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2. A Year After Euromaidan: Pro-European Forces Wins the New Parliament
- Author:
- Olexiy Haran and Maria Zolkina
- Publication Date:
- 05-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- Mass protests in Maidan, the central square of Kyiv, during the bitter cold winter of 2013-2014, known as 'Euromaidan' or 'Revolution of Dignity' were non-violent for more than two months. The demonstrations began when, under Russian pressure, former President Viktor Yanukovych abruptly resisted in signing the long promised Association Agreement with the EU. However, when President Yanukovych, reputed for his corruption and authoritarian style, responded to the peaceful protests by violent repression, Euromaidan quickly moved beyond its initial slogans and demanded the president's resignation. In February 2014, after security forces started to shoot protesters, Ukraine became one of the only countries in the world where a hundred people died “under the EU flags” defending democracy and the European choice. In this context, according to the agreement signed on February 21, 2014, between the opposition and President Yanukovych, the parliament returned to the 2004 constitutional reform and, consequently, combined a parliamentary-presidential form of government. The 2004 constitutional reform had previously been unconstitutionally abolished by President Yanukovych in 2010 and its restoration was among the main demands of the Euromaidan.
- Topic:
- Government
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Ukraine
3. The Crimean Crisis in the Context of New Russian Geopolitics
- Author:
- Okan Yesilot
- Publication Date:
- 04-2014
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- Over the past months, the crisis in Crimea presented the world with a case study on how rapidly national borders may shift in the 21st century. The turmoil in Ukraine began in November 2013 as widespread protests erupted following a last-minute decision by former president Viktor Yanukovych's to suspend talks on a trade pact with the European Union under pressure from the Russian government. The pro-Russian leadership in Crimea organized an impromptu referendum where the vast majority of participants voted in favor of uniting with the Russian Federation. This article provides an analysis of recent developments in Crimea in the context of Russian policy in the region.
- Topic:
- Government
- Political Geography:
- Russia and Ukraine
4. Russia, Ukraine and the Eastern Partnership: From Common Neighborhood to Spheres of Influence?
- Author:
- Andrey Makarychev
- Publication Date:
- 10-2014
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- This paper provides an analysis of the most recent changes in Russian foreign policy that became a matter of global concern in the aftermath of the Ukraine crisis. The author advocates for a discourse-based approach to comprehend the new shifts in Russia's international posture. First, Russia has launched its own normative policies that incorporate a set of conceptual arguments, such as portraying Ukraine and Russia as allegedly bound by civilizational ties. Second, Russia is not only unilaterally imposing its power; it is also exploiting the opportunities for raising its role, which are embedded in the structure of its relations with post-Soviet states. Third, Russia's policies are largely inconclusive and inconsistent, which is conducive to the dispersal of hegemonic discourse and its potential fragmentation.
- Topic:
- International Relations
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia
5. Stuck in Two Overlapping Neighborhoods: Dilemmas of Kyiv's European Integration and Russian-Ukrainian Relations
- Author:
- Igor Torbakov
- Publication Date:
- 04-2007
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- Ukraine's Orange Revolution, its leaders contend, was primarily pro-European, not anti-Russian. But most commentators both in the West and in Russia look at the 2004 dramatic events in Kyiv differently: they tend to characterize them as a clear manifestation of Ukraine's strategic, if not civilizational, choice. Within this paradigm, opting for a "European path" would mean undermining what the Kremlin perceives as its vital national interests.
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Ukraine
6. Berlin's Russia Challenge
- Author:
- Angela Stent
- Publication Date:
- 04-2007
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- Russia has found an innovative way to ring in the New Year with its European partners: threatening to cut off energy supplies. At the beginning of 2006, it was gas exports through Ukraine; in January 2007, it was oil supplies through Belarus. Although President Lukashenko backed down and oil again flowed to Europe, the actions of pipeline monopoly Transneft –and President Putin's failure to inform Germany about the impending cutoff– presented German Chancellor Angela Merkel with an unwelcome start to Germany's EU presidency.
- Topic:
- Oil
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, Ukraine, Germany, and Berlin