· March, 2006

Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from March, 2006

Belarus: Letter From Female Prisoners

  28 March 2006

LJ user kapitan_tanaka translates a letter written by Valyantsina Palyavikova and Larysa Bukholenka, two female prisoners who were jailed for their participation in the post-election protest in Minsk.

Belarus: Election Fraud Video

  28 March 2006

German-language Media-Ocean switches into English to write about a short video from a polling station in Belarus, which conveys repressive atmosphere during the count and shows how one observer, despite being barred from the table with stacks of bulletins on it, catches a violation that could've benefited Aleksandr Lukashenko, the...

Poland: Trains

  27 March 2006

Aaron Fowles of p3 writes about Polish trains: the Osobowy, the Pospieszny, and the rest of them.

Ukraine: Tennis at Polling Station

  27 March 2006

Petro of Petro's Jotter had a chance to see a Ukrainian polling station on Saturday, one day before the vote, at the place where his children have tennis lessons.

Ukraine: Political Puppet Auction

  27 March 2006

W. Shedd of The Accidental Russophile writes about a political puppet auction held in Kyiv: “[…] each party in Ukraine seems to accuse the others of being puppets for some outside interest. However, these puppets are made from papier-mache instead of flesh and blood.”

Ukraine: Tymoshenko and the Economy

  27 March 2006

Scott W. Clark of Foreign Notes describes what it might be like for Ukrainian economy if Yulia Tymoshenko becomes prime minister again. LEvko posts a Monday update following Sunday's parliamentary vote.

Ukraine: Elections in Pidhajtsi

  27 March 2006

Stefan of Dykun is wondering about the results of the vote in Pidhajtsi, the town and county in Ternopil region that had “the highest voter turnout (and the highest percentage of votes for Yushchenko) in Ukraine during the whole 2004 presidential election debacle.” Stefan's relatives work in an election commission...

Russia: Soviet Humor

  27 March 2006

Lyndon of Scraps of Moscow translates a Soviet-time joke on how people in the West viewed people in the Soviet Union. The joke's still relevant today.

Polish Blogosphere Update

  27 March 2006

Apparently, according to Real Warsaw, Poland is single-handedly styming EU progress. Poland's recently elected populist government isn't seen as a solution since future-oriented policies appear off the table. However, according to Bernski in the comments section, the problems may be deeper than a newly elected government — shibboleths such as...

Belarus: Wishful Thinking aka ‘Foreign Policy Simulation’

  24 March 2006

A Fistful of Euros reports on a weird blog called Belarus Today: A News Service Dedicated to Belarus and the Belarusian People. It covers such an unlikely event as Lukashenko's assassination – and its pretty violent aftermath. There's a disclaimer at the bottom of the page, however, which reads: “This...

Russia: “Seven Sisters” – Part 2

  24 March 2006

Digenis posts part 2 of a series on Moscow's Stalin-era skyscrapers, the Seven Sisters. “The exact number of apartments [in the building on Kotelnicheskaya Naberezhnaya] has been rather difficult to track down. […] anywhere from 344 to ‘about 800′.”

Belarus: Arrests, Courts and Anti-Media Flash Mob

  24 March 2006

French journalist writing for Liberation has just been arrested in Minsk; actually so many people have been arrested that, unprecedentally, Minsk courts will be working on Saturday, reports br23 blog. Andrei Khrapavitski posts a picture from today's flash mob event that took place in Minsk to criticize the performance of...

Belarus: Post-Crackdown Belarus

  24 March 2006

Ivan Lenin – formerly of Minsk, now of New York – translates a post by LJ user lipski, a Minsk resident, on who benefits from the Oktyabrskaya Sq. crackdown, and shares his thoughts on the country's future: “If anything, the West should engage Belarus as much as possible. Isolation would...

Belarus: Election Observer's Observations

  24 March 2006

Through negligence, LJ user czalex, a foreign citizen once registered in Belarus (1995-96), was registered to vote in this election. He didn't vote, of course, but visited several polling stations as an observer, and noted a few violations (RUS). This photo, for example, shows how it was made impossible for...

About our Eastern & Central Europe coverage

Filip Stojanovski
Filip Stojanovski is the Central Europe editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.

Daria Dergacheva
Daria Dergacheva is the Eastern Europe editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.