Askold Krushelnycky

Also by Askold Krushelnycky

• November 21, 2004

  Ukraine: Voters Go To Polls In Crucial Presidential Vote

  A campaign poster for Yanukovych The second and decisive round of Ukraine's presidential election began this morning and many Ukrainian and foreign observers believe the result will decide whether Ukraine deepens its democracy and turns to the West or is drawn closer into Moscow's orbit and heads down the increasingly autocratic route of Russia and Belarus. The two candidates are the pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and the pro-democracy leader of the opposition Our Ukraine coalition, Viktor Yushchenko, who narrowly won the election's first round on 31 October. International observers said the first round was deeply flawed and backed many of the opposition allegations accusing the government of using dirty tricks and intimidation to help Yanukovych. The opposition has vowed it will hold mass demonstrations if the government again uses massive fraud to influence the results of today's election. Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma has vowed that the vote will be honest, while also warning that "certain political forces" are trying to seize power, seen as a clear allusion to Yushchenko.

• November 19, 2004

  Ukraine: Voters Brace For Presidential Runoff Amid Allegations Of Dirty Tricks

  A poster of Viktor Yanukovych The second and decisive round of Ukraine's presidential election will be held on 21 November. The two candidates are Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and the leader of the opposition Our Ukraine coalition, Viktor Yushchenko. International observers said the election's first round on 31 October was flawed, with the opposition accusing the government of using dirty tricks and intimidation to help Yanukovych. Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma has vowed that the vote will be honest, while also warning that "certain political forces" are trying to seize power, seen as a clear allusion to Yushchenko.

• November 16, 2004

  Ukraine: Presidential Contenders Fight To A Draw In Televised Debate

  Last night saw a television debate between the two candidates in Ukraine's upcoming presidential election. The government's pro-Russian candidate, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, and the pro-Western opposition candidate, Viktor Yanukovych, gained an almost equal share of the vote -- around 40 percent -- in the first round on 31 October and will face each other in a runoff on 21 November. The debate was the first such televised standoff in Ukraine in about 10 years, and for many people in the nation of some 48 million people, it was a first chance to actually see Yushchenko on television. Both candidates were judged by their own supporters to have done well, and there was no startling knockout punch by either man.

• November 12, 2004

  Ukraine: Yushchenko, Yanukovych Jockey For Position Ahead Of Ukraine's Second-Round Vote

  The final round of Ukraine's presidential election is just over a week away. The government's pro-Russian candidate, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, and the pro-Western opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, gained an almost equal share of the vote -- around 40 percent -- in the first round on 31 October. Now the two candidates are courting the support of their former rivals for the second round on 21 November. There has already been some political realignment, and a television debate -- scheduled for 15 November -- is likely to play a big part in determining further political alliances, as well as influencing undecided voters.

• November 11, 2004

  Ukraine: Presidential Campaign To Intensify After Final First-Round Results Released

  The two candidates may now campaign for the 21 November runoff It took 10 days, but Ukraine's Central Election Commission finally announced the results of the 31 October presidential election yesterday. The leader of the opposition Our Ukraine coalition, Viktor Yushchenko, came in first, followed closely by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. Yushchenko and Yanukovych will now face each other in the second and decisive round on 21 November. Yushchenko is expected to receive a psychological boost from the results. The leader of the Socialist Party has already thrown his support behind Yushchenko. As RFE/RL reports, Ukrainian law had prevented second-round campaigning until a final first-round count was announced, so the race is now expected to begin in earnest.

• November 05, 2004

  Ukraine: Presidential Candidates Look To Bolster Support For Second Round

  EU leaders, meeting in Brussels on today, criticized Ukraine for its recent presidential election and urged the government to ensure that the 21 November runoff is free and fair. The EU criticism comes after international observers said the 31 October vote and the election campaign were flawed. There is still no official result from that poll. The Central Election Commission has both leading candidates, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, running neck and neck. The delay in vote counting is happening against a backdrop of claims by the opposition that it is being cheated out of an outright victory. Meanwhile, both leading candidates are holding talks to court support for the decisive second round.

• November 02, 2004

  Ukraine: Election Commission Stops Vote Count As Opposition Protests

  Ukraine's Central Election Commission has suspended vote counting from the 31 October presidential election. The opposition says that's because a complete count would reveal that its leader, Viktor Yushchenko, beat Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in the first round. The Electoral Commission on today told parliament that it needs more time to complete the count and may not have official results until next week. International observers yesterday accused the government of serious electoral infringements. The Election Commission says nearly 130,000 more votes had been cast than legitimate ballots had been issued.

• November 01, 2004

  Ukraine: Main Candidates Appear Set For Runoff After Presidential Election

  Amid allegations of vote fraud, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich and his Western-leaning challenger Viktor Yushchenko appear headed for a runoff in three weeks. In balloting that could determine whether Ukraine turns toward Russia or the West, pro-Moscow Yanukovich holds a fractional advantage but neither candidate looks able to gain the 50 percent needed for an outright first-round victory.

• October 28, 2004

  Ukraine: Tension High As Election Nears

  With only a few days left until the Ukrainian presidential election, the main issue has become whether the election itself will be fair and what the consequences will be for the country's stability.

• October 27, 2004

  Ukraine: Russian President Stops Short Of Openly Endorsing Yanukovych During Visit

  Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to meet with Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma today as he continues a visit to Kyiv just days before Ukraine's presidential election. Yesterday evening, Putin appeared live on Ukrainian television to answer viewers' questions. Putin backed stronger Russian-Ukrainian ties and praised the economic performance of the Ukrainian government under pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. Putin stopped short, however, of making a direct appeal for Ukrainians to vote for Yanukovych, who is locked in a tight race with Western-leaning opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko in the 31 October presidential poll. Yushchenko's campaign has warned that some Ukrainian authorities may be trying to use Putin to influence voters in favor of Yanukovych.

• October 25, 2004

  Ukraine: Huge Kyiv Rally Highlights Unease Ahead Of Ukraine Vote

  The Ukrainian capital Kyiv saw the largest rally in the country for a decade on 23 October as opposition sympathizers gathered to support their candidate for president, Viktor Yushchenko. The rally passed peacefully, but afterward there were violent incidents that the opposition attribute to government attempts to intimidate voters.

• October 22, 2004

  Ukraine: TV Channel Finds Itself Under Hostile Fire In Fight For Country's Presidency

  One of the biggest complaints made by opposition candidates in Ukraine's presidential election campaign has been lack of access to mass media. Now, the opposition is accusing the government of trying to close down the one television channel that has given sympathetic coverage to the main opposition candidate. The station's staff took to the airwaves in a dramatic live broadcast to protest what it sees as politically motivated efforts to silence its campaign coverage.

• October 20, 2004

  Ukraine: Kyiv's Shaky Relationship With The European Union

  Ukraine's relationship with the European Union has been erratic. Six months ago, 10 new members joined the EU, and many in Ukraine are concerned their country has been condemned to the wrong side of a new "Iron Curtain." RFE/RL talked to two EU politicians visiting Ukraine and their host, the chairman of the Ukrainian parliamentary committee on European integration, Boris Tarasiuk, who is a former foreign minister.

• October 19, 2004

  Ukraine: Main Candidates Neck And Neck In Increasingly Bitter Presidential Campaign

  A billboard for Prime Minister Yanukovych Ukraine is gearing up for a presidential election on 31 October. Polls show only two of the 26 candidates have a real chance of winning -- Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and Viktor Yushchenko, who represents the country's main democratic grouping. Each side is accusing the other of using dirty tricks. As RFE/RL reports, the margin between the two main rivals appears to have narrowed, and the contest looks set to become even more bitter.

• August 27, 2004

  Ukraine: Crimea's Tatars -- Uneasy Relations With Russian Cossacks (Part 5)

  Ethnic relations are uneasy between Crimean Tatars and Russians on Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. A particularly ominous development has been the increase in activity by self-styled "Russian Cossacks" who are confronting the Tatars -- particularly over the sensitive issue of land.

• August 26, 2004

  Ukraine: Crimea's Tatars -- Clearing The Way For Islamic Extremism? (Part 4)

  Crimean Tatars traditionally practice a moderate form of Islam. But there are fears that ethnic tensions between Tatars and Russians in Crimea could provide fertile ground for fundamentalism to take root. RFE/RL looks at how the Crimean Tatars have tried to stop that from happening.

• August 25, 2004

  Ukraine: Crimea's Tatars -- Mustafa Dzhemilev: Hero, Leader, Statesman (Part 3)

  For Crimean Tatars, deported from their homeland by Stalin but returning in large numbers for more than a decade, their most venerated leader is Mustafa Dzhemilev, who combines the roles of hero, political leader, and elder statesman. RFE/RL interviewed him in the Crimean capital, Simferopol, where Dzhemilev continues to battle for the rights of Crimean Tatars, a Turkic people who have inhabited the Black Sea peninsula for more than seven centuries.

• August 25, 2004

  Ukraine: Crimea's Tatars -- For Russian Settlers, Resentment And Anger (Part 2)

  Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula is a volatile ethnic mix where the return of Crimean Tatars, deported in 1944 by Stalin, has provoked resentment, particularly among the largest national group there, the Russians.

• August 25, 2004

  Ukraine: Crimea's Tatars -- A Return To A Homeland Burdened By Ethnic Divisions (Part 1)

  Crimean Tatars were brutally deported from their homeland by Stalin in 1944. From that time, the peninsula was mainly inhabited by Russian settlers and military officials. But since the 1990s, Tatars have been returning to Crimea -- a beautiful and historically rich peninsula in Ukraine with complex ethnic problems.

• July 20, 2004

  Central Europe: Is 16th-Century Voynich Manuscript A Hoax?

  The Voynich manuscript has consistently foiled powerful computers and some of the world's best cryptographers, who have never managed to decipher the 16th-century encoded book. But now, as RFE/RL reports, one scientist says the manuscript could be a sophisticated hoax.

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