There is an interesting and very plausible version: it is Viktor Baloha who put parliament out of operation. Allegedly, it was his idea to send the notorious letter to the NATO Secretary General.

By legalizing Gazporom in our market, we won’t have any impulse for re-equipping the power-consuming industries – we will live under the patronage of Gazprom.

Radek Sikorski has visited Kyiv for the first time since the government of Donald Tusk came to power in November.

Viktor Yushchenko is definitely set to change the Constitution and sees a national referendum as the only possible way. He means to have presidential powers increased.

A meeting with Volodymyr Ohryzko, Foreign Minister of Ukraine, opens a series of ZN interviews with the new Cabinet members.

Ukraine's parliament on December 18 confirmed Yulia Tymoshenko as prime minister, returning the controversial pro-Western politician to power three years after the Orange Revolution catapulted her to a short-lived, divisive premiership.

It is not even the matter of her astounding charisma and the iron will – Yulia Tymoshenko managed to sense the optimal propaganda strategy capable of uniting the both banks of the Dnieper, both parts of Ukraine.

“Viktor Yushchenko always makes the right decision… after he tries all other alternatives”. It is not always true, but it is absolutely true for the process of forming today’s coalition.

It seemed that the talks about gas relations between Russia and Ukraine and between Gazprom and Naftagaz Ukraine were taking their normal course... before November 22.

As anniversaries of the events in Georgia and Ukraine approach, high hopes and great expectations have been replaced with apprehension.

Ukraine should not hesitate to say to its younger brother, Russia, that it should learn Ukrainian political culture.

Ukraine has been shaken not only by numerous post-election events but by serious cataclysms in the energy sphere recently. The President’s meeting with journalists was devoted to exactly this topic.

OUPS has been caught in a dilemma: if it follows the lead of BYT, it will soon become redundant; if it starts fighting with Tymoshenko, it will fall prey to her wrath, “righteous” as usual. OUPS is struggling in search of a third way – struggling within itself and, thus, only hastening the finale.

Those who are more or less familiar with the energy issues in Ukraine consider the ‘breakthrough’ a science fiction novel having nothing to do with reality.

The would-be coalition members do not seem to see eye to eye on the proposed legislative innovations. They do not even tell the same story about the negotiations progress.

The elections are over, and various political forces are busy distributing powers amongst them, although the time is ripe for discussing Ukraine’s post-election economy.

Tymoshenko has learned a lesson from her recent premiership and this time, of course if she manages to enter the same river twice, she will not take thoughtless steps.

The ZN drew up tentative estimates of the promises given by the major candidates in the Ukrainian parliamentary race.

Unlike the Russian side, Ukraine does not put up a united front in negotiations. A big battle is going on between influential business and political groups in Ukraine.

The gas price of $130 offered by ‘fraternal’ Gazprom and RosUkrEnergo made Yanukovych’s government ‘tighten screws’ in the domestic gas market.

On the energy map of the world, Eurasia is one region where the global hunt for energy sources carries on unabated.

Suppose in 2007 Russians will, indeed, transport 7-8 million tons of oil via Ukraine. How long will it last? Until they build their alternative pipeline?

It was a good pretext for him [Lavrov] to have a close look at the processes in this country, probe into the strengths and weaknesses of the political leadership. All of this is important in the context of Vladimir Putin’s forthcoming visit to Ukraine. 

RosUkrEnergo contracted 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas supplied from Middle Asia, $130 per 1000 cubic meters. Officials consider it their diplomatic victory while the opposition believes it is a defeat.

Last autumn, the Kachinski brothers - Lech and Jaroslaw - started writing a new page of Polish history as soon as the rightists won the parliamentary and presidential elections.

YURY YAKIMENKO

As regards the conflict between the President and the Prime Minister, they compete with each other for almost everything. Virtually all of important decisions or steps taken by the Cabinet evoked a reaction from the President’s Secretariat.

VADIM KARASYOV

It seems that the Russian authorities make it clear that as long as Tymoshenko is Prime Minister, Russia doesn’t want to be Ukraine’s partner.

YULIYA TISHCHENKO

The visit of Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yuliya Tymoshenko, to Moscow on February 20-21 was made against a background of deterioration of her relations with President Viktor Yushchenko.

VLADIMIR SAPRYKIN, KONSTANTIN BORODIN, VADIM KARASYOV, VLADIMIR FESENKO, VLADIMIR FEIGIN, VLADIMIR VOLOSHIN

"There is a need to get rid of the mediator RosUkrEnergo, and then to increase the tariff of the Russian gas transit through Ukraine. Third point is the presentation of the White Flow gas pipeline project," Volodymyr Saprykin.

VADIM KARASYOV

The ruling elites consider Ukraine’s joining the WTO to be an important step and a serious foreign-policy victory. The point is that Ukraine is the first of the strong post-Soviet  economies that managed to join the WTO, although the process was not trouble-free. As to such WTO members as Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Georgia, their economies are insignificant and, above all, they have not pretended to play an important role in the WTO.

VITALY BALA

No large-scale information campaign on Ukraine’s joining the WTO was conducted in the country. Therefore, the Ukrainians do not understand very well what is in store for them and which advantages and disadvantages for Ukraine the entry conceals.

OLEKSANDR PASKHAVER, LIDIA VERKHOVODOVA

In Ukraine it is the political aspects that often play a decisive role. After 16 years of independence and 7 years of sustainable economic growth not only fundamental tasks of the reforms are far from being achieved, but the global development trend is far from being clear.

VITALY BALA

Tymoshenko’s seeking to remove the RosUkrEnergo company from the the chain of the gas supplies and transit should be considered as an element of her presidential campaign. "Gas relations" with Russia became one of her weak points during her first premiership.

VADIM KARASYOV

The election of Yuliya Tymoshenko as Ukraine’s Prime Minister is the evidence of the fact that parliamentary-electoral mechanism of government formation is being created in Ukraine.

VITALY BALA

From now on Tymoshenko’s appointment as Premier is a matter of principle. I believe that the democratic coalition is sure to have her appointed as Ukraine’s Prime Minister.  

IGOR BURAKOVSKY

The fact that building the Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense and Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc coalition has taken almost two months after the early parliamentary elections indicates difficulties on both sides.

OLEKSANDR PASKHAVER, LIDIA VERKHOVODOVA

By way of overcoming the current political crisis Ukrainian society is developing the basics of democracy, though not in a very elegant or ethical manner. But there is no other way of learning freedom and democracy but to practise them.

STANISLAV BELKOVSKY

Under Yuliya Tymoshenko, a kind of the Francoist regime could be formed in Ukraine. It could have positive and negative sides.

VADIM KARASYOV

The parliamentary elections results can be boiled down to three points: Viktor Yushchenko’s victory, Yuliya Tymoshenko’s double victory and Viktor Yanukovych’s defeat. Viktor Yushchenko is the winner because he had initiated the early elections and they took place. The “orange” forces stand a good chance of returning to power.

DMITRY VYDRIN

Yuliya Tymoshenko managed to personify Lesya Ukrainka as well as Evita Peron. So, she deserved her victory. She created a failsafe image that could only be outmatched, but everybody failed to do it.

ANDREY MISHIN

The CIS is of great help for the multilateral cooperation with the neighbors. Ukraine’s withdrawal from the CIS would result in the paralysis of the economy, and of the transport infrastructure in the first place.

VADIM KARASYOV

Yushchenko adheres to the eurointegration policy, while Yanukovych’s policy is “euro-oriented”, which includes intense development of the cooperation with the EU and NATO, but not necessarily joining those organizations.

DMITRY VYDRIN

Judging by the Prime Minister’s statements and actions, he in many respects copies the foreign-policy strategy of Ukraine’s ex-President Leonid Kuchma.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has made international recognition of the Holodomor his personal crusade. Good for him. The famine of 1932-1933 claimed some six to eight million Ukrainian lives - as much as a quarter of the population - and it wasn’t a natural catastrophe. Yushchenko wants the Holodomor recognized as genocide, thus putting Ukraine’s tragedy on the same level as the Jewish Holocaust.

Just into his fourth year as president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko is beginning to act a lot like the man he replaced during the country's Orange Revolution. Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma is often remembered for waffling on Western integration, crushing freedom of speech and overseeing a state apparatus steeped in corruption.

Ukraine has been an independent and sovereign nation for over 16 years, its last two elections were called the fairest ever, and earlier this month it was invited to join the World Trade Organization. So when the country’s interior minister decides to strike the mayor of the capital city, some eyebrows are going to be raised.

Once again, Russia has resorted to threats and bullying in an ongoing effort to keep Ukraine subservient. And once again, its weapon of choice is gas. Most colonial divorces have been characterized by the colony cutting off the colonizer from its supply of natural resources. But with Russia, the situation is exactly the opposite - at least that's the way it seems on the surface.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s long running efforts to break the stranglehold on her country’s gas supplies are beginning to pay off – due to assistance from an unlikely ally. Russia, which has been widely accused of using gas sales to put geopolitical pressure on Ukraine and other Western neighbors, now appears to be cleaning up its act.

The issue of whether Ukraine should join NATO has returned to the public agenda, sparking off heated debates between supporters and opponents of the country’s bid. In the past, such polemics have usually meant proponents of Euro-Atlantic unity coming under attack by pro-Russian factions in the run up to an important election or a NATO-sponsored military exercise on home soil.

It’s a new year, and Ukraine has a new government headed by a fiery reformer with a penchant for making high-stake gambles. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is known as the gas queen – more for how she earned her money back in the 1990’s than for how she has tried to clean up her country’s gas sector in more recent years. But clean it up she has tried, against highly formidable of opponents at home and abroad.

The only thing that causes Ukrainians to passionately take sides, cry foul and then throw up their hands in disappointment more than their football is their politics. More than just a game, politics the Ukrainian way is about unquestioning loyalty to one’s team to the point of bending every rule in the book for the sake of a victory chock-full of financial incentives.

Yulia Tymoshenko was approved as Ukrainian prime minister on December 18. This marks the beginning of Ms. Yulia's second stint as head of government. She was nominated both times by pro-Western president Viktor Yushchenko, whom she helped rise to power during the country's 2004 Orange Revolution, and then hold on to authority during this year's power struggle.

There is more than one way for a state leader to abuse his power, and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is practicing the 'softest' way of all. You can't call him a dictator who imposes his will on his people, as it's not clear what Mr. Yushchenko's will is - beyond the fact that he wants to stay in power, as do all state leaders.

There's nothing like a national tragedy to build a nation, especially if the details of the tragedy are buried in history, and the blame for it can be put on a regional bully. Ukraine's Holodomor is such a tragedy. Yes, at least three million hapless Ukrainians died of hunger, disease and privation in 1932-1933, and No, they shouldn't be forgotten - by anyone.

The motivation of Ukrainian businessmen with influence if not seats in parliament to keep out foreign competition should not be underestimated. One need only do a quick cost comparison of what consumers are forced to pay in the Ukrainian capital for food, clothing, mobile communications, etc. in order to guess what kind of profits are at risk from a freer market.

Ukraine held general elections on September 30, but power sharing in the country remains to be decided in subsequent voting devoid of public participation and full of backroom intrigue. For a second time in a row, Ukraine has pulled off an internationally accepted demonstration of the people's will, with rank and file citizens putting an end to a crippling stand off between their two highest executive leaders.

With parties heir to Ukraine's Orange Revolution perched to retake full control of the country’s executive, Orange president Viktor Yushchenko is again demonstrating the kind of dubious indecision that cost them the government in the first place. His one-time revolutionary sidekick, opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, was the real winner in the September 30 snap elections, earning enough votes to come back as premier.

The queen of Ukrainian politics, opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, was the unofficial victor in Ukraine’s snap elections on Sunday, with exit polls indicating she will head the next government. But Tymoshenko’s ascension to power will be anything but a sexy saunter, as her enemies are unlikely to allow themselves to be sidelined by a pretty populist.

To be or not to be a member of NATO – that is the question for Ukrainians, who still aren’t in a position to decide the issue. Public opinion polls conducted in the country continue to show that most Ukrainians are against joining the Western military alliance. But advocates of NATO membership  insist that Ukrainians have not been given an accurate picture of what the alliance is about.