Inside News on Odessa and Ukraine
According to MEP Pawel Kowal, head of the European Parliament’s Observer Mission for the Ukrainian elections when speaking at the European Parliament Committee for Foreign Affairs a few days ago, the Ukrainian elections were the best of those held by post-Soviet nations. For a man who should be used to being very careful with his […]
The biggest bureaucratic nightmare for any foreigner in Ukraine is the bureaucracy involved in trying to stay in the country legally for longer than 90 days in a 180 day period without bending the rules to breaking point. For those who eventually get their Permanent Residency card and domicile stamp in their passport like me, […]
Frozen conflicts have traditionally been very difficult to thaw - despite the best efforts of mediators and negotiators. The Transdnestr region of Moldova, a 60 minute drive from where I live, and a place I have traveled through many times, is no exception. After 20 years the conflict with Moldova remains as frozen now as […]
Having finally got around to the core issue of Stage 1 relating to the road map on Visa-free travel as per the document from the EU, the RADA has passed the necessary laws for biometric passports and identified the company that will produce them. Just how technically good the new law is remains to be […]
The world is full of good causes and those in need of assistance - regardless of whether a nation is developed, developing, or indeed not much more than a failed state. For me it has always been a bit of a dilemma what to support and what I won’t. When I ran my companies in […]
It has to be said that the new Tax Code brought in under the current government was by and large quite welcome and far simpler than that which previously existed. Many of us who have to deal with tax in Ukraine will have noticed the situation is somewhat easier and far less duplicitous than it […]
Turkey looks set to be the next Free Trade Agreement negotiated and signed by the current Ukrainian government - quite possibly by the end of 2012. Quite rightly too. If there is a star economic performer in the Black Sea region over the past few years to date, it most certainly is Turkey. In all […]
Well, I was hoping to write something truly interesting from the meeting between the CIS Prime Ministers that has been held over the past few days in Yalta. Unfortunately, not much worthy of real comment has been said or done - unless you want to include the nearing ascension of Kazakhstan and then Kyrgyzstan as […]
For those of you who follow me on twitter and in particular followed a conversation between Alex Nice (@AlexNicest) and myself (@OdessaBlogger) a few days ago, then the start of this blog entry is more of a summary of what was said - but don’t simply pass - it goes on to new ground that […]
There have been some rather presumptuous remarks about the Ukrainian elections by people who should probably know better. Firstly, the ICES observers have already stated that thus far, the Ukrainian election campaigns have been acceptable and generally meet the standards necessary - whilst at the same time stating those in Georgia have already failed to […]