Robert Coalson worked as a correspondent for RFE/RL from 2002 to 2024.
Although the ruling Party of Regions received only about 36 percent of the party-list vote in the October 28 election, it still stands a good chance of using the carrots and sticks in its arsenal to win over enough single-mandate deputies to build a constitutional majority.
The long and twisted tale of former Ukrainian presidential bodyguard Mykola Melnychenko just got more twisted. After resisting extradition to Ukraine for more than a year, he suddenly turns up at Kyiv's international airport, where he was promptly arrested.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych arrives in Moscow for another round of talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. But relations between the two countries -- which were supposed to improve markedly after Yanukovych replaced the pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko in 2010 -- seem to be stalled.
The shock waves from the opposition Georgian Dream coalition's October 1 election victory continue to ripple through the country. In recent days, it's Georgia's media landscape -- particularly its television sector -- that seems to be undergoing tectonic shifts as the political transition unfolds.
A growing number of officials and former officials from the government of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili have disappeared since Saakashvili's party lost power in legislative elections on October 1.
The Georgian Dream coalition swept to victory in legislative elections earlier this month promising to deliver on the lofty promises of Georgia's 2003 Rose Revolution.
Newly nominated Prime Minister-designate Bidzina Ivanishvili has said he will seek to improve Georgia's relations with Russia yet maintain his predecessor's pro-Western policy. What do his cabinet choices tell us about his ability to find the middle path between confrontation and capitulation?
An uptick in crime across Georgia in the last couple of days is making waves as the country undergoes its first-ever peaceful transition of political power. During the run-up to the October 1 elections, President Mikheil Saakashvili's ruling United National Movement charged that an opposition victory would be a victory for organized crime. Now a bank robbery and a few similar incidents have some Georgians wondering.
With Georgia's elections over, the Georgian Dream coalition now faces the hard work of trying to govern. But can this band of disparate political groups ranging from hardcore nationalists to free-market liberals maintain enough postelection cohesion to name a cabinet?
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was recently in Bosnia, speaking enthusiastically about boosting Turkish investment in the Balkan country. But Turkey's interest has raised concerns among Bosnian Serbs, who fear Ankara could disturb the country's fragile equilibrium.
Sergei Udaltsov is a determined man. One of the lead organizers of the opposition March of Millions demonstration to be held on September 15, he is calling on the authorities to open a dialogue with the opposition and agree to early and fair elections. And he has no intention of backing down.
Russian prosecutors have appealed to the State Duma to revoke the mandate of a prominent Kremlin critic, lawmaker Gennady Gudkov, accusing him of being involved in commercial activity in violation of government rules. Gudkov says the charges are part of a Kremlin drive to "shut down" political opponents ahead of a planned opposition march later this month.
Some prominent Russian military figures have publicly accused Dmitry Medvedev of being unable to make a decision during the hours immediately before Russia's war with Georgia in August 2008. They say he only acted after being given a "kick" from then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. What does the release of this film say about the mood among Russia's rulers?
Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic has been in office for just over two months. But his rule is already raising alarm bells in Washington and Brussels over a number of issues.
Russia's Orthodox Patriarch Kirill's blessing of the cornerstone of a new church outside the academy of the Federal Security Service highlights the close relationship between the church and security services.
For the second time in just a month, Aleksandr Bastrykin, head of Russia's Investigative Committee and longtime friend of Vladimir Putin, is in hot water. RFE/RL takes a look at Bastrykin and why he's in the headlines again.
Why are government forces clashing with armed groups in Tajikistan's remote Gorno-Badakhshan province?
In the wake of two separate terrorist attacks against leading pro-Kremlin Islamic figures in the Tatarstan capital, Kazan, the authorities have advised the media to quote only seven officially approved experts on all issues related to "Islamic life in the republic."
On the Serbian calendar, one day looms far larger than all the others. For centuries, June 28 -- which Orthodox Christians mark as St. Vitus Day -- has witnessed some of the most dramatic events in Serbian history. And Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic chose this red-letter day for Serbian nationalism to name an ardent nationalist and former ally of Slobodan Milosevic as the country's prime minister-designate.
Following Syria's shooting down of a Turkish jet last week, there was some speculation that Ankara might ask NATO to invoke Article 5, which states that any armed attack against one member of the alliance is an attack against them all.
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