UKRAINE: Court Reverses 2004 Reform, Restoring Yanukovych's Power.

BBC/     The constitutional court ( court judge Anatoly Holovyn is pictured) has boosted the powers of President Viktor Yanukovych by reversing a 2004 reform.
It ruled that the reform which allowed the parliament to name the PM and cabinet ministers was... unconstitutional.
Experts say that it again makes the Ukraine a presidential republic, as it was under former President Leonid Kuchma.

UKRAINE: Repression Growing Under New President.

NYTIMES/JUDY DEMPSEY/
       "The intimidation of Nico Lange (Director of the Ukrainian branch of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the research organization of Germany’s conservative Christian Democratic Union party who was put in a detention cell and held for 10 hours after arrival in Kiev) is not unusual in today’s Ukraine, a country where the euphoria of the 2004 pro-democracy Orange Revolution has evaporated. All the more reason, say analysts and diplomats, for the European Union and especially Germany to adopt a much stronger and united policy if they want to prevent Ukraine from sliding away from democracy and moving into the orbit of Russia."
AND.... "Since Viktor F. Yanukovich was elected the Ukrainian president last February and his Party of Regions took power, journalists, local and foreign nongovernmental organizations and independent television channels have come under pressure from the security services."

UKRAINE: Seeking NATO Membership Is Dead.

GUARDIAN.UK/    A Ukraine that once hungered for NATO membership will now let the issue drop. "Ukraine will continue developing its relations with the alliance, but the question of membership is being removed from the agenda," said Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko. The nation's new president, Viktor Yanukovich, was quoted as saying: "Entry into Nato is not realistic for our country today. Nato conditions would require us to have the support of the majority of the population."

UKRAINE: Negotiating Sale of Gas Pipeline To Russia And Investors.

NYTIMES/     Ukraine’s new president Viktor Yanukovich has begun controversial negotiations with Russia to sell control over his nation's natural gas pipeline operations to a consortium including Gazprom and an undisclosed European company. With such a deal, the Ukraine might save as much as $3,7 billion yearly while Russia would gain control of the network and avoid building a pricy new pipeline under the Black Sea called South Stream.

UKRAINE: New President Yanukovich Soothes Russian Relations.

REUTERS/     President Victor Yanukovich claimed his five-year presidency will "open a new page" of ties with Russia during a Moscow meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Importantly for Russia, Yanukovich indicated he would allow Russia's Black Sea Fleet stay in Ukraine's port of Sevastopol after the current lease expires in 2017.

UKRAINE: Expert Predicts "Dysfunctional Democracy" May Linger Six Months.

BLOOMBERG/   Because he lacks a ruling majority, newly inaugurated President Viktor Yanukovych may have to share power with rival Yulia Tymoshenko for as long as six months. “There is going to be a lot of uncertainty for some time,” said researcher Nick Day. “Clearly, Yanukovych hasn’t got an overwhelming majority and needs to get a lot of people on his side in order to push through any meaningful changes within the economy. People will swap sides and it will become a dysfunctional democracy.”

UKRAINE: Sour Political Mood Surrounds Presidential Election.

NYTIMES/
Deep disillusionment has settled in the Ukraine, the home five years ago of the Orange Revolution. “Everyone’s disappointed in politicians,” said Vladimir Zuyenko, a security guard who had gone three months without pay. “They made this revolution, but they didn’t solve anything. We were poor then, and we’re still poor. The only reason to vote is that if we don’t, someone else will vote for us.”