Cypriot-’troika’ deal means that Cyprus is leaving eurozone in all but name

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Kevin Lees

Another late Sunday night in Brussels, another eurozone bailout plan for Cyprus — and it seems likely that the new deal between Cyprus president Nicos Anastasiades, and the ‘troika’ of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund will endure much longer than last week’s disastrous plan, though capital controls to [...]

Filed under: Cyprus, European Union | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Cypriot parliament overwhelmingly rejects EU bailout terms, turns to Plan B

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Kevin Lees

This was not surprising. After a couple of delays, Cyprus’s 56-member House of Representatives (Βουλή των Αντιπροσώπων) has rejected the European Union-led bailout of Cyprus’s banks by a vote of 0 to 36, with 19 abstaining and one not present. As I wrote yesterday, the parliamentary rejection became increasingly likely as the vote became delayed. [...]

Filed under: Cyprus, European Union | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

What comes next for Cyprus and the EU following Friday’s haircut ‘bail-in’?

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Kevin Lees

So much for ‘nice Nic’ — it’s not that he’s reverted back to ‘nasty Nic’ so much as ‘nonessential Nic.’ Fifteen days after his inauguration as Cyprus’s new president, Nicos Anastasiades (pictured above, bottom), was forced into what’s now become a growing domestic, eurozone and international crisis when European Union and International Monetary Fund leaders presented Anastasiades [...]

Filed under: Cyprus, European Union | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

More final thoughts on Ukraine’s election and Tymoshenko’s future

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Kevin Lees

It’s been a busy week, but it’s worth taking a moment to explore the results from Ukraine’s parliamentary election on October 28 in greater detail. We have a final set of preliminary numbers now, which lines up with what exit polls had forecasted after polls closed Sunday night — the governing pro-Russian party of president Viktor Yanukovych, [...]

Filed under: Ukraine | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Yanukovych declares victory in Ukraine with exit polls showing narrow win

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Kevin Lees

Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych (pictured above) and his pro-Russian Party of Regions (Партія регіонів) appear to have won Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Ukraine, and his prime minister Mykola Azarov has declared victory, although there were indications Sunday of electoral fraud.  One exit poll out of Kiev early Monday morning showed the following result: The Party of Regions [...]

Filed under: Ukraine | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Klychko hopes to deliver knockout punch in Ukrainian election

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Kevin Lees

As Ukraine’s elections approach this Sunday, WBC heavyweight Vitaliy Klychko is hoping he can deliver a terminal blow to the government of president Viktor Yanukovych. He’s in many ways the latest beta version of Ukraine’s opposition — after the disenchantment with former president Viktor Yushchenko, whose presidency from 2005 to 2010 degenerated into a splintered majority that failed to enact the promise [...]

Filed under: Ukraine | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Red October? Four autumn elections boost Moscow’s influence in Russian ‘near-abroad’

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Kevin Lees

It’s been a good October for Moscow. In each of the four former Soviet republics with elections scheduled for late September and October 2012 (Belarus, Georgia, Lithuania and Ukraine), Russia has reason to believe that its relations with each such country will strengthen.  The elections have ranged in character from incredibly free, open and fair [...]

Filed under: Belarus, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Fear of democratic backslide under Yanukovych as Ukraine prepares for elections

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Kevin Lees

In the same month as voters went to the polls in the country that spawned the ‘Rose’ Revolution in 2005, voters in the country that launched the ‘Orange Revolution’ in 2004 will elect a new parliament on October 28. Unlike in Georgia, where the election has so far augured a peaceful transition of power following [...]

Filed under: Ukraine | Tagged: , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Surprise! Lukashenko allies win rout in rigged, boycotted Belarus elections

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Kevin Lees

Surprising no one, allies of Belarussian strongman Alexander Lukashenko have won all 110 seats in the House of Representatives of Belarus (Палата Представителей in Russian, Палата Прадстаўнікоў in Belarusian) after major opposition parties boycotted elections on Sunday in a system that has been essentially a dictatorship for nearly two decades. Lukashenko (pictured above voting on Sunday) came to power only in 1994 [...]

Filed under: Belarus | Tagged: , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Putin inaugurated for third term, announces Medvedev as PM, amid Moscow protests

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Kevin Lees

Vladimir Putin was sworn in as president today, amid protests across Moscow, following his election on March 4 in a vote widely seen as problematic and fraudulent. Putin, whose term will run through 2018, also appointed former president Dmitri Medvedev as his prime minister — the appointment had been expected, but was not entirely certain.  Medvedev served as [...]

Filed under: Russia | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Next steps for the Russian opposition?

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Kevin Lees

  In the wake of Vladimir Putin’s outsized 64% win in the first round of the Russian presidential election earlier this month, the initial protests against likely fraud — and fraud in December’s legislative elections — have fizzled as Putin and the Russian government quickly made clear they had little appetite for too much protest, [...]

Filed under: Russia | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Largest street protests in Moscow since the Soviet Union’s fall?

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Kevin Lees

UPDATE (1:15 pm ET): Alexey Navalny (@navalny), a top blogger and critic of the Putin regime, has been arrested in Moscow. Protestors are gathering on Pushkin Square in Moscow against widespread fraud in yesterday’s Russian presidential election for what could be the largest anti-government movement since the fall of the Soviet Union.  Former Guardian Moscow correspondent Luke Harding [...]

Filed under: Russia | Tagged: , , | 2 Comments »

Official Russia results

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Kevin Lees

Official results are in from Russia’s Central Election Commission, notwithstanding reports of massive fraud, as reported widely on Sunday — including the use of “carousels” of voters bussed from one voting district to another with the purpose of casting multiple votes. To no one’s surprise, the results make clear that Vladimir Putin will be returning [...]

Filed under: Russia | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Putin or Mr. Burns?

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Kevin Lees

Your Russian election eve mash-up of Putin and The Simpsons. Enjoy.

Filed under: Russia | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Putin 2018: Looking beyond Sunday’s election

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Kevin Lees

The Economist‘s cover story this week features “The Beginning of the End of Putin,” with a thoughtful piece looking beyond Sunday’s election and a companion piece about how different Russia is today from the Russia that first elected Putin in 2000 — it is presumed that Putin will win, likely in the first round, and [...]

Filed under: Russia | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Next Page »