Fears are rising in Ukraine over the fate of this weekend's presidential election after outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko today signed a law changing the voting rules.
Ukrainians go to the polls on February 7 in a runoff election for their first new president since the 2004 Orange Revolution. Many say there's little difference between the two candidates. But others believe Yulia Tymoshenko is the only hope of guaranteeing the country's democratic gains.
Orange Revolution heroine Yulia Tymoshenko and her rival, pro-Moscow Viktor Yanukovych, have won the top two spots in Ukraine’s presidential election on January 17. But as they face off ahead of the final round next month, someone else is at the center of attention. Third-place finisher Serhiy Tihipko says he won't endorse either candidate, but there's intense competition to get him to change his mind.
Pro-Moscow Viktor Yanukovych and Orange Revolution leader Yulia Tymoshenko will try to woo "the rest."
Viktor Yanukovych and Yulia Tymoshenko, the top two finishers in Ukraine's presidential election, must now rally their challengers' supporters ahead of the second-round vote on February 7.
The Orange Revolution appears set to stay in Ukraine. Exit polls have given pro-Moscow candidate Viktor Yanukovych the lead in the first round of presidential elections. But it's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko who's seen as the big winner. The Orange Revolution heroine finished second, but strongly enough to seem poised to win the second round vote next month.
Ukrainians are voting today for a new president for the first time since the Orange Revolution five years ago. Remarkably, the pro-Moscow candidate who lost the presidency over massive fraud allegations then is now leading the polls to win.
In this gritty town in eastern Ukraine, a small, derelict-looking brick cottage with a corrugated metal roof stands at the end of a snow-covered dirt track lined by bigger, wooden village houses. Barking dogs make the only sound here.
Thirty years ago this week, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan, launching an ill-fated, 10-year war that ended in humiliating withdrawal. The conflict helped expose the ailing state of a collapsing empire, but at least one expert believes the Soviets almost succeeded in Afghanistan.
Hundreds of thousands of Russians die each year from smoking-related illnesses. But as more people drop the habit in Western countries, Russia is becoming an increasingly important market for international tobacco companies.
Amid the global financial crisis, left-wing parties struggle to offer a credible alternative.
Russia is meeting with NATO after threatening to cancel the talks over what it said was the alliance's refusal to consider Moscow's proposal for a new European security structure. The Kremlin is calling for a new agreement to replace precisely such institutions as NATO. Is Moscow's plan aimed at updating Cold War-era arrangements or at undermining Western organizations?
Russian authorities say corruption is so rife, it threatens the country's very stability. But observers say the problem is critical precisely because it starts at the very top of the political system. In the last of a three-part series, RFE/RL's Gregory Feifer reports on allegations that corruption is central to the workings of Russian power.
In Russia, law enforcers are sometimes the worst offenders.
Bribery is an institution in Russia: students pay teachers for better grades and patients pay doctors for "free" health care. In the first of a three-part series, RFE/RL's Gregory Feifer reports from Moscow on a culture of corruption that even the president says is threatening Russia's viability as a state.
The numbers are staggering by any measure: Russians pay $300 billion in bribes each year, according to the government's own figures. Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers says Russia hosts more "economic crime" than any other country; a new study by the firm shows that more than 70 percent of companies polled said they had experienced bribery, fraud, or other such crimes in the past year. And it's getting worse -- fast. Despite the economic crisis, officials say the average bribe has tripled in size since last year.
Public cynicism and corruption in politics are threatening democracy in Europe. That's according to a group of writers and scholars taking part in a conference today marking the 20th anniversary of the democratic revolutions that swept Central and Eastern Europe in 1989.
It's the biggest country in the world, a sprawling landmass stretching 11 time zones from Europe to the Far East. Now experts in Russia are studying a proposal to reduce the number of time zones after a speech by President Dmitry Medvedev this week.
President Dmitry Medvedev has called for a major overhaul of Russian society to transform the country into a great power. Repeating his call for a Soviet-style modernization program, Medvedev presented a laundry list of areas for reform in a state-of-the-nation speech today.
A recent exchange of barbs between Russia and Ukraine is raising worries in Kyiv over a possible new natural-gas crisis this winter. Moscow's shutoff last winter left millions of Europeans without heat in the bitter cold, but observers say they doubt there will be a repeat this year.
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