1.
United Regions of Serbia
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The United Regions of Serbia was a regionalist and liberal-conservative political party in Serbia. It was founded on 16 May 2010 as a political coalition, the URS advocated decentralization and was pro-business. The URS received 5. 51% of the vote in the 2012 parliamentary election. Following the election, the URS formed a government with the Serbian Progressive Party. On 31 July 2013 the URS was ousted from the government, on 13 November 2015 the party was removed from the register of political parties and ceased to exist, which was controversial because the party had over a million euros of unpaid debt. It had already been defunct for more than a year, according to the former president Mlađan Dinkić, the URS was an associate member of the European Peoples Party
2.
Borys Kolesnikov
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He is the owner and president of the HC Donbass ice hockey club. Born on October 25,1962 in Zhdanov, Donetsk Oblast, in 1991 graduated from Donetsk National Technical University majoring in Merchandising. Graduated from Donetsk State University of Management majoring in Economic Manager, since 1980 he has worked in various positions in commercial enterprises in the Donetsk Oblast, mainly in the steel industry. Beginning from 1991 – Director of “Yug” trading company, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Production Association “Kyiv-Konti”, from 1998 – vice-president of football club Shakhtar Donetsk. From 2002 – Chairman of the Football Federation of Donetsk Oblast, from 2001 to 2006 he was head of the Donetsk Regional Council. Beginning from 2001 a spokesperson of Borys Kolesnikov was Mrs. Olena Bondarenko, late 2003 – Head of Donetsk Regional Branch of the Party of Regions. Known as one of the organizers of the Congress of Deputies of All Levels in Severodonetsk on November 28,2004, at the 2006 parliamentary elections in Ukraine and 2007 parliamentary elections in Ukraine was elected to Verkhovna Rada as a member of the Party of Regions. In 2010 appointed to the position of the Vice Prime Minister responsible for Euro 2012, on 9 December 2010 by the Decree of the President of Ukraine was appointed to the position of the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine. Kolesnikov is considered an ally of Rinat Akhmetov, another influential Party of Regions member, industrial, kolesnykov and Akhmetov have been friends from a young age. Kolesnikov entered politics in 1999 when Victor Yanukovych was Donetsk Oblast governor, first as Deputy Chairman of the Donetsk Regional Council. Yushchenko did become President and this state never materialized. Kolesnikov was arrested early 2005 on charges of abuse of office, extortion, Kolesnikov has repeatedly denied the charges, which were later dropped. The Party claimed to be a victim of a persecution campaign organized by the new government. The Party of Regions claimed the arrest was an example of political repression, the Council of Europe called the investigation in full compliance with European standards. Kolesnikov has since been cleared of charges and released from detention in August 2005 when he offered a written pledge not to flee the country. By October 2005 Kolesnikov had resumed his job as head of the regional council, Kolesnikov was elected to the Verkhovna Rada as a member of Party of the Regions in 2006 and 2007. After winning the 2010 presidential election Victor Yanukovych stated that Kolesnikov was his preferred next Prime Minister of Ukraine, instead of becoming Prime Minister Kolesnikov was anointed by the Verkhovna Rada Vice Prime Minister in the Azarov Government. Kolesnikov was not re-appointed in the second Azarov Government and instead kept his mandate in Verkhovna Rada, Kolesnikov did not participate in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election
3.
Kiev
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Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population in July 2015 was 2,887,974, Kiev is an important industrial, scientific, educational, and cultural centre of Eastern Europe. It is home to many industries, higher education institutions. The city has an infrastructure and highly developed system of public transport. The citys name is said to derive from the name of Kyi, during its history, Kiev, one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe, passed through several stages of great prominence and relative obscurity. The city probably existed as a centre as early as the 5th century. A Slavic settlement on the trade route between Scandinavia and Constantinople, Kiev was a tributary of the Khazars, until seized by the Varangians in the mid-9th century. Under Varangian rule, the city became a capital of the Kievan Rus, completely destroyed during the Mongol invasion in 1240, the city lost most of its influence for the centuries to come. It was a capital of marginal importance in the outskirts of the territories controlled by its powerful neighbours, first the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, followed by Poland. The city prospered again during the Russian Empires Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century, in 1917, after the Ukrainian National Republic declared independence from the Russian Empire, Kiev became its capital. From 1919 Kiev was an important center of the Armed Forces of South Russia and was controlled by the White Army. From 1921 onwards Kiev was a city of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which was proclaimed by the Red Army, during World War II, the city again suffered significant damage, but quickly recovered in the post-war years, remaining the third largest city of the Soviet Union. During the countrys transformation to an economy and electoral democracy. Kievs armament-dependent industrial output fell after the Soviet collapse, adversely affecting science, Kiev emerged as the most pro-Western region of Ukraine where parties advocating tighter integration with the European Union dominate during elections. As a prominent city with a history, its English name was subject to gradual evolution. The early English spelling was derived from Old East Slavic form Kyjev, the name is associated with that of Kyi, the legendary eponymous founder of the city. Early English sources use various names, including Kiou, Kiow, Kiew, on one of the oldest English maps of the region, Russiae, Moscoviae et Tartariae published by Ortelius the name of the city is spelled Kiou. On the 1650 map by Guillaume de Beauplan, the name of the city is Kiiow, in the book Travels, by Joseph Marshall, the city is referred to as Kiovia
4.
Ukraine
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Ukraine is currently in territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014 but which Ukraine and most of the international community recognise as Ukrainian. Including Crimea, Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km2, making it the largest country entirely within Europe and it has a population of about 42.5 million, making it the 32nd most populous country in the world. The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC, during the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers, including Lithuania, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, two brief periods of independence occurred during the 20th century, once near the end of World War I and another during World War II. Before its independence, Ukraine was typically referred to in English as The Ukraine, following independence, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state. Nonetheless it formed a limited partnership with the Russian Federation and other CIS countries. In the 2000s, the government began leaning towards NATO, and it was later agreed that the question of joining NATO should be answered by a national referendum at some point in the future. Former President Viktor Yanukovych considered the current level of co-operation between Ukraine and NATO sufficient, and was against Ukraine joining NATO and these events formed the background for the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, and the War in Donbass in April 2014. On 1 January 2016, Ukraine applied the economic part of the Deep, Ukraine has long been a global breadbasket because of its extensive, fertile farmlands and is one of the worlds largest grain exporters. The diversified economy of Ukraine includes a heavy industry sector, particularly in aerospace. Ukraine is a republic under a semi-presidential system with separate powers, legislative, executive. Its capital and largest city is Kiev, taking into account reserves and paramilitary personnel, Ukraine maintains the second-largest military in Europe after that of Russia. Ukrainian is the language and its alphabet is Cyrillic. The dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodoxy, which has strongly influenced Ukrainian architecture, literature, there are different hypotheses as to the etymology of the name Ukraine. According to the older and most widespread hypothesis, it means borderland, while more recently some studies claim a different meaning, homeland or region. The Ukraine now implies disregard for the sovereignty, according to U. S. ambassador William Taylor. Neanderthal settlement in Ukraine is seen in the Molodova archaeological sites include a mammoth bone dwelling
5.
Euroscepticism
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Euroscepticism means criticism of the European Union. Some observers though prefer to understand opposition to and total rejection of the EU as Euroscepticism, traditionally, the main source of Euroscepticism has been the notion that integration weakens the nation state, and a desire to slow, halt or reverse integration within the EU. Other views often held by Eurosceptics include perceptions of a deficit in the European Union or a belief that the EU is too bureaucratic. A Eurobarometer survey of EU citizens in 2009 showed that support for membership of the EU was lowest in Latvia, the United Kingdom, by 2016, the countries viewing the EU most unfavourably were Greece, France, Spain and the UK. Euroscepticism is found in political parties across the spectrum, however. Trust in the EU and its institutions has declined strongly since a peak in 2007. In 2016, a referendum asking whether the United Kingdom either should remain a member of, or leave. While having some overlaps, Euroscepticism and anti-Europeanism are different, anti-Europeanism has always had a strong influence in American culture and American exceptionalism, which sometimes sees Europe on the decline or as a rising rival power, or both. Some aspects of euroscepticism in the United Kingdom have been mirrored by US authors, there can be considered to be several different types of Eurosceptic thought, which differ in the extent to which adherents reject European integration and in their reasons for doing so. Aleks Szczerbiak and Paul Taggart described two of these as hard and soft Euroscepticism, the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group in the European Parliament, typified by such parties as the United Kingdom Independence Party, is hard Eurosceptic. In western European EU member countries, hard Euroscepticism is currently a hallmark of many anti-establishment parties, some hard Eurosceptics such as UKIP prefer to call themselves Eurorealists rather than sceptics, and regard their position as pragmatic rather than in principle. I think theyre building an empire there, they want us to be a part of their empire, François Asselineau of the French Popular Republican Union has criticised the use of the term sceptic to describe hard Eurosceptics and would rather advocate the use of the term Euro opponent. Soft Euroscepticism is support for the existence of, and membership of, a form of European Union, some have claimed that there is no clear line between hard and soft euroscepticism. Some scholars consider the difference in terminology between hard and soft Euroscepticism inadequate to accommodate the large differences in terms of political agenda. Therefore, hard Euroscepticism has also referred to as Europhobia. Other alternative names for hard and soft Euroscepticism include withdrawalist respectively reformist Euroscepticism, about 43% of Europeans thought things were going in the wrong direction” in the EU, compared with 23% who thought things were going in the right direction. About 32% of EU citizens tend to trust the European Union as an institution, distrust of the EU was highest in Greece, Cyprus, Austria, France Germany, the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic. Overall, more respondents distrusted their own government than the EU, distrust of national government was highest in Greece, Slovenia, Portugal, Cyprus and France
6.
Centrism
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Centre-left and centre-right politics both involve a general association with centrism combined with leaning somewhat to their respective sides of the spectrum. It has been suggested that individuals vote for centrist parties for purely statistical reasons, Centrists usually support a degree of equal opportunity and economic freedom. They can generally lean conservative on issues and lean liberal on social issues. However, centrism itself is location-dependent and exact policies can vary depending on geographical, Indian National Congress was centrist in its ideology. It is one of the oldest parties in the world, under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru the party sought to build a modern secular democratic republic in India. Its support is has different ups and downs from the late 1990s, people change their support base to other political parties but choose it again after period of 5 years. It acts as a party, presently, in Indian Parliament. There have been centrists in both sides of politics, who alongside the various factions within the Liberal and Labor parties. In addition, there are a number of groups that have formed in response to the bipartisan system who uphold centrist ideals. South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon had launched his own centrist political party called the Nick Xenophon Team in 2014, the Palmer United Party has been suggested as being a centrist party as well, however, the party itself does not make such formal claims of being politically centrist. The Australian Sex Party is also a centrist political party and they have just one seat and control the balance of power, with a huge political responsibility within the Victorian Legislative Council since 2014. The New Flemish Alliance is the largest, and since 2009, among French speaking Belgians the Humanist Democratic Centre is a centre-right or centre party as it is considerably less conservative than its Flemish counterpart, Christian Democratic & Flemish. Another party in the centre of the spectrum is the liberal Reformist Movement. The Liberals are currently the largest party in Canadas House of Commons, although, some may argue that the Liberal Party is more of a Centre-Left then a Centrist party. Czech Republic has two main centrist political parties which are currently in the government, liberal ANO and Christian democratic Christian, france has a tradition of parties that call themselves centriste. The most notable centrist party, often also called liberal, was the Union for French Democracy, among its successors belongs the small Centrist Alliance, the most successful of them is the Democratic Movement of François Bayrou, founded in 2007. However, the centrist parties often oppose to the parties such as Socialists. It often support the centre-right Gaullist parties and join several coalitions governed by Jacques Chirac, zentrismus is a term only known to experts, as it is easily confused with Zentralismus, so the usual term in German for the political centre/centrism is politische Mitte
7.
Russophilia
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Russophilia is individual or collective admiration of Russia or Russian culture. Theyre not afraid to love, not afraid to get hurt, the percentage of respondents expressing a positive attitude towards Russia was 9% in Finland, Turkey, and Japan, 38% in Lithuania, 36% in Latvia, and 34% in Estonia. Estonia and especially Latvia have a number of ethnic Russians. In Serbia and Montenegro like in other eastern European counties Russophilia was frequently closely tied with orthodoxy, panslavism, Russia is hugely popular in Serbia, and Serbs have always seen Russia as a close ally. About 83% of Serbs see Russia as their first ally on the international scene, in both Serbia and Montenegro, there are parts of cities, buildings and statues named after something Russian. In Serbia there is the Russian Centre of Science and Culture, Hotel Moskva, Montenegro is also Eastern Orthodox and Slavic country. There is the Moscow Bridge in Podgorica, and a statue of Russian singer, some Ukrainians, mostly in the east and south of the country, would like to a see a more Russophile attitude of the government, ranging from closer economic partnership to full national union. Russophilia was a linguistic, literary and socio-political movement in the Western Ukrainian territories of Galicia, Transcarpathia, proponents of this movement believed in linguistic, cultural, social union with Russian people and later in state union with Russia. Such famous scientists and social activists as I, any attempt at cultural revival was met with hostility from the Austrian government which regarded them as an influence from Moscow. In spite of this atmosphere of mistrust and suspicion the first educational establishment The Fellowship of Priests was founded in Przemyśl. Metropolitan M. Levytsky began to introduce the Ruthenian language in schools, developed grammar books, insisted on instruction in University in Ruthenian. The Lemko-Rusyn Republic, after World War I, attempted to join Lemko territories to Russia, and later to similar areas of the newly formed Czechoslovakia
8.
Blue
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Blue is the colour between violet and green on the optical spectrum of visible light. Human eyes perceive blue when observing light with a wavelength between 450 and 495 nanometres, which is between 4500 and 4950 ångströms. Blues with a frequency and thus a shorter wavelength gradually look more violet, while those with a lower frequency. Pure blue, in the middle, has a wavelength of 470 nanometers, in painting and traditional colour theory, blue is one of the three primary colours of pigments, along with red and yellow, which can be mixed to form a wide gamut of colours. Red and blue mixed together form violet, blue and yellow together form green, Blue is also a primary colour in the RGB colour model, used to create all the colours on the screen of a television or computer monitor. The clear sky and the sea appear blue because of an optical effect known as Rayleigh scattering. When sunlight passes through the atmosphere, the wavelengths are scattered more widely by the oxygen and nitrogen molecules. An optical effect called Tyndall scattering, similar to Rayleigh scattering, explains blue eyes, distant objects appear more blue because of another optical effect called atmospheric perspective. Blue has been used for art and decoration since ancient times and it is the most important color in Judaism. In the Middle Ages, cobalt blue was used to colour the stained glass windows of cathedrals, beginning in the 9th century, Chinese artists used cobalt to make fine blue and white porcelain. Blue dyes for clothing were made from woad in Europe and indigo in Asia, in 1828 a synthetic ultramarine pigment was developed, and synthetic blue dyes and pigments gradually replaced mineral pigments and vegetable dyes. Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Vincent van Gogh and other late 19th century painters used ultramarine and cobalt blue not just to depict nature, in the late 18th century and 19th century, blue became a popular colour for military uniforms and police uniforms. In the 20th century, because blue was associated with harmony, it was chosen as the colour of the flags of the United Nations. Surveys in the US and Europe show that blue is the colour most commonly associated with harmony, faithfulness, confidence, distance, infinity, the imagination, cold, and sometimes with sadness. In US and European public opinion polls it is the most popular colour, Blue is the colour of light between violet and green on the visible spectrum. Blues also vary in shade or tint, darker shades of blue contain black or grey, darker shades of blue include ultramarine, cobalt blue, navy blue, and Prussian blue, while lighter tints include sky blue, azure, and Egyptian blue. Today most blue pigments and dyes are made by a chemical process, the modern English word blue comes from Middle English bleu or blewe, from the Old French bleu, a word of Germanic origin, related to the Old High German word blao. In heraldry, the azure is used for blue
9.
Politics of Ukraine
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Politics of Ukraine takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by both the President and the Government, legislative power is vested in the parliament. Scholars have described Ukraines political system as weak, fractured, highly personal and ideologically vacuous while the judiciary, Ukrainian politics has been categorised as over-centralised which is seen as both a legacy of the Soviet system and caused by a fear of separatism. Corruption in Ukraine is rampant, and widely cited, at home and abroad, as a characteristic of Ukrainian society, politics. The Constitution was amended in December 2004 to ease the resolution of the 2004 presidential election crisis, the consociationalist agreement transformed the form of government in a semi-presidentialism in which the President of Ukraine had to cohabit with a powerful Prime Minister. The Constitutional Amendments took force between January and May 2006, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in October 2010 overturned the 2004 amendments, considering them unconstitutional. The present valid Constitution of Ukraine is therefore the 1996 text, freedom of religion is guaranteed by law, although religious organizations are required to register with local authorities and with the central government. According to the Ukrainian constitution, Ukrainian is the official state language. However, in Crimea and some parts of eastern Ukraine—areas with substantial ethnic Russian minorities—use of Russian is widespread in official business, freedom of speech and press are guaranteed by law, but authorities sometimes interfere with the news media through different forms of pressure. Over half of Ukrainians polled by the Razumkov Center in early October 2010 believed political censorship existed in Ukraine, official labor unions have been grouped under the Federation of Labor Unions. A number of independent unions, which emerged during 1992, among them the Independent Union of Miners of Ukraine, have formed the Consultative Council of Free Labor Unions, while the right to strike is legally guaranteed, strikes based solely on political demands are prohibited. The president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term, the President nominates the Prime Minister, who must be confirmed by parliament. The Prime-minister and cabinet are de jure appointed by the Parliament on submission of the President, pursuant to Article 114 of the Constitution of Ukraine. The Verkhovna Rada has 450 members, elected for a four-year term, prior to 2006, half of the members were elected by proportional representation and the other half by single-seat constituencies. Starting with the March 2006 parliamentary election, all 450 members of the Verkhovna Rada were elected by party-list proportional representation, the Verkhovna Rada initiates legislation, ratifies international agreements, and approves the budget. The overall trust in legislative powers in Ukraine is very low, Ukrainian parties tend not have clear-cut ideologies but incline to centre around civilizational and geostrategic orientations, around personalities and business interests. Party membership is lower than 1% of the eligible to vote. A faction of nonpartisan deputies under the name Reforms for the Future existed between 16 February 2011 and 15 December 2012, a faction of nonpartisan deputies under the name For Peace and Stability existed between 2 July 2014 and 27 November 2014
10.
Elections in Ukraine
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Elections in Ukraine are held to choose the President, Verkhovna Rada, and local governments. Referendums may be held on special occasions, Ukraine has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which often not a single party has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments. Elections in Ukraine are held to choose the President and Verkhovna Rada, the president is elected for a five-year term. The Verkhovna Rada has 450 members and is elected for a five-year term. Currently the Verkhovna Rada is elected using an election system. Half of the representatives are elected from national closed party lists distributed between the parties using the Hare quota with a 5% threshold, the remaining half are elected from constituencies using first-past-the-post voting. A snap poll must have a voter turnout higher than 50%, ukraine’s election law forbids outside financing of political parties or campaigns. Presidential candidates must had residence in Ukraine for the past ten years prior to election day, the election laws were slightly modified on 20 December 2013. Since late February 2016 a party congress is allowed to any candidate from its party list before the Central Election Commission recognizes him or her elected. Meaning that parties after elections can prevent their candidates to take a seat in parliament that they were entitled too due to their place on the party list, a party is also allowed to excluded people from its electoral list of the last parliamentary elections. Under the Constitution of Ukraine, the term of office of the heads of villages and towns, the parliamentary election law has been changed 4 times since 1991. Before 1998 all the members of the Parliament were elected by single-seat constituencies, in 1998 and in 2002 half of the members were elected by proportional representation and the other half by single-seat constituencies. In the 2006 and 2007 parliamentary election, all 450 members of the Verkhovna Rada where elected by party-list proportional representation with closed lists. In the 2010 Ukrainian local elections four years was set for the office of the heads of villages and towns, although this geographical division is decreasing. Till the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election the electorate of CPU and Party of Regions was very loyal to them, but in the 2014 parliamentary election Party of Regions did not to participate and the CPU came 1. 12% short of the 5% election threshold. A2010 study by the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of Ukraine found that in general,46 percent of the Tymoshenko’s backers expect improvement in their well-being in the next year compared to 30 percent for Yanukovych. In the 2014 parliamentary elections the voter turnout was set at 52. 42%. This figure was determined after the Central Electoral Commission deducted the eligible voters in areas were voting was impossible, the lowest turnout in these elections was in Donetsk Oblast, the highest in again in Lviv Oblast
11.
Ukrainian language
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Ukrainian /juːˈkreɪniən/ is an East Slavic language. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic script, historical linguists trace the origin of the Ukrainian language to the Old East Slavic of the early medieval state of Kievan Rus. After the fall of the Kievan Rus as well as the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, the Modern Ukrainian language has been in common use since the late 17th century, associated with the establishment of the Cossack Hetmanate. From 1804 until the Russian Revolution, the Ukrainian language was banned from schools in the Russian Empire and it has always maintained a sufficient base in Western Ukraine, where the language was never banned, in its folklore songs, itinerant musicians, and prominent authors. The Ukrainian language retains a degree of intelligibility with Belarusian and Russian. The first theory of the origin of Ukrainian language was suggested in Imperial Russia in the middle of the 18th century by Mikhail Lomonosov and this theory posits the existence of a common language spoken by all East Slavic people in the time of the Rus. Another point of view developed during the 19th and 20th centuries by linguists of Imperial Russia, like Lomonosov, they assumed the existence of a common language spoken by East Slavs in the past. This general point of view is the most accepted amongst academics worldwide, the supporters of this theory disagree, however, about the time when the different languages were formed. Soviet scholars set the divergence between Ukrainian and Russian only at time periods. During the time of the incorporation of Ruthenia into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and this point of view is, however, at variance with some historical data. In fact, several East Slavic tribes, such as Polans, Drevlyans, Severians, Dulebes, White Croats, Tiverians, notably, some Ukrainian features were recognizable in the southern dialects of Old East Slavic as far back as the language can be documented. In contrast, Ahatanhel Krymsky and Alexei Shakhmatov assumed the existence of the spoken language of Eastern Slavs only in prehistoric times. According to their point of view, the diversification of the Old East Slavic language took place in the 8th or early 9th century, Ukrainian linguist Stepan Smal-Stotsky went even further, denying the existence of a common Old East Slavic language at any time in the past. Similar points of view were shared by Yevhen Tymchenko, Vsevolod Hantsov, Olena Kurylo, Ivan Ohienko, according to this theory, the dialects of East Slavic tribes evolved gradually from the common Proto-Slavic language without any intermediate stages during the 6th through 9th centuries. The Ukrainian language was formed by convergence of tribal dialects, mostly due to a migration of the population within the territory of todays Ukraine in later historical periods. This point of view was supported by George Shevelovs phonological studies. During the 13th century, when German settlers were invited to Ukraine by the princes of Galicia-Vollhynia and their influence would continue under Poland not only through German colonists but also through the Yiddish-speaking Jews. Often such words involve trade or handicrafts, examples of words of German or Yiddish origin spoken in Ukraine include dakh, rura, rynok, kushnir, and majster
12.
Russian language
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Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
13.
Political party
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A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes, with a view to promoting the good or furthering their supporters interests. While there is some international commonality in the way political parties are recognized, and in how they operate, there are many differences. Many political parties have a core, but some do not. In many democracies, political parties are elected by the electorate to run a government, many countries, such as Germany and India, have several significant political parties, and some nations have one-party systems, such as China and Cuba. The United States is in practice a two-party system, but with smaller parties also participating. Its two most important parties are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, the first political factions, cohering around a basic, if fluid, set of principles, emerged from the Exclusion Crisis and Glorious Revolution in late 17th century England. The leader of the Whigs was Robert Walpole, who maintained control of the government in the period 1721–1742, as the century wore on, the factions slowly began to adopt more coherent political tendencies as the interests of their power bases began to diverge. The Whig partys initial base of support from the aristocratic families widened to include the emerging industrial interests. A major influence on the Whigs were the political ideas of John Locke. They acted as a united, though unavailing, opposition to Whig corruption and they finally regained power with the accession of George III in 1760 under Lord Bute. Out of this chaos, the first distinctive parties emerged, the first such party was the Rockingham Whigs under the leadership of Charles Watson-Wentworth and the intellectual guidance of the political philosopher Edmund Burke. A coalition including the Rockingham Whigs, led by the Earl of Shelburne, took power in 1782, the new government, led by the radical politician Charles James Fox in coalition with Lord North, was soon brought down and replaced by William Pitt the Younger in 1783. It was now that a genuine two-party system began to emerge, by the time of this split the Whig party was increasingly influenced by the ideas of Adam Smith, founder of classical liberalism. As Wilson and Reill note, Adam Smiths theory melded nicely with the political stance of the Whig Party. The modern Conservative Party was created out of the Pittite Tories of the early 19th century, in the late 1820s disputes over political reform broke up this grouping. A government led by the Duke of Wellington collapsed amidst dire election results, following this disaster Robert Peel set about assembling a new coalition of forces. However, a consensus reached on these issues ended party politics in 1816 for a decade, Party politics revived in 1829 with the split of the Democratic-Republican Party into the Jacksonian Democrats led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whig Party, led by Henry Clay
14.
2014 Ukrainian revolution
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After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Ukraine endured years of corruption, mismanagement, lack of economic growth, currency devaluation, and problems to secure funding from public markets. Successive Ukrainian governments in the 2000s sought a relationship with the European Union. One of the measures meant to achieve this was an agreement with the European Union. President Yanukovych announced his intention to sign the agreement, but ultimately refused to do so at the last minute and this sparked a wave of protests called the Euromaidan movement. During these protests Yanukovych signed a treaty and multibillion-dollar loan with Russia, the Ukrainian security forces cracked down on the protesters, further inflaming the situation and resulting in a series of violent clashes in the streets of Kiev. As tensions rose, Yanukovych fled to Russia and did not return, Russia refused to recognize the new interim government, calling the revolution a coup détat, and began a military intervention in Ukraine. The International Monetary Fund pledged more than $18 billion in loans contingent on Ukraines adopting those reforms, a period of relative calm in the anti-government demonstrations in Kiev ended abruptly on 18 February 2014, when protesters and police clashed. At least 82 people were killed over the few days, including 13 policemen. The confrontation turned violent, the BBC, citing correspondents, reported that each side blamed the other, the police fired guns with both rubber bullets and, later, live ammunition, while also using tear gas and flash grenades in an attempt to repel thousands of demonstrators. The protesters fought with weapons, firearms, and improvised explosives. Police officers stormed the main protest camp on Maidan Nezalezhnosti and overran parts of the square, the Trade Unions Building, which served as the Euromaidan headquarters, was burned down. Political commentators suggested that Ukraine was on the brink of a civil war, some areas, including Lviv Oblast, declared themselves politically independent of the central government. On 19 February, the authorities instituted police checkpoints, restrictions on public transportation, and school closures in Kiev, on 20 February, Internal Affairs Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko announced that he had signed a decree authorising the use of live ammunition against protesters. Central Kiev saw the worst violence yet, and the toll in 48 hours of clashes rose to at least 77. Parliament also suspended Zakharchenko from his duties, on 21 February, President Yanukovych signed a compromise deal with opposition leaders. It promised constitutional changes to certain powers to Parliament and called for early elections to be held by December. On 21 February, an impeachment bill was introduced in Parliament, on the same day, Yanukovych left for Kharkiv to attend a summit of southeastern regions, according to media reports. On 22 February, the protesters were reported to be in control of Kiev, the parliament, or Verkhovna Rada, voted 328–0 in favour of impeaching Yanukovych and scheduled new presidential elections for 25 May
15.
Prime Minister of Ukraine
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The Prime Minister of Ukraine is Ukraines head of government, presiding over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of the Ukrainian government. The position replaced the Soviet post of the Chairman of Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR, since Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, there have been sixteen prime ministers, or twenty, counting acting PMs. Arseniy Yatsenyuk was the first Prime Minister who came from Western Ukraine, two prime ministers were born in the Russian SFSR. The current prime minister is Volodymyr Groysman since he was sworn on 14 April 2016, the prime minister is appointed by the president with the consent of the Verkhovna Rada. The consent is deemed granted by the parliament when a majority of its constitutional membership votes in favour of the candidate nominated by the president. The highest parliamentary approval to date was received by Yulia Tymoshenko who was appointed the Prime Minister on February 4,2005 with 373 votes in the Verkhovna Rada. Other prime ministers who received more than 300 votes were Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Yatsenyuk again in 2014 Vitold Fokin, the procedure of granting consent by the parliament is usually preceded by several days of comprehensive consultations and interviews of the candidate by the parliamentary factions. The approval by the legislature is not a mere formality, some candidates were ratified by a narrow margin and a candidate may be turned down. For instance, in 1999, Valeriy Pustovoitenko fell three short of being re-confirmed after he tendered his resignation at the second inauguration of President Leonid Kuchma in 1999. Kuchma chose Viktor Yushchenko as his alternative candidate, another example is the approval of Yuriy Yekhanurovs candidacy. After the constitutional reform of late 2004, the president was restricted in his choice of prime minister and was obliged to nominate the person proposed by the parliamentary coalition. The prime minister, as all members of executive branch. The prime minister heads Ukraines executive branch of government, the Cabinet of Ministers, the prime minister can also propose candidates for the heads of regional administrations to the president for consideration. The prime minister can also countersign decrees and laws passed by the president, the constitution is silent on the exact regulation of the countersigning. The prime minister are responsible for the execution of laws passed by the cabinet, while in office, the prime minister is granted full legal immunity from all prosecutions and legal proceedings. The prime ministers office is headquartered in the Cabinet of Ministries building in central Kiev, the prime minister was paid a yearly salary of 202,776 UAH in 2005. Prime ministers are frequently asked by citizens for help in solving their personal problems. In 2012, Prime Minister Azarov received dozens of personal pleas every day on his Facebook page, by-passing local Governments is an ages old practice in Ukraine
16.
Mykola Azarov
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Mykola Yanovych Azarov is a Ukrainian politician who was the Prime Minister of Ukraine from 11 March 2010 to 27 January 2014. He was the First Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister from 2002 to 2005, Azarov also served ex officio as an acting Prime Minister in the First Yanukovych Government when Viktor Yanukovych ran for president at first and then upon resignation of his government. After weeks of Euromaidan protests, and clashes, during which civilians were killed, since 3 July 2014 Azarov is in the international wanted list for alleged abuse of power. On 19 January 2015 Kiev District Court of Pechersk Raion issued an arrest warrant as a measure to allow for extradition of Azarov from the Russian Federation. On 3 February 2017 he declared support for Communism, when he married his wife, Lyudmila Azarova, he took her name. Azarov attended the Moscow State University where he earned his doctorate in geology and mineralogy in 1973 and he worked at the Tulaugol coal enterprise until 1976. Azarov moved to Donetsk permanently in 1984 to become deputy director of the Ukrainian State Geological Institute, in 1984–1995 he was a deputy director and director of Ukraines State Research and Design Institute of Mining Geology and Geomechanics. In 1991 he was hired as a professor at Donetsk National Technical University, in 1994 Azarov was elected member of the Verkhovna Rada for the first time, representing the Petroskiy electoral district, located in the city of Donetsk. In 1995–1997 he served as head of the parliaments Committee on Budgets, in parliament, he belonged to an interregional group of MPs supporting then-President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma. In 1995, while carrying on as an MP, Azarov was appointed an adviser to the council of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. In 1996 he became Chairman of the State Tax Administration of Ukraine, Azarov was a long-term head of the State Tax Administration. During this period tax inspections were used to limit the freedom of the press in Ukraine, Azarov has vehemently refuted all these allegations. In 2002, he accused Slavyansk Bank president Borys Feldman of being behind the Cassette Scandal recordings, in 2001 he became the head of the Party of Regions but resigned from the post in less than a year. In 2003 Azarov was elected chairman of the Party of Regions political council, Azarov was appointed First Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister in late November 2002, when the first Yanukovych Government took office. During the first Yanukovych Government governing the set of reforms was implemented including fiscal, tax. During Azarovs first term as Finance Minister, the annual GDP growth was 9. 6% in 2003 and 12. 1% in 2004 in Ukraine, with capital investments of 31. 3% and 28. 0%. Azarov first served as acting Prime Minister from 7 December 2004 to 28 December 2004, the Yanukovych Cabinet was officially dismissed on 5 January 2005. Azarov continued as acting Prime Minister until shortly after the inauguration of Viktor Yushchenko, Azarov remained a strong political ally of Yanukovych, and again became a member of parliament for the Party of Regions after the 2006 Parliamentary elections
17.
President of Ukraine
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The president of Ukraine is the Ukrainian head of state. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations, the president is directly elected by the citizens of Ukraine for a five-year term of office, limited to two terms consecutively. The presidents official residence is the Mariyinsky Palace, located in the Pechersk district of the capital Kyiv, other official residences include the House with Chimaeras and the House of the Weeping Widow, which are used for official visits by foreign representatives. Since the offices establishment on 5 July 1991, there have been five presidents of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk was the inaugural president, serving three years from 1991 until his resignation in 1994. Leonid Kuchma was the president to have served two consecutive terms in office. Oleksandr Turchynov was the acting president in Ukraines modern history. On 18 June 2015, Yanukovych was officially deprived of the title of president of Ukraine, the current president is Petro Poroshenko who took the oath of office on 7 June 2014. The prime minister serves as the head of government, a role filled by Volodymyr Groysman who was appointed to the position in April 2016. As with the separation of powers, the president has checks on the authority of parliament, for instance, any law passed by the parliament can be vetoed by the president, however, parliament can override his veto with a 2/3 constitutional majority vote. The president has limited authority to disband the Verkhovna Rada, and nominates candidates for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, six out of eighteen of the Constitutional Court judges are appointed by the president. Decisions of the president are subject to review by Ukraines courts with the Constitutional Court having the sole authority, while in office, the president enjoys the right of immunity. By-passing local governments is a practice in Ukraine. With the proclamation of the last universal of the UPR dated 25 January 1918 due to a military aggression, the Central Rada of the UPR proclaimed its independence from the Russia. On 29 April 1918, the Rada elected Mykhailo Hrushevskyi as the first President of the Central Rada of the Ukrainian Peoples Republic, although a rather widespread misconception, the state leadership position title varied and none of them had an official presidential title. In November of the year the directorate government of the UPR was established as the opposition movement to the Skoropadskys regime. Although really the Directorate was the governing body until the new Ukrainian Constituent Assembly would elect its president. Symon Petliura assumed the representation of the state after Vynnychenkos resignation on 11 February 1919, after the Soviet offensive in 1920 and brought control of the Ukrainian territory under the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic, the Ukrainian Peoples Republic was forced into exile. Upon the assassination of Petliura, the control over the affairs were transferred to the former Prime Minister Andriy Livytskyi who in 1948 created the office of the President of Ukraine
18.
Viktor Yanukovych
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Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who served as the fourth President of Ukraine from February 2010 until his removal from power in February 2014. He is currently in exile in Russia and wanted by Ukraine for high treason, Yanukovych served as the governor of Donetsk Oblast, a province in eastern Ukraine, from 1997 to 2002. He was Prime Minister of Ukraine from 21 November 2002 to 31 December 2004, Yanukovych first ran for president in 2004, he advanced to the runoff election, and initially defeated his opponent. However, the election was fraught with allegations of fraud and voter intimidation and this caused widespread citizen protests and Kievs Independence Square was occupied in what became known as the Orange Revolution. The Ukrainian Supreme Court nullified the election, and ordered a second runoff. Yanukovych lost this second election to Viktor Yushchenko. Yanukovych served as Prime Minister for a time from 4 August 2006 to 18 December 2007. Yanukovych was elected President in 2010, defeating Yulia Tymoshenko, November 2013 saw the beginning of a series of events that led to his ousting as President. Yanukovych rejected a pending EU association agreement, choosing instead to pursue a Russian loan bailout and this led to popular protests and the occupation of Kievs Independence Square, a series of events dubbed the Euromaidan by young pro-European Union Ukrainians. In January 2014, this developed into deadly clashes in Independence Square and in areas across Ukraine, as Ukrainian citizens confronted the Berkut. In February 2014, Ukraine appeared to be on the brink of civil war, on 21 February 2014, Yanukovych claimed that, after lengthy discussions, he had reached an agreement with the opposition. Later that day, however, he fled the capital for Kharkiv, travelling next to Crimea, on 22 February, the Ukrainian parliament voted to remove him from his post, on the grounds that he was unable to fulfill his duties. Parliament set 25 May as the date for the election to select his replacement. After his departure, Yanukovych conducted several press conferences, in one of these, he declared himself to remain the legitimate head of the Ukrainian state elected in a free vote by Ukrainian citizens. On the same day, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that he didnt know anything about this, on 18 June 2015, Yanukovych was officially deprived of the title of President of Ukraine by the Supreme Rada of Ukraine. Viktor Yanukovych was born in the village of Zhukovka near Yenakiieve in Donetsk Oblast, Ukrainian SSR and he endured a very hard childhood about which he has stated, My childhood was difficult and hungry. I grew up without my mother who died when I was two, I went around bare-footed on the streets. I had to fight for every day
19.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
20.
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 1998
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Parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 29 March 1998. The Communist Party of Ukraine remained the largest party in the Verkhovna Rada, after the election votes in five electoral districts had too many irregularities to declare a winner and the parliament was five members short of 450. The Communist Party of Ukraine was victorious in 18 regions including the city of Kiev, the Peoples Movement of Ukraine won in five regions, all of them located in Western Ukraine and was a strong runner-up in three others, mostly in the west and Kiev. The electoral block of Socialists and Peasants was able to secure a victory in two regions, however it did finish strong in seven other regions across central Ukraine. The new and rising party of Hromada won the Dnipropetrovsk Region, notable and strong runners up were the Party of Greens, the Peoples Democratic Party, the Progressive Socialist Party, the Peoples Party, Working Ukraine, the National Front and Our Ukraine. By January 2000 the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine and Hromada did not have any deputies, all these factions where disbanded for lack of members. Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine grew massively in parliament from 2 deputies elected in this election to a faction of 24 people in July 2002, Peoples Movement of Ukraine split into 2 different factions in the spring of 1999
21.
Volodymyr Vasylyovych Rybak
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Volodymyr Rybak (Ukrainian, Володимир Васильович Рибáк, born on 3 October 1946 in Donetsk is a Ukrainian politician. He was the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada from 13 December 2012 to 22 February 2014, volodymyr Rybak is also the original leader of the predecessor of the Party of Regions, the Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine. He is a Merited Builder of Ukraine, born in the same city, Rybak graduated from the Department of Economy at the Donetsk State University in 1973, eventually receiving a doctor of economic sciences. He served as chairman of the city council, executive committee, Rybak was co-organizer and first chairman of the Party of Regions between 1997 and 2001. Since the 2002 parliamentary elections Rybak is a member of the Verkhovna Rada, Rybak was Vice Premier of Ukraine and Construction, Architecture and Housing and Utility minister and Vice Premier of Ukraine in the Second Yanukovych Government. On 13 December 2012 he was elected Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and he resigned on 22 February 2014. Citing ill health and amidst the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, Rybak did not participate in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election. Rybak on Party of Regions official website
22.
Russians in Ukraine
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Russians in Ukraine — the largest ethnic minority in the country, which community forms the largest single Russian diaspora in the world. They comprise a notable fraction of the population in the east and south, a significant minority in the center. The west and the center of the feature a higher percentage of Russians in cities and industrial centers. Traditionally mixed Russo-Ukrainian populated territories are mainly historic Novorossiya and Sloboda Ukraine - now both split between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, Russians constitute the majority in the Crimea, the southern peninsula which the Soviet government transferred from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954. One of the most prominent Russians in the Medieval Ukraine was Ivan Fyodorov who published the Ostrog Bible, in 1599 Tsar Boris Godunov ordered the construction of Tsareborisov on the banks of Oskol River, the first city and the first fortress in Eastern Ukraine. To defend the territory from Tatar raids the Russians built the Belgorod defensive line, more Russian speakers appeared in northern, central and eastern Ukrainian territories during the late 17th century, following the Cossack Rebellion led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky. Following the Treaty of Pereyaslav, Ukrainian Cossacks lands, including the northern and eastern parts of Ukraine became a protectorate of the into the Tsardom of Russia. This brought the first significant, but still small, wave of Russian settlers into central Ukraine, at the end of the 18th century, the Russian Empire captured large uninhabited steppe territories from the former Crimean Khanate. The systematic colonization of lands in what known as Novorossiya began. Migrants from many ethnic groups came to this area, at the same time the discovery of coal in the Donets Basin also marked the commencement of a large-scale industrialization and an influx of workers from other parts of the Russian Empire. Both Russians and Ukrainians made up the bulk of the migrants —31. 8% and 42. 0% respectively, the population of Novorossiya eventually became intermixed, and with Russification being the state policy, the Russian identity dominated in mixed families and communities. The first Russian Empire Census, conducted in 1897, showed extensive usage of the Little Russian, a term for the Ukrainian language, in the nine south-western Governorates. Thus, when the Central Rada officials were outlining the borders of the new Ukrainian state they took the results of the census in regards to the language. The ethnographic borders of Ukraine thus turned out to be almost twice as large as the original Bohdan Khmelnytsky State incorporated into Russian Empire during 17-18th centuries, during the World War I, strong national movement managed to obtain some autonomous rights from the Russian government in Saint Petersburg. However, the October Revolution brought big changes for the new Russian Republic, Ukraine became a battleground between the two main Russian war factions during the Russian Civil War, the Communist Reds and the Monarchist Whites. The Ukrainian SSR was de jure a separate state until the formation of the USSR in 1922, the new borders completely included Novorossiya and other neighboring provinces, which contained a substantial number of ethnic Russians. In his 1923 speech devoted to the national and ethnic issues in the party and state affairs, in Ukraines case, both threats came, respectfully, from the south and the east, Novorossiya with its historically strong Russian cultural influence, and the traditional Ukrainian center and west. Ukrainian language was mandatory for most jobs, and its teaching became compulsory in every school, by the early-1930s attitudes towards the policy of Ukrainization had changed within the Soviet leadership
23.
Russian language in Ukraine
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The Russian language is the most common first language in the Donbass and Crimea regions of Ukraine, and the predominant language in large cities in the East and South of the country. The usage and status of the language is an object of disputes within Ukrainian society. Nevertheless, Russian is a widely used language in Ukraine in pop culture and informal, the East Slavic languages originated in the language spoken in Rus. Significant differences in language in different regions began to be noticed after the division of the Rus lands between the Golden Horde and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Lithuania eventually allied with the Kingdom of Poland in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, muscovites under the Golden Horde developed the modern Russian language, people in the northern Lithuanian sector developed Belorussian, and in the southern Polish sector Ukrainian. It is worth noting that the ethnonym Ukrainian for the people was not well established until the 19th century, the land was known in the West as Ruthenia, and the people as Ruthenians. The Russian imperial centre, however, preferred the names Little and White Russias for the Ukrainian and Belarusian lands respectively, since the 20th century, however, people have started to identify themselves with their spoken vernacular and to conform to the literary norms set by academics. Following the Pereyaslav Rada of 1654 the modern northern and eastern parts of Ukraine entered into the Russian Tsardom and this brought the first significant, but still small, wave of Russian settlers into central Ukraine. Beginning in the late 18th century, large numbers of Russians settled in newly acquired lands in what is now southern Ukraine, a region then known as Novorossiya. The 19th century saw an increase in the urban Russian population in what is now Ukraine, as ethnic Russian settlers moved into and populated the newly industrialised. The Ukrainian migrants who settled in these cities entered a Russian-speaking milieu, the Russian Empire promoted the spread of the Russian language among the native Ukrainian population by actively refusing to acknowledge the existence of the Ukrainian language. The Emperor Alexander II expanded this ban by issuing the Ems Ukaz in 1876, the Ukaz banned all Ukrainian language books and song lyrics, as well as the importation of such works. Furthermore, Ukrainian-language public performances, plays, and lectures were forbidden, in 1881, the decree was amended to allow the publishing of lyrics and dictionaries, and the performances of some plays in the Ukrainian language with local officials approval. Approximately 9% of population spoke Russian at the time of the Russian Empire Census of 1897, the Soviet Union in 1918, decreed that all nationalities in the Soviet Union had the right to education in their own language. Thus Ukrainians since that time were entitled to study and learn in the Ukrainian language, during the Soviet times, the attitude to Ukrainian language and culture went through periods of promotion, suppression, and Ukrainization. Ukrainian cultural organizations, such as theatres or the Writers Union, were funded by the central administration, while officially there was no state language in the Soviet Union until 1990, Russian in practice had an implicitly privileged position as the only language widely spoken across the country. In 1990 Russian became legally the official language of the Soviet Union. There is a difference between the numbers of people whose native language is Russian and people who adopted Russian as their everyday communication language
24.
Leonid Kuchma
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Leonid Danylovych Kuchma is a Ukrainian politician who was the second President of independent Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. Kuchma took office after winning the 1994 presidential election against his rival, Kuchma won re-election for an additional five-year term in 1999. His presidency was surrounded by numerous scandals and the lessening of media freedoms. Corruption accelerated after Kuchmas election in 1994, but in 2000–2001, on his watch the Ukrainian economy continued to decline until 1999, whereas growth was recorded since 2000, bringing relative prosperity to some segments of urban residents. During his presidency, Ukrainian-Russian ties began to improve, after a successful career in the machine-building industry of the Soviet Union, Kuchma began his political career in 1990, when he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada, he was re-elected in 1994. He served as Ukrainian Prime Minister between October 1992 and September 1993, since July 2014, Kuchma has been Ukraines representative at the semi-official peace talks regarding the ongoing War in Donbass. Leonid Kuchma was born in the village of Chaikine in rural Chernihiv Oblast and his father Danylo Prokopovych Kuchma was wounded in World War II and eventually died of his wounds in the field hospital #756 when Leonid was four. His mother Paraska Trokhymivna Kuchma worked at a kolhoz, Kuchma attended the Kostobobrove general education school in the neighboring Semenivka Raion. Later he enrolled in Dnipropetrovsk National University and graduated in 1960 with a degree in mechanical engineering, the same year he joined the Communist Party of Soviet Union. Kuchma is a candidate of technical sciences, after graduation, Kuchma worked in the field of aerospace engineering for the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau in Dnipropetrovsk. At 28 he became a director for the Bureau deployed at the Baikonur cosmodrome. At 38 Kuchma became the Communist party chief at Yuzhny Machine-building Plant and he was a delegate of the 27th and 28th Congresses of the Communist Party of Soviet Union. By the end of the 1980s, Kuchma openly criticized the Communist Party, in 1982 Kuchma was appointed the first deputy of general design engineer at Yuzhmash, and from 1986 to 1992, he held the position of the companys general director. From 1990 to 1992, Kuchma was a member of the Verkhovna Rada, in 1992 he was appointed as Prime Minister of Ukraine. He resigned a year later, complaining of slow pace of reform and he was re-elected into parliament in 1994. Kuchma won a victory against the incumbent President Leonid Kravchuk, receiving strong support from the industrial areas in the east. His worst results were in the west of the country, Kuchma was re-elected in 1999 to his second term. This time the areas that gave him strongest support last time voted for his opponents, during Kuchmas Presidency, he closed opposition papers and several journalists died in mysterious circumstances
25.
For United Ukraine!
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For United Ukraine. was a political alliance and an electoral bloc in Ukraine founded in December 2001 to participate in the parliamentary election in held on March 30,2002. In the parliamentary election, the party was pro-presidential, supporting the incumbent President Leonid Kuchma, at the election, the alliance won 11. 77% of the popular vote and a total of 102 out of 450 seats. Final poll results had predicted 7-8% of the total votes, the alliance received a lot of its electoral votes in Donetsk Oblast of eastern Ukraine. The alliance consisted of the 5 following members, Party of Regions, agrarian Party of Ukraine, led by the Governor of Lviv Oblast Mykhailo Hladiy. Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Ukraine, led by Anatoliy Kinakh, peoples Democratic Party, led by former Prime Minister Valeriy Pustovoitenko. Labour Ukraine, led by Serhiy Tyhypko, top-10 party list, Volodymyr Lytvyn, Kateryna Vashchuk, Volodymyr Boiko, Valeriy Pustovoitenko, Mykhailo Hladiy, Andriy Derkach, Serhiy Bubka, Mykola Onishchuk, Mykhailo Zubets, Oleksandr Karpov. The electoral bloc disintegrated after the 2002 election in June, United Russia, pro Putin political project created on December 1,2001 Main Page. Archived from the original on 2005-02-10, financial account of the Electoral bloc Za Yedinu Ukrayinu
26.
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2002
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Parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 31 March 2002. The Our Ukraine bloc emerged as the largest faction in the Verkhovna Rada, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc complained of campaign related violations including an informal media blackout, negatively slanted coverage. Half of the deputies to Verkhovna Rada were elected on proportional basis, in order to gain any seats in Verkhovna Rada a party needed to receive at least 4% of the popular vote. On March 29,2002 the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko won a case on defamation against the Chairman of the Tax Administration of Ukraine Mykola Azarov, the Shevchenkivsky District Court of the Kiev city prohibited the Tax Administration of Ukraine to spread lies against the opposition electoral bloc. Late at night on March 29,2002 was mortally wounded a vice-governor of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Mykola Shkriblyak, Shkriblyak was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine and he ran for the Supreme Council at the 90th electoral district. He died later in a local hospital, the final election results differed greatly from the final opinion poll. The 2002 parliamentary elections were the first that substantially reduced fragmentation of the Verkhovna Rada, yushchenkos Our Ukraine gathered most of its support from western and central regions of Ukraine, including the city of Kiev. The Communist Party received most of its votes from eastern and southern regions, for United Ukraine block, which included Victor Yanukovychs Party of Regions, got most of its votes from eastern regions of Ukraine. Donetsk Oblast was the stronghold of the block, where it received more than twice the number of votes compared to the next highest supporting region, Yulia Tymoshenkos blocks support came predominantly from western regions, while the Socialists were most supported in the central regions. 05%. After the election, several MPs left their parties to join another others, by October 2002 the For United Ukraine faction had broken down in 8 new parliamentary factions. Central Election Commission of Ukraine Relatively in-depth analysis of the election GlobalSecurity. org
27.
Donetsk Oblast
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Donetsk Oblast is an oblast of eastern Ukraine. It is the most populated oblast, with around 4.5 million residents and its administrative center is Donetsk, however, its Regional State Administration was relocated to Mariupol, a temporary measure due to the ongoing crisis in Donetsk. Historically, the region is an important part of the Donbas region, until November 1961, it bore the name Stalino Oblast, as its capital Donetsk was named Stalino in honour of Joseph Stalin at that time. The oblast is known for its urban sprawl and is associated with mining industry. Subsequently, the War in Donbass started, after Donetsk was under control of the separatist government, the Donetsk Oblast administration was relocated to Mariupol, and later to Kramatorsk. Before the establishment of the first Donetsk Oblast, three districts existed on its territory from 1923 to 1930, the Donetsk Governorate was terminated in 1925. As part of Soviet Ukraine, Donetsk Oblast was established on 2 July 1932 out of Kharkiv Oblast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, artemivsk served as the oblasts administrative center for two weeks until 16 July 1932, when the city of Stalino took on the role. Until 1938, Donetsk Oblast included the territories of modern Donetsk Oblast, in June 1938 it was split into Stalino Oblast and Voroshylovhrad Oblast. During the Nazi German occupation from fall 1941 to fall 1943, as part of de-Stalinization in the Soviet Union, in 1961 Stalino along with Stalino Oblast were renamed into Donetsk and Donetsk Oblast, respectively. During the dissolution of the Soviet Union,83. 9% of voters in Donetsk Oblast approved Ukraines declaration of independence in the 1991 referendum. In the mid-1990s the region known for its heightened criminal activity, including the killings of high-profile business people such as Akhat Bragin. In late 2004, the Party of Regions was involved in the creation of a project, South-East Ukrainian Autonomous Republic. In 2014 Ukraine lost control over its border with Russia in Donetsk Oblast, currently, portions of the region are being controlled by the Novorossiya Armed Forces and claimed by the self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic. Donetsk Oblast is located in southeastern Ukraine, the area of the oblast, comprises about 4. 4% of the total area of the country. Its longitude from north to south is 270 km, from east to west –190 km, the state historic-architectural preserve near the city of Sviatohirsk with the Sviatohirsk Lavra was nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine. The province is divided into 18 raions and 28 municipalities of equal status. These are listed below with their areas and populations, the provinces secondary division consists of various municipalities that are governed by their councils. Those municipalities may consist of one or more populated places, all are administratively subordinate to the raion in which they are located
28.
Ukrainian presidential election, 2010
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The Ukrainian presidential election of 2010 was Ukraines fifth presidential election since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The first round was held on January 17,2010, the run-off between Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych followed on February 7,2010. On February 14, Viktor Yanukovych, with 48. 95% of the vote, was declared President-elect. According to Article 104 of Ukraines Constitution, the President must be sworn into office within 30 days from the declaration of the poll before the Ukrainian parliament. The Ukrainian Parliament scheduled Yanukovychs inauguration for February 25, on February 17,2010, the Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine, suspended the results of the election on appeal from Tymoshenko. The court suspended the Central Election Commission of Ukraine ruling that announced that Viktor Yanukovych won the election, on February 20, Tymoshenko withdrew her appeal. Early-vote returns from the first round of the held on 17 January showed Yanukovych in first place with 35. 8% of the vote. He faced a 7 February 2010 runoff against Tymoshenko, who finished second, analysts predicted a slight advantage for Tymoshenko in the second round as she was more likely to attract voters from the other 16 candidates who did not proceed to the second round. After all ballots were counted, the Ukrainian Central Election Commission declared that Yanukovych won the election with 48. 95% of the vote compared with 45. 47% for Tymoshenko, Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc members immediately claimed that there was systematic and large-scale vote rigging in this run-off. On 10 February 2010, Yanukovych called on Tymoshenko to abandon her protests, on 9 February 2010, Yanukovych had stated that Borys Kolesnykov was his preferred next Prime Minister of Ukraine. According to him pre-term parliamentary elections will be imminent if the Ukrainian parliament would not work effectively, Yanukovych also stated that, as the largest faction in the parliament at the time, his party was entitled to nominate the premier. On 15 February, Yanukovych stated I do not rule out the candidature of Tigipko, Tigipko is on the list which, in my opinion, will be discussed next week in parliament. On 16 February 2010, Ukraines parliament had fixed 25 February 2010 for the inauguration of Yanukovych as president, public Opinion Polls predicted the Party of Regions and Viktor Yanukovychs win in the 2010 Presidential election. According to an article in Kyiv Post in November 2009, Yanukovychs popularity in the Donbass was fading, in Ukraine, the previous two presidential first round ballots have traditionally occurred in October. In the event of termination of authority of the President of Ukraine. Early Presidential elections can be held in case of resignation, ill-health. The President of Ukraine is elected by the citizens of Ukraine for a term, on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage. On April 1,2009, the Verkhovna Rada designated October 25,2009, within a week, President Yushchenko filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court against Verkhovna Radas October 25 date
29.
Verkhovna Rada
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The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the unicameral parliament of Ukraine. The Verkhovna Rada is composed of 450 deputies, who are presided over by a chairman, the Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraines capital Kiev. The current parliament is the eighth convocation, in elections to the Verkhovna Rada, a mixed voting system is used. 50% of seats are distributed under party lists with a 5% election threshold, the method of 50/50 mixed elections was used in the 2002 and 2012 elections, however, in 2006 and 2007, the elections were held under a proportional system only. The name Rada means council, rede and it originated in Kievan Rus, and then represented a boyar and higher clergy council. It was also used by Dnieper Cossacks in the 17th and 18th centuries for the meetings where major decisions were made and this name was later used by the Ukrainian Peoples Republic between March 17,1917 and April 29,1918. As well as West Ukrainian Peoples Republic and the Ukrainian government in exile where it was known as UNRada, Verkhovna, is the feminine form of the adjective верховне meaning supreme. It is derived from the Ukrainian word верх meaning top, another name used less often is the Parliament of Ukraine. The All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets had already renamed the Supreme Council in 1927. The Congress of Soviets was initiated by the Central Executive Committee of Ukraine, the last chairman of the committee was Hryhoriy Petrovsky. The first elections to the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR took place on June 26,1938, the first session of the parliament took place in Kiev on July 25 through 28,1938. The first Chairman of the council was Mykhailo Burmystenko who later died during World War II, in 1938, a presidium of the council was created that was led by Leonid Korniyets. During the war the presidium was evacuated to the city of Saratov in the Russian SFSR, on June 29,1943, the presidium issued an order postponing elections for the new convocation for one year while extending the first convocation. On January 8,1944, the Cabinet of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR in agreement with the Communist Party decided to relocate the Presidium of the Supreme Council from Kharkiv to Kiev, new elections were scheduled for February 9,1947 for the Council. Until 24 August 1991 Verkhovna Rada kept the name Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR, the first partially free elections to the Verkhovna Rada and local councils of peoples deputies were held on 4 March 1990. m. At the time, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada was Leonid Kravchuk, the Act of Ukrainian Independence was overwhelmingly supported in a national referendum held on December 1,1991. On September 12,1991 the parliament adopted the law On Legal Succession of Ukraine, thus, the VR became the Supreme Council of Ukraine. The Constitution of Ukraine was adopted by the convocation of the Verkhovna Rada on June 28,1996
30.
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2012
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The Ukrainian parliamentary election of 2012 took place on 28 October 2012. Because of various reasons, including the impossibility of announcing election results various by-elections have taken place since, hence, several constituencies have been left unrepresented at various times. Unlike the two elections, this election used a mixed voting system with a 5% election threshold. The method of 50/50 mixed elections was used previously in 1998 and 2002, the election campaign was limited to 90 days. Every citizen of Ukraine 18 years of age or older was able to vote in 33,540 polling stations in Ukraine and 116 foreign polling stations in 77 countries, the Party of Regions won the largest number of seats while Fatherland came second. The election was noted for the rise of the far-right party Svoboda. The new party UDAR also enjoyed great success with its third place in the election. The Communist Party of Ukraine almost tripled its numbers of voters, because of this mixed system three small parties and 43 unaffiliated politicians also made it into parliament. The new parliament was appointed and started its tasks on 12 December 2012 – six weeks after the elections, the right of the President to dismiss the parliament was challenged in Ukraines Constitutional Court. The Presidents decree has since lapsed as it was never put into action, nevertheless, a snap election was predicted by Ukrainian politicians during the 2010 presidential election and after the dismissal of the second Tymoshenko Government. One of the arguments against holding early elections were the costs, early elections were estimated to cost approximately UAH₴417 million. On February 1,2011 the Verkhovna Rada set the date for October 28,2012. Several deputies whose votes were registered that day have stated they could not have taken part in voting because they were not in Kiev on February 1,2011, voting by MPs in the place of absent MPs of the Verkhovna Rada is prohibited by law. On July 27,2012 the Central Election Commission of Ukraine announced that campaigning for the elections would commence on July 30, in June,2011 the Venice Commission reviewed a proposed Draft Law on the election of Ukrainian parliamentary members. The option Vote against all was made defunct in the proposal. The opposition and Ukrainian analysts accused the Party of Regions of rewriting the law so that the president could secure a majority in the next Verkhovna Rada, in October 2011 the Venice Commission recommended Ukraine should not return to a mixed election system. Nevertheless, on 17 November 2011 the Ukrainian Parliament approved an election law almost identical to the June 2011 proposed Draft Law. This new law satisfied the major opposition parties Batkivschyna and Front for Change, candidates could be elected on party lists or through self-nomination
31.
Oleksandr Yefremov
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Oleksandr Yefremov or Aleksandr Efremov is a Ukrainian parliamentary and statesman. A former governor of the Luhansk Oblast, from 2010 until 2014 he was Party of Regionss faction leader in the Verkhovna Rada, on 14 February 2015 Yefremov was detained on suspicion of abuse of power under aggravating circumstances. This arrest was effectively ended when his bail expired on 1 November 2015, Yefremov was again detained on 30 July 2016 on suspicion of violation of Ukraines territorial integrity by helping to create the Luhansk Peoples Republic and misappropriation of property. Yefremov was born in Voroshylovhrad on August 22,1954 to an ethnic Russian family of Sergei Serafimovich Yefremov, in 1973-78 he studied and successfully graduated from the Voloshylovhrad Machine-building Institute as engineer-mechanic. After graduating Yefremov became employed as an engineer-technologist at the Lenin Machine-building Plant in Luhansk, from October 1978 to April 1980 he served at the Kiev Military District military site #68302, the 692nd Communication Unit of Civil Defense Headquarters. In 1980-87 Yefremov worked as a Komsomol activist, until 1983 as the 1st secretary of the Leninsky Raion of Luhansk, in 1987-91 he was on managerial positions at the Lenin Machine-building Plant, deputy chief of department, sectary of party committee. During this time in 1990-92 Yefremov studied and graduated from the Kiev Institute of Political Science, the institute was officially liquidated in March 1992. In 1991-96 Yefremov worked as a director of a local company MSP Mega LTD, in 1996-97 he was a chairman of the Board of Commercial Bank Ukrainian Communal Bank where his wife, Larysa, and son, Ihor, work. In 1997-98 Yefremov works as a deputy governor and from April 7,1998 to January 27,2005 as a governor of Luhansk Oblast as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party. During that time he gained a magisterial diploma from the East Ukraine Volodymyr Dahl National University in 2000. In 2005 Yefremov changed his political affiliation by the end of year headed the center of the Party of Regions. Yefremov after being elected to the parliament also was elected to the regional council as well. Since then he was a Peoples Deputy of Ukraine and was reelected to the parliament on two more occasions, from 2010 Yefremov heads the parliamentary faction of the Party of Regions changing on the post Viktor Yanukovych. Although members of the Party of Regions took part in elections on the election list of Opposition Bloc. On 14 February 2015 Yefremov was detained on suspicion of abuse of power under aggravating circumstances, since 17 January 2015 Yefremov was part of an investigating into alleged involvement in funding separatism. This criminal case was closed on 31 March 2016, Yefremov was also suspected of putting pressure on state coal company Luganskugol to make it conclude contracts with service providers controlled by him for excessive prices. He is also accused of forgery of documents during the adoption on 16 January 2014 of a set of anti-protest laws, on 18 February 2015 Yefremov stated that the authorities had fabricated the criminal case against him because “They just need someone to blame for the February 20 events. On 25 February 2015 Yefremov was released on a $2,794 bail and this bail expired on 1 November 2015
32.
Autonomous Republic of Crimea
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The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is an autonomous republic of Ukraine, encompassing the territory of the former Crimean Oblast, a status it gained following a referendum on 20 January 1991. Russia then annexed Crimea to incorporate the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as federal subjects of Russia. Crimea was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1783 and this was recognised in 1792 when the peninsula was ceded to Russia by the Ottoman Empire under the Treaty of Jassy. Following a referendum on 20 January 1991, the Crimean Oblast was upgraded to the status of an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on 12 February 1991 by the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR. On 26 February 1992, the Crimean parliament renamed the ASSR the Republic of Crimea and proclaimed self-government on 5 May 1992, on 6 May 1992 the same parliament inserted a new sentence into this constitution that declared that Crimea was part of Ukraine. In the same period, Russian president Boris Yeltsin and Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk agreed to divide the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet between Russia and the newly formed Ukrainian Navy. On 14 October 1993, the Crimean parliament established the post of President of Crimea, after an interim constitution, the current constitution was put into effect, changing the territorys name to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Following the ratification of the May 1997 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, however, in 2006, anti-NATO protests broke out on the peninsula. On 24 August 2009, anti-Ukrainian demonstrations were held in Crimea by ethnic Russian residents, sergei Tsekov said then that he hoped that Russia would treat the Crimea the same way as it had treated South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Along with Verkhovna Rada, the treaty was ratified by the Russian State Duma as well, on 26 February 2014, thousands of pro-Russian and pro-Ukraine protesters clashed in front of the parliament building in Simferopol. Two days later, Russian forces occupied airports and other locations in Crimea which the interim Government of Ukraine described as an invasion and occupation. Gunmen, either armed militants or Russian special forces, occupied the Crimean parliament, under armed guard and with the doors locked, members of parliament reportedly elected Sergey Aksyonov as the new Crimean Prime Minister. The central Ukrainian government did not recognize the Aksyonov administration and considers it illegal, ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich sent a letter to Putin asking him to use military force in Ukraine to restore law and order. The Russian foreign ministry stated that movement of the Black Sea Fleet armored vehicles in Crimea happens in accordance with basic Russian-Ukrainian agreements on the Black Sea Fleet. On 1 March, the Russian parliament granted President Vladimir Putin the authority to use force in Ukraine. The move was condemned by many Western and Western-aligned nations, on the same day, the acting president of Ukraine, Oleksandr Turchynov decried the appointment of the Prime Minister of Crimea as unconstitutional. Russia established de facto control of the territory, however, Interfax news agency later quoted a fleet spokesman who denied that any ultimatum had been issued. Nothing came to pass at the deadline, on 4 March, several Ukrainian bases and navy ships in Crimea reported being intimidated by Russian forces but vowed non-violence
33.
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2014
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A snap election of the Verkhovna Rada took place on 26 October 2014. Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, had pressed for early elections since his victory in the presidential election. The July breakup of ruling coalition gave him the right to dissolve the parliament, the voting was not provided in the annexed Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. The voting also did not reach significant parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts because of the ongoing War in Donbass, because of this,27 out of the 450 seats in the 8th Verkhovna Rada remained unfilled. This election can be called a realigning, ruling in 2010-2014, the Party of Regions did not participate in this election, while its informal successor Opposition Bloc showed modest result with only 9. 43%. For the first time since Ukrainian independence, the Communist Party of Ukraine gained no parliamentary representation, four newly created parties got the highest support in this election, Petro Poroshenko Bloc, Peoples Front, Self Reliance and Opposition Bloc. Since the parallel voting system was used, the allocation of seats is not proportional, for example, the winner in party-list voting Peoples Front got second faction with 82 seats, while Petro Poroshenko Bloc took 123 seats with 21. 82% of votes. The work of the new parliament started on 27 November 2014, on the same day, five factions formed the European Ukraine coalition, Petro Poroshenko Bloc, Peoples Front, Self Reliance, Radical Party and Fatherland. On 2 December the second Yatsenyuk government was approved, according to the election law of November 2011, elections to the Verkhovna Rada must take place at least every five years. That law came into effect with the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, If the Rada had sat for the maximum allotted time, the next parliamentary election would have occurred on 29 October 2017. Despite this, the president-elect Petro Poroshenko said that he wanted to hold parliamentary elections following his victory in the presidential election on 25 May 2014. At 26 June session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Poroshenko said that he hoped to hold elections in October 2014. The parliamentary coalition that supported the Yatsenyuk Government, formed in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, If no new coalition formed within thirty days, President Poroshenko would become entitled to dissolve the Rada and to call early parliamentary elections. On the same day as the dissolution, the Sovereign European Ukraine faction submitted a bill to the Rada that called for elections to take place on 28 September 2014. President Poroshenko said, I dont know how to work with a parliament in which a number, whole factions. And this danger is only increasing and he also said that new elections are the best and the most efficient form of lustration of not only the parliament but also the political forces. Poroshenko announced on 25 August that he had called for elections to the Rada to take place on 26 October 2014, in his accompanying television address, he portrayed the elections as necessary to purify the Rada of the mainstay of Viktor Yanukovych. These deputies, Poroshenko said, clearly do not represent the people who elected them, Poroshenko also painted these Rada deputies as responsible for the Dictatorship laws that took the lives of the Heavenly Hundred
34.
Opposition Bloc
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Opposition Bloc is a Ukrainian political party that was founded in 2014 as 6 parties that did not endorse Euromaidan merged. In the 2014 election it won 29 seats, American lobbyist Paul Manafort was instrumental in creating the party. The party was registered at the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice on 23 April 2010 as Leading force, the party was the led by Anatoly Kornienko. The party did not participate in the 2012 parliamentary elections, in September 2014 American lobbyist Paul Manafort was hired as an advisor to Viktor Yanukovych’s former head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine Serhiy Lyovochkin. Manafort was tasked with rebranding Party of Regions, instead, he argued to help stabilize Ukraine, Manafort advised to create a new political party called Opposition Bloc. It was planned that the biggest party in the previous 2012 parliamentary elections, Party of Regions and this alliance was to be led by Serhiy Tihipko. But he refused to do so because in his opinion in this there were people tainted by corruption and to put it mildly. Tihipko then became leader of Strong Ukraine, on 14 September 2014, the Party of Regions choose not to participate in the elections, it deemed the election lacking legitimacy because the residents of the Donbass could not vote in the election. Also on 14 September 2014, a forum took place in Kiev with the banner Peace, Revival, at the end of which Party of Development of Ukraine, Center All-Ukrainian Union, Ukraine – Forward. Labour Ukraine, New Politic and State neutrality decided to part in the 2014 parliamentary elections as Opposition Bloc. Many individual members of Party of Regions ended up as candidates of Opposition Bloc, among them Yuriy Boyko, who headed the partys election list. Other main figures on this election list are Natalia Korolevska, Mykhailo Dobkin, in September 2014 Boyko argued that Opposition Bloc does not represent parties, but consisted only of individual politicians. Boyko, Dobkin and Rabinovich all took part in the 2014 Ukrainian presidential election, in which they scored 0. 19%,3. 03% and 2. 25%. Korolevska and Boyko were both ministers in the second Azarov Government, Serhiy Lyovochkin was also a candidate of the party. Five members of Party of Regions were in the top 10 of the Opposition Bloc’s electoral list, the party won 29 seats, including the winning of 2 constituency seats. In Odessa Oblast 27 October preliminary result indicated that Petro Poroshenko Bloc had won 7 constituencies with the remaining 4 constituencies won by Opposition Bloc, in Mykolaiv Oblast Petro Poroshenko Bloc seemed to be the clear winner with winning 5 constituencies while the remaining constituency won by Opposition Bloc. On 27 November 2014 an Opposition Bloc parliamentary faction of 40 people was formed, the party was one of the winners of the 2015 Ukrainian local elections. It gained most votes South and East Ukraine, in May 2016 Rabinovich left the party and its parliamentary faction after a request from his party Center All-Ukrainian Union
35.
Revival (Ukraine)
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Revival is a political party in Ukraine established in June 2004 by Heorhiy Kirpa. In December of the same year Kirpa died from a gun wound, the party never gained parliamentary seats in national elections. Since 5 June 2015, when Revival, a non-party faction in Parliament, merged with the party, the party was registered at the Ministry of Justice on 15 June 2004 and its chairman was then Minister of Transportation and Communication and director of Ukrzaliznytsia Heorhiy Kirpa. The party supported Viktor Yanukovych during the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, Kirpa was found dead on 27 December 2004. Early next month the police concluded he had killed himself, during the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary elections the party scored 0. 96%, finishing 12th out of 45 participants, and did not gain any parliamentary seats. The party did not participate in the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary elections, during the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary elections the party scored 0. 19% and again no seats. Economic Development was created on 27 February 2014 by MP Anatoliy Kinakh who had left the Party of Regions faction. The co-leader of the group was elected Vitaliy Khomutynnik, initially accounted for 33 deputies, the group included 41 MPs by the end of the seventh parliamentary convocation. Most of them had shortly before been a member of the Party of Regions faction, Kinakh claimed to have created the faction to restart the negotiations with the European Union on the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement and its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. The parliamentary group was revived after the 2014 parliamentary elections in Ukraine, the new leader of the parliamentary group is Vitaliy Khomutynnik. Anatoliy Kinakh had failed to win a seat in the 2014 parliamentary election, in its reincarnation the group has 19 deputies. The Economic Development group was dissolved on 5 March 2015 and re-founded as Revival, on 5 June 2015, Revivals Party Congress decided to make the faction Revival in Ukraines national parliament Verkhovna Rada the parliamentary wing of the party, effectively merging the two. Revival MP Viktor Bondar was elected party chairman, the faction Revival has 22 of the parliaments 450 seats. By the summer of 2015 most representatives of the party in 2014 were members of the Party of Regions, the party performed badly in the 2015 Ukrainian local elections, but generally won elections in Kharkiv Oblast. In Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, Incumbent Mayor Hennadiy Kernes was Revivals mayoral candidate in the Kharkiv mayoral election, former Prime Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Yekhanurov was the partys candidate for Mayor of Kiev. In the 2015 Kharkiv mayoral election Kernes was re-elected with 65. 8% of the votes, in the Kiev 2015 local elections Yekhanurov did not survive the first round of Mayoral elections. In the same election Bohdan Andriyiv was elected Mayor of Uzhhorod, Party of Regions Opposition Bloc Our Land Official website /
36.
Donetsk
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Donetsk is an industrial city in Ukraine on the Kalmius River. The population was estimated at 929, 063 in the city, according to the 2001 Ukrainian Census, Donetsk was the fifth-largest city in Ukraine. Since April 2014, the city is controlled by separatists from self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic. Administratively, it has been the centre of Donetsk Oblast, while historically, it is the capital and largest city of the larger economic. Donetsk is adjacent to major city of Makiivka and along with other surrounding cities forms a major urban sprawl. Donetsk has been an economic, industrial and scientific centre of Ukraine with a high concentration of companies. The original settlement in the south of the European part of the Russian Empire was first mentioned as Aleksandrovka in 1779, under the Russian Empress Catherine the Great. In 1869, Welsh businessman, John Hughes, built a plant and several coal mines in the region. During Soviet times, the steel industry was expanded. In 1924, it was renamed Stalino, and in 1932 the city became the centre of the Donetsk region, renamed Donetsk in 1961, the city today remains the centre for coal mining and steel industry. Since April 2014, Donetsk and its surrounding areas have one of the major sites of fighting in the War in Donbass. The city was founded in 1869 when the Welsh businessman John Hughes built a plant and several coal mines at Aleksandrovka. In its early period, it received immigrants from Wales, especially the town of Merthyr Tydfil, by the beginning of the 20th century, Yuzivka had approximately 50,000 inhabitants, and had attained the status of a city in 1917. The main district of Hughezovka is named English Colony, and the British origin of the city is reflected in its layout, when the Russian Civil War broke out, on 12 February 1918 Yuzovka was part of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic. The Republic was disbanded at the 2nd All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets on 20 March 1918 when the independence of the Soviet Ukraine was announced and it failed to achieve recognition, either internationally or by the Russian SFSR, and, in accordance with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, was abolished. In 1924, under the Soviet rule, the name was changed to Stalin. In that year, the population totaled 63,708. In 1929–31 the citys name was changed to Stalino, the city did not have a drinking water system until 1931, when a 55.3 km system was laid underground
37.
Chernivtsi Oblast
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Chernivtsi Oblast is an oblast in western Ukraine, consisting of the northern part of the region of Bukovina and Bessarabia. It has a border with Romania and Moldova. The oblast is also the smallest in Ukraine and its capital is the city Chernivtsi. The region has a population of 913,275 and spans 8,100 km², Chernivtsi Oblast covers an area of 8,097 km². It is the smallest oblast in Ukraine, representing 1. 3% of Ukrainian territory, in the oblast there are 75 rivers longer than 10 kilometers. The largest rivers are the Dnister, Prut and Siret, Chernivtsi Oblast is bordered by Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ternopil Oblast, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, Vinnytsia Oblast, Romania, and Moldova. Within the oblast the national border of Ukraine with Romania extends 226 km, Chernivtsi oblast was created on August 7,1940 in the wake of the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. Archaeological sites in the date back to 43, 000-45,000 BC. The Cucuteni-Trypillian culture flourished in the area, in the Middle Ages, the region was part of the Principality of Moldavia, which in the late middle age became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. In 1775, two counties of Moldavia, since known as Bukovina, were annexed by the Habsburg Monarchys Holy Roman Empire. In 1812, one half of Moldavia, since known as Bessarabia, was annexed by the Russian Empire. Hertza region remained in Moldavia until its union with Wallachia in 1859, in 1918 both provinces of Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania. The Soviet occupation began on June 28,1940, in addition to Bessarabia, the USSR demanded northern Bukovina as compensation for the occupation of Bessarabia by Romania from 1918 to 1940. Hertza region was not included in the demands that the Soviet Union addressed to Romania, throughout 1940-1941 several tens of thousands of Bukovinians were deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan, some 13,000 of them on June 13,1941 alone. This and later deportations were based on social class difference, it targeted intellectuals, people employed previously by the state, businessmen, clergymen, students. The majority of those targeted were ethnic Romanians, but there were representatives of other ethnicities. The protests of the Romanian population of Bukovina that found themselves under the Soviet rule brought about serious Soviet reprisals, in the winter and spring of 1941, the Soviet troops opened fire on many groups of locals trying to cross the border into Romania. Upon their arrival in Germany, the Nazi government sent most of non-ethnic Germans to concentration camps, only some of them were freed after the protests of the Romanian government
38.
Yevhen Kushnaryov
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Yevhen Petrovych Kushnaryov was a prominent Ukrainian politician of the post-Soviet era. Kushnaryov was considered one of the ideologues of the Party of Regions. Yevhen Kushnaryov was born in Kharkiv to migrants from Russia in 1951 and he graduated from the Kharkiv Engineering-Construction Institute in 1973, and for several years thereafter worked at a local factory of concrete and steel manufacturing. Kushnaryov became a member of the Communist Party in 1981, in 1989, during the Glasnost era, he joined the pro-democracy movement in the Ukrainian SSR. Afterwards, Kushnaryov served as Leonid Kuchmas chief of staff from 1996 to 1998, during the election crisis of 2004, Kushnaryov agitated for the creation of an independent southeastern Ukrainian state in the case of Viktor Yushchenkos victory. This caused him to be arrested on charges of separatism, that were eventually dropped, following the Orange Revolution, Kushnaryov joined Viktor Yanukovychs Party of Regions and in 2006 he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada on the Party of Regions ticket. Kushnaryov quickly became one of the leaders of the party along with Yanukovych, considered by many to be among the partys main ideologues, Kushnaryov could be frequently seen on television debating public policy. In 2006 he published a book denouncing the Orange Revolution, on January 15,2007 Kushnaryov was accidentally shot in the liver while hunting with a group of friends and colleagues, and died two days later in a hospital in Izium. A two-day period of mourning was declared in Kharkiv over the death of the former governor, Yevhen Kushnaryov was survived by his wife, two children, and two grandchildren. In October 2008 a monument to honour Kushnaryov was unveiled in Kharkiv, the Yevgeny Kushnaryov Foundation for Democracy Initiatives Support was founded in October 2007. The goal of the organisation is to pursue with the ideas that mattered to him, order of Yaroslav the Wise V, IV, III Class Légion dhonneur Although his Ukrainian name was Yevhen, Kushnaryov personally preferred to use the Russified form Yevheniy when writing in Ukrainian. Personal Webpage / The Yevgeny Kushnaryov Foundation for Democracy Initiatives Support
39.
Ukrainian presidential election, 1999
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Presidential elections were held in Ukraine on 31 October 1999, with a second round on 14 November. The result was a victory for Leonid Kuchma, who defeated Petro Symonenko in the run-off, at the time of election the population in Ukraine was 50,105,600 with 34,017,400 living in cities. The most districts contained the Donetsk Oblast as the most populous one, the city of Kiev had 12 electoral districts and Sevastopol -2. There also was a special out-of-country district available for voters who at the moment of elections were not available to vote in Ukraine, there were 32 individuals who submitted their documents for registration as pretenders on candidate to the President of Ukraine. Out of them 19 pretenders were registered with the Central Election Commission of Ukraine to run for presidential elections, in the process ten pretenders were not able to gather the required signatures, while six were reinstated on decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine. Later another two registered candidates withdrew, since the summer of 1999 there was a sharp competition among the candidates. Four candidates Yevhen Marchuk, Oleksandr Moroz, Volodymyr Oliynyk, and Oleksandr Tkachenko met in Kaniv, the Kaniv Four had intentions to present a single candidate who would have more chances for success. It however failed to do so and no one else joined them neither, Volodymyr Oliynyk being promoted by Kirovohrad city residents, on October 27 surrendered his candidacy in favor of Yevhen Marchuk, while Oleksandr Tkachenko favored Petro Symonenko. In the first round the most oblasts and the district were won by Leonid Kuchma. In seven oblasts the top candidate was Petro Symonenko mostly in the centre, Oleksandr Moroz managed to become the leader in the more agrarian oriented Poltava and Vinnytsia Oblasts. Nataliya Vitrenko took the peak of the candidate list in the Sumy Oblast, ^ During the election campaign Kuchma was supported by the Bloc Our Choice – Leonid Kuchma. State-Building, A Comparative Study of Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, ISBN9637326995 Kuzio, T. Ukraine after the elections Ukrainian presidential election,1999. Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine website, handbook on preparation to the Foreign Independent Evaluation on history of Ukraine. Electoral map of Lviv region in inter regional section, yulia Tyshchenko, Ukrainian Independent Center of Political Studies. Kiev 20001999 Presidential elections, how it was
40.
Leonid Chernovetskyi
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Leonid Mykhaylovych Chernovetskyi is a former Mayor of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, from 2006 until the summer of 2012. He was a businessman, founder and controlling stakeholder of the Pravex Group and Pravex Bank. He tendered his resignation on 1 June 2012, Chernovetskyi quit school when he was 14 and went to work as a fitter at an aviation factory, but soon returned to resume his education, graduating from the Kharkiv public school #4. From 1970 until 1972, Chernovetsky served his military obligations, in 1977, he graduated from the Kharkiv Law School with specialization in jurisprudence. He worked as the detective in the prosecutors office of Kiev Oblast. In 1981, he returned to Kharkiv Law School attending aspirantura, until 1989 he was a teacher at Kiev University. Soon after perestroika, he went into business, becoming one of the earliest big businesspeople in Kiev. Later the banking division of the Pravex Group rose into the Pravex Bank - one of the largest banks in Ukraine, possessing a network of offices in Kiev. In 2001, Chernovestkyi and his bank founded the Kiev Bank Union banking association, Pravex Bank was sold in 2008 to Banca Intesa São Paulo for 509 million euros. Chernovetskyi has acknowledged giving millions in bribes during his days as a businessman, in 2012, Leonid Chernovetskiy founded the Chernovetskyi Investment Group, a venture capital group based in Kiev. In 2015, the Chernovetskyi Investment Group made an investment of $1 million into Busfor, Chernovestkyi is a member of the Embassy of God, an evangelical church founded by Nigerian immigrant Sunday Adelaja. He is also a longtime philanthropist of Kiev, caring for the citys old, in January 2009 Chernovitskyi bought FC Arsenal Kyiv for 1 Hryvnia from Ukrainian businessman Vadim Rabinovich. In February 2009 he released a disc with popular songs of the 1980s sung by him. In 2009 he became the man of the according to Korrespondent magazine. In January 2,2013 Leonid Chernovetskiy founded Chernovetskyi Investment Group and he is currently Honorary President of Chernovetskyi Investment Group. Chernovetskyi was nicknamed Cosmos after he announced that he intends to fly in outer space with his cat. However, that name got stuck with him due to his non-ordinary administrative and political decisions. He has sung at rallies and offered to auction off his kisses and that behavior prompted some officials to call for a medical examination into whether he is mentally healthy to govern the city
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