Stories about Ukraine from October, 2011
Ukraine: “We Are Europeans”
Ordinary Ukrainians are using citizen media and social networks to voice their commitment to European values and organize rallies in support of Ukraine's European orientation. Veronica Khokhlova reports.
Ukraine: Best Ukrainian Blog Awards Competition Launched
Watcher.com.ua [uk], a Ukrainian Internet business and social media marketing website, launches [uk] Best Ukrainian Blog Awards (BUBA). Participants may be nominated and voted for by Internet users between Oct. 26 and Nov. 18, 2011. Winners will be announced on Nov. 19 at Microsoft Blogfest 2011 [uk].
Ukraine: Petroleum Sets Fire to Party of Regions Tactics
LEvko of Foreign Notes writes about a rising scandal in Ukraine, where the governing Party of Regions allegedly used a petroleum trade scam to finance the party during election campaigns.
Ukraine: Turning into a European Pariah?
Jonathan Hibberd of Chicken in Kiev addresses how Ukrainian politicians are increasingly becoming a pariah in the European Union, following the verdict of opposition leader Yulia Timoshenko.
Russia: Soccer Team Qualifies for Euro 2012 – “On To Ukraine and Poland!!!”
The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship is referred to by some as 'Polkraine 2012' since it will be held in both Poland and Ukraine. Russia officially qualified with a 6-0 win over Andorra; citizen media has captured the popular perception of the qualifying round.
Ukraine: Reactions to Yulia Tymoshenko's Sentencing
BlogActiv.eu, Foreign Notes (here and here), OdessaBlog and OpenDemocracy.com comment, among other issues, on the implications of the Oct. 11 sentencing of ex-PM Yulia Tymoshenko for the EU-Ukraine relations. Ukrainiana and Ukraine's Orange Blues post photos and video taken near the Kyiv Pechersky Court on the day of the verdict....
Ukraine: New Documentary Highlights the Klitschko Brothers’ Lives and Careers
Popularly dubbed "The Klitschko Brothers", Ukrainians Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko have dominated the heavyweight boxing division since Lennox Lewis retired in 2004. However, their production of an autobiographical documentary film, demonstrates that these men are more than athletes.
Ukraine: Interview With Author Vasyl Shklyar
Brian Spadora‘s RFE/RL interview with the Ukrainian novelist Vasyl Shklyar – who “has attracted a lot of attention in Ukraine this year both for his bestselling novel, Black Raven, as well for the statements he’s made against the erosion of freedoms that has taken place under President Viktor Yanukovych” –...
Ukraine: Anti- and Pro-Tymoshenko Camps on Khreshchatyk
Alexander Motyl of Ukraine's Orange Blues writes about the pro- and anti-Yulia Tymoshenko camps thathave for months occupied the block near the court where the ex-PM is being tried. According to this article [uk] in Ukrainska Pravda, people recruited to wave flags from early morning till around 8PM at the...
Ukraine: “Tension is Growing”
Foreign Notes reviews Ukraine's relationship with Gazprom prior to Yulia Tymoshenko's 2009 deal (“for which she may be jailed for seven years”); quotes economist and politician Oleksandra Kuzhel on the conditions in which small- and medium-sized Ukrainian businesses have found themselves in; and writes about the expensive watches “so beloved...
Ukraine: President Yanukovych in The Simpsons?
The newest episode of cartoon The Simpsons went viral in Ukraine after it humorously portrayed the country and a Kiev mafioso named Victor, who, as many netizens pointed out, resembled the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
