise,” Peter Hannaford, a member of the Committee on the Present Danger, once close associated with the late President Ronald Reagan, writes in his article for The American Spectator.

A compromise among relevant political actors in Ukraine will only be of benefit to Ukraine's stability and international standing and would bolster U.S. ties, Bruce M. Rickerson who formerly served in a professional capacity with the Organization of American States, the U.S. Department of State, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee writes in his opinion for UPI.

“Viktor Yanukovych must sense that his own cadres are grumbling and could at some point even be tempted to go against him,” Alexander J. Motyl, American historian and professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, writes in his blog on The World Affairs Journal.

The Party of Regions` attempts to intimidate the opposition with early elections or responsibility for the breakdown of European integration have not given the desired result so far, so an escalation of resistance can be expected in the near future

The leader of the biggest opposition faction in parliament appears too inconsistent and unpredictable to inspire trust in the majority of Ukrainian voters

Centrifugal tendencies in the united camp - the battle for mutual destruction has not begun yet, but the preconditions for it are in place

Opposition leaders are lost because they don't have moral vaues that would give them orientation. It's time that they ask themselves, "Do the people need us?"

Paradoxically, gigantic Russia with its cultural and ethnic diversity is much more monolithic in its fundamental ideologies (and hence collective illusions) than the compact and seemingly more homogeneous Ukraine.

The newly-elected MP and right-hand man of Arseniy Yatseniuk talks about the Customs Union,the threats of referendums under the new law and why the current Administration does not welcome young and progressive middle class

Ukraine’s majority needs to accurately assess the potential of the current opposition. This will help spare the country from further disappointment and preserve hope for an alternative project

The protest near the CEC showed that the opposition is not capable of building effective strategies to counteract the government, at least for the time being. It lacks coordination and well thought out joint actions.

Yanukovych’s regime has turned Yulia Tymoshenko into a symbol of resistance, yet her real influence on the opposition is waning

There are no blatantly odious characters among the United Opposition’s parliamentary candidates, yet some might easily jump ship after the election

The Vitaliy Klitschko brand could be a cover for many potential party switchers associated with oligarchs, and these politicians are unlikely to be controlled in the future by the UDAR party leader

How and why one of Russia’s leading opposition figures has been accused of stealing timber

As the Ukrainian opposition successfully overcomes hurdles erected by the ruling Party of Regions, the authorities are being forced to increase efforts to sow conflict and discredit the opposition in the eyes of voters

In his pursuit of laurels, as the united opposition’s leader, Arseniy Yatseniuk has found himself in a position, which could bring an end to his political future. The only chance for him to maintain his prospects as a national leader is to purge the united opposition of people serving oligarchic and anti-Ukrainian interests

Civil Position, the party of former Defence Minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko, has a special place among opposition forces that prefer to ignore efforts to unite and which have few chances of entering parliament independently in 2012

Pseudo-opposition and unpopular projects could steal as much as 10% of the opposition’s votes and play a destructive role in electoral commissions

A number of facts suggest that the Presidential Administration is promoting Natalia Korolevska’s political project. True or not, she is now playing into the hands of the government in its efforts to take control of the future parliament

Vitali Klitschko’s rapid political ascent is due to his readiness to say what most voters want to hear. Yet, it is currently too early to talk about any strategic vision of the nation’s development

Vitali Klitschko’s Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR) refuses to run under a single party list with Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna and Arseniy Yatseniuk’s Front of Change in the upcoming parliamentary election. From now on, it is the only opposition political force other than the ‘united opposition’ that is confidently crossing the 5% threshold.

As its popularity ratings plummet, the Party of Regions will find administrative resources and falsifications insufficient and will have to actively employ spoilers against the opposition. The latter’s excessive ambitiousness will only give the advantage to Bankova Street*

Batkivshchyna and the Front of Changes, two most popular opposition forces, presented the Declaration of Unity signed by Yulia Tymoshenko and Arseniy Yatseniuk. They announced plans to run under one list in the upcoming parliamentary election.

The main players facing off in the parliamentary election campaign this autumn have begun to deploy their party structures.

It looks like the latest local by-election was a platform for testing mechanisms that could be used in the 2012 parliamentary election

Despite implementing large-scale image-building projects, which were largely directed towards the European audience, Petro Poroshenko has no alternative choices for the nation’s development. He has always been part and parcel of the post-soviet oligarchic system

None of the existing opposition parties really seek demonopolization, separation of business and government, or desovietization

Ukraine has an objective demand for a right-centre alternative aiming at liberating and supporting private initiative, radical separation between government and business, and the rapid de-sovietisation of society

The government is searching for mechanisms to offset the huge loss of popularity over the past two years. It appears that administrative leverage, manipulations and falsifications are going to be applied on a massive scale.

The mass protests of Russian “Decembrists” in the country show that Russian society has been re-booted

Will Natalia Korolevka’s ambitions work in favor of the ruling party?

Russian intellectuals have again fallen out with each other

The coming parliamentary election may be an incentive to change the situation in the country if the opposition manages to rise to higher-quality politics

Freedom House President David Kramer: “It looks like Ukrainian leaders are using the judiciary to prosecute their opponents” *

Cécile Vaissié: “Democratic traditions work only when the government is balanced by an independent judiciary and freedom of speech”

Yuriy Lutsenko told The Ukrainian Week about the manner in which Ukrainian courts interpret justice, why Orange politicians lost power and his future plans

2011 was defined by Ukrainians able to overcome inertia

The Russian opposition brought tens of thousands to Moscow’s streets but is scared of a revolution

Ukraine does not have any other elites except these – the corrupt, opportunistic, demagogic elites that only care about the real future of a coterie of companions rather than that of the country at large

Boris Nemtsov, Russian politician and a leader of the Solidarity opposition movement and People’s Freedom Party (PARNAS), talks about Yulia Tymoshenko’s case and the mistakes of Russian democrats

By voting for legitimization of the regime’s polling rules, the opposition laid the groundwork for its own demise

Despite faking intense activity, the political opposition in Ukraine has failed to do anything significant to win back public trust

The surprising pause in the Yulia Tymoshenko trial is more evidence of the trap in which the government has found itself.

Heorhiy Moskalenko and Viktor Kuksa raised the blue-and-yellow flag in Kyiv 45 years ago

The Kremlin is being forced to be creative to assure a landslide victory

Siargei Vysotsky, leader of the Belarusian Freedom Party, speaks about Alexander Lukashenko’s dead end, anti-Russian sentiments and clerical servility

Political betrayals, ideological chameleons and crossovers: an opinion on the opposition

The French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) recently published a report titled “Economic pressure and Ukraine’s security policy.” IFRI is one of the most influential private think tanks in France. Its list of invited speakers includes Ukrainian presidents Viktor Yanukovych and Viktor Yushchenko

Government policies and an inert opposition stir new protest movements

The Czechs don’t know if Bohdan Danylyshyn is innocent but have granted him asylum

On the one hand, the Danylyshyn case creates a precedent, while on the other, it fits in with the context of re-evaluation

Reasons behind Yurii Lutsenko’s arrest

The absurdity of and political motives behind the charges brought against Ms. Tymoshenko are obvious

The government put much more pressure on its predecessors before the New Year