Olena Astrakhovych

In early May the Odesa Commercial Seaport launched a one-stop border and customs service. Addressing the opening ceremony, Odesa seaport director Mykola Pavliuk said, “To organize a one-stop system for clearing containers is one of the main requirements of the president’s Stop the Contraband...

A logical reference point for assessing the new government’s activity would be the date when it was formed: that was February 4, 2005, more than two months ago. A new government is generally believed to show the most effective performance within the first 100 days of its formation. After this cut-...

This year the Humoryna Festival of Humor began in Odesa long before April 1. Two weeks before the official All Fools’ Day celebration, the city saw a series of shows and dazzling political extravaganzas. Everything started with the launch of daily pageants in front of the Prymorsky District Court,...

Prof. Petro KRALIUK, Ostrih Academy National University: Suppose we proceed from the assumption that May 9 became a propaganda show in the Soviet Union, with WWII veterans often used as extras. Since 1965, when it became a red-letter day, Soviet propaganda purposefully formed in people’s minds the...

As a rule, new people come to power with new goals, including new foreign policy goals. “Viktor Yushchenko’s overriding goal is to ensure Ukraine’s full membership in the European Union,” Oleh Rybachuk, one of Yushchenko’s closest associates said recently. He added that like the countries that...

The first David Oistrakh International Violin Competition, held on September 7-18 under the auspices of the President, Cabinet of Ministers, and Ministry of Culture and Art of Ukraine, has ended in Odesa. For two weeks, musicians from 16 countries vied on the stage of Odesa’s Philharmonic Society...

Ukraine’s real gross domestic product has grown 13.5% in the past seven months of 2004 against 9.4% over the same period last year. What is more, inflation was running at a mere 4.3% in January-August as compared with 8.2% in the whole year 2003. At the most conservative governmental estimate,...

Ukrainian shot putter Yury Bilonoh earned international fame as Olympic champion in the final days of August. At the cost of superhuman exertions he managed to outdistance US athlete Adam Nelson and snatched the gold medal from him in the sixth and final attempt. Yury Bilonoh already ascended the...

In the past these hunting grounds were the sole ownership of Serhiy Kivalov, leader of the Ukrainian Maritime Party and president of Odesa’s National Law Academy, who traded in his parliamentary mandate two months ago for the chairmanship of the Central Election Committee. Arranging elections on “...

The news that foreign students are being physically assaulted in Odesa was first heard approximately a month ago, when hundreds of students attending Odesa State Medical University, mostly from the Middle East, staged a protest rally, demanding protection from systematic assaults and beatings by...