Mykyta Kasyanenko

Later last week Yalta hosted the third forum of the Yalta European Strategy international network founded three years ago by the well-known businessman Viktor Pinchuk as a place for debating Ukraine’s chances to join the European Union. Yalta European Strategy-2006 was in fact the first real...

It is little wonder that many of Kyiv’s problems and oversights come to a head in the Crimea of all places, above all for the simple reason that the Crimea’s status of autonomous republic runs counter to the unitary setup of Ukraine, because any autonomous entity always strives for greater self-...

On June 2 the Crimean parliament held an unscheduled session to form a new government for this autonomous republic. Seventy-five out of 93 registered deputies voted to install Viktor Plakyda, a former electricity supply executive, as the new chairman of the Crimean Council of Ministers. Addressing...

Now that Ukraine’s constitutional reform has been partially implemented, the absence of entire legislative chapters is acutely felt, especially in the Crimea. A bill has yet to be passed on the Crimean Council of Ministers, while the autonomy’s parliament still has no clearly outlined legal status...

More than 50,000 chickens and geese have been seized and destroyed in the quarantine zone during the two weeks of combating bird flu in the Crimea. According to the Public Relations Center of the Crimean Main Directorate for Emergencies, all birds were seized in seven populated areas in the Crimea...

The Crimean parliamentary taskforce, which is exploring the possibility to amend the Crimean Constitution, has already held two meetings. Aside from the declared purpose of such amendments, there is a discernible element of pre-election maneuvering in this matter, as Crimean politicians are yet...

Professor Refat Appazov, who has a Ph.D. in engineering and is a member of the board of a mutual aid association of Crimean Tatars living in Moscow, recently celebrated his 85th birthday. A famous rocket engineer, he worked together with Serhiy Korolev and was part of the team that developed the...

According to the Association of Crimean Karaims, there are about 2,000 Karaims throughout the world, including 1,100 in Ukraine and 240 in Yevpatoriya. Since this Crimean city used to be the global hub of the Karaim community until 1920, Yevpatoriya was the natural choice to host the 1st World...

The Crimean authorities have approved a decision to increase the number of bilingual schools on the peninsula. According to the autonomy’s Minister of Education Oleksandr Hluzman, for the current school year the Ministry of Education opened 25 bilingual Russian-Ukrainian schools despite initial...

It took a long time to elect the new head of the Crimean government. After weeks of deliberations this post is now occupied by Anatoliy Matviyenko, a Komsomol Young Communist League functionary in 1987-1990, president of the Ukrainian Center for Economic and Sociological Studies in 1990-1996,...