There is a new danger for Yulia Tymoshenko hanging in the air. Just a couple of weeks ago Ukraine seemed to have a window of opportunity to let her walk free, by having President Viktor Yanukovych issue a pardon. As of Wednesday, though, it looks like the former Prime Minister is headed for a life sentence in the case of a 1996 mafia-style murder.

It seems that most of Ukraine’s parliament doesn’t want to give a chance to many of the nation’s orphans. In a vote on May 15, only 123 of the deputies supported a vote to join the international convention on adoptions, far below the required majority of 226. 

Schengen visas seem to be an ever-green issue in the Ukrainian media. In most, however, one can read irritated stories rather than positive coverage of EU visa policy. One reasons might be the fact that those who obtain Schengen visas without any problem (and these are a vast majority) do not write “thank you letters” to the media, which, in turn, do not focus on such stories.

Editor's note: The following is a May 15 press release from the European Commission on the decision to adopt proposals that will enable the signature of the Association Agreement with Ukraine at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius in November this year.

On Tuesday Ukraine’s parliament adopted a law on implementing a new state anti-corruption policy, and rejected two draft bills aimed at strengthening that same anti-corruption policy.  The authors of the first bill included a member of the ruling party while the two unsuccessful bills – on creating a National Anti-Corruption Bureau, and about “anti-corruption checks on officials at all levels” -  were tabled by the opposition alone.

Ukraine was having a trouble-free debut at this year's The Bobs, Deutsche Welle's international blogger contest, until Olena Bilozerska's Ukrainian-language LiveJournal blog won 46 percent of user votes and became the User Winner in the Best Blog Ukrainian nomination.

Last Friday, I took the Eurostar from London to Paris to meet the topless feminist protest group Femen . Originally based in the Ukraine, the organization has since spread across the world. The idea was to film the buildup to Femen's next protest, but I didn't find out quite what I was getting myself into until I arrived at their headquarters—a lofty space above a theater in Goutte D'or—that afternoon.

Ukraine’s democrats are worried that a law “On the All-Ukrainian Referendum,” signed by President Yanukovych on November 27, 2012, may serve to prolong Regionnaire rule by means of underhanded changes to the Constitution. The fear is not unfounded. After all, everyone knows that Yanukovych and the Regionnaires face certain defeat in the 2015 presidential elections. Crushing the opposition by means of selective arrests and violence only goes so far. Falsifying election results can work only within a relatively narrow margin of, say, 3 to 4 percentage points. Instituting a military dictatorship is out of the question in light of Ukraine’s crummy armed forces. Changing the Constitution in Parliament requires a two-thirds majority, which the Regionnaires don’t have and won’t have. So why not change the country’s basic law by means of a referendum, thereby enabling “the people”—whom the Regionnaires generally regard condescendingly—to forge their own chains?

Why was British Prime Minister David Cameron helicoptering around the Caucasus Mountains recently with Russian President Vladimir Putin?

Editor’s Note: Kyiv public relations specialist Zhanna Kobylinska's “Good News Ukraine” blog sticks to uplifting news and steers clear of controversy. Readers can send news items to Kobylinska at positiveukraine@gmail.com.

On 26 April a government draft bill was put forward in the Ukrainian parliament providing for the lifting of the ban on privatising the state-owned company Naftogaz, which is responsible for the transport and storage of gas.

If the parliament accepts the draft law, then the government will take the final decision to privatise. The draft bill also envisages lifting the ban on the lease of transit pipelines, excluding them from the list of assets that are not subject to privatisation, and liquidating the monopoly of state-owned companies on managing them. Ukraine’s gas pipelines are currently owned and managed by the state Ukrtransgaz company, a subsidiary of Naftogaz. 

When Vladimir Putin smiles, take notice.

A Russian friend once commented to me that one thing she like about her president is that he does not smile in public.

[Editor's note: The article was originally published on Project Syndicate, an online debate forum containing original commentary from top politicians, academics and business leaders. It is republished under expressed authorization by the Kyiv Post and is protected by international copyright laws.]

When Radosław Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, went to Ukraine for talks last month, his Ukrainian counterparts reportedly laughed at him because he was wearing a Japanese quartz watch that cost only $165. A Ukrainian newspaper reported on the preferences of Ukrainian ministers, several of whom have watches that cost more than $30,000. Even a Communist member of Ukraine’s parliament, the Rada, was shown wearing a watch that retails for more than $6,000.

Editor's Note: The following op-ed was written by Mikhail Loginov for Open Democracy, originally published here.

The Ukrainian banking system has gone through persistent convulsions in the last seven years. A wave of West European purchases of Ukrainian banks just before the crisis of 2008–09 has been largely reversed. Instead, Russian and Ukrainian state banks have expanded, as have banks owned by people close to President Viktor Yanukovych.

Prominent press freedom advocates Natalya Ligachova and Victoria Siumar have pointed to the united stand taken by TVi journalists as a positive result of the latest assault on Ukraine’s last relatively independent television channel.

As I walk down the streets of Coney Island still recovering from the effects of hurricane Sandy, I slowly slip from one time to another.  Block by block, English conversation gives way to Russian as I step further into a community of mostly Jewish émigrés who left the Soviet Union decades ago.

Editor’s Note: Kyiv public relations specialist Zhanna Kobylinska's “Good News Ukraine” blog sticks to uplifting news and steers clear of controversy. Readers can send news items to Kobylinska at positiveukraine@gmail.com.

http://regionews.ua/node/93074

Ordinary Ukrainians promote Ukrainian hotels and restaurants

On April 15 the Ukrainian public project “Go Ukraine! Let’s Go” launched a series of online video programs called “Feeling Ukrainian hospitality.” These are aimed at informing about Ukrainian hotels and restaurants that provide a high level of service, according to foreign and local experts, as well as encouraging other Ukrainian institutions to improve their service. Participants in the program include representatives of Ukrainian hotels, restaurants, cafes, journalists, representatives of NGOs, citizens of Ukraine and foreigners.

The video project is implemented in partnership with the NGO Institute for Development of Creative Technologies and Media supported by the broadcasting company Morion, based in Yevpatoria, Crimea.

Prominent press freedom advocates Natalya Ligachova and Victoria Siumar have pointed to the united stand taken by TVi journalists as a positive result of the latest assault on Ukraine’s last relatively independent television channel.

The Ukrainian government said it wants to allay European concerns over natural gas supplies by serving as a regional energy hub. Conclusions reached during a roundtable discussion in Brussels last week said Kiev deserves to be lauded for its diversification and gas transit modernization efforts. Nevertheless, a BP-led group working offshore Azerbaijan is expected in June to pick from two competing natural gas pipeline projects that are designed to add diversity to a European market that's dependent on Russia's Gazprom by avoiding Ukrainian territory. While Ukraine has tried to move closer to the European Union, recent developments involving the former Soviet republic show it's truly at a crossroads.

The BP-led consortium working offshore Azerbaijan said last week it started the evaluation process for the Nabucco West and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline systems. Both are included as part of the Southern Gas Corridor, a series of transit projects meant to add diversity to the European energy sector. Natural gas price disputes in 2009 between Russia and Ukraine left European consumers vulnerable because much of the gas sent to Europe by Gazprom runs through the Soviet-era pipeline system in Ukraine. Nabucco announced Monday it started the open-season process and a BP decision is expected by June.

Read the opinion here.