Activists who think that Ukraine’s 2016 budget screams death to the agricultural sector have brought a dead pig in a coffin to the Verkhovna Rada building in Kiev and held a mock funeral ceremony. The angry protesting farmers and their supporters demand to keep a simplified tax system and special VAT rules for the agricultural sector in 2016, something the announced budget lacks as Ukraine has to... 

Deputies of the Ukraine’s parliament have voted in favor of introducing a trade embargo against Russia. This is a response to Moscow cancelling a free trade agreement with Ukraine as the country joins the European market. According to proposer Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk the embargo will begin on January 1, the same date the Ukraine Association Agreement with the EU comes into force. The... 

The Ukrainian parliament has adopted amendments to state law allowing “admission of the armed forces of other states on the territory of Ukraine.” The possible hosting of foreign weapons of mass destruction is also mentioned in the documents. Amendments to Ukrainian law were adopted on Thursday by the Verkhovna Rada, receiving a majority of 240 votes (the required minimum being 226). The bill... 

Ukraine’s Cabinet has asked the country’s parliament to consider dropping the country’s non-aligned status and seek membership of NATO. Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk’s government submitted to the parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, a draft bill that would cancel Ukraine’s non-aligned status and revive the country’s quest to join NATO, a path ditched by ousted President Viktor Yanukovich... 

Ukraine’s Cabinet has survived a vote of no confidence initiated by opposition MPs in the Verkhovna Rada. The decision was announced as thousands of opposition supporters rallied outside the parliament building. Only 186 MPs voted for the motion, well short of the simple majority of 226 needed for it to pass. Ahead of the vote, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov gave a speech in parliament,... 

New attempts have been taken recently to drag Ukraine into NATO. Vyacheslav Kirilenko, a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada (the Parliament of Ukraine) with the faction “Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense” (OU-PSD), an ally of Viktor Yushchenko, introduced a bill abolishing the non-aligned status of the country for the sake of accession to NATO. According to Kirilenko’s proposal,...