Beats Confrontation With Russia, Says Tarasyuk

It's going to be an extremely short entry today, as I am working on a new section and a bunch more Carpathians pictures for the site. The pictures should be up before next week, the next section may take two, but in any case they're both taking a fair bit of my blogging time.

One item that has been in the news recently is that Georgia is contemplating leaving the CIS. Since it has made the announcement, a number of questions have been raised about whether or not Ukraine will follow. This is a legitimate question, considering the dissatisfaction Ukrainian Foreign Minister Tarasyuk voiced at the last CIS meeting. But Tarasyuk is at pains to say that while he thinks the meetings are fruitless, this is certainly not any reason to stop going. There's a diplomatic response for you.

[update: Vladimir Socor of the Eurasia Daily Monitor just published an article making a similar point as I did here. Kyiv Post had an article(subscr. only) on this before I did, but I couldn't access it yesterday, their site seemed to be down.]

Coalition Stalling

Have I not mentioned the coalition talks between Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko, Nasha Ukrayina, and the Socialists recently? That's because they're still stalled. It seems Yekhanurov's post election prediction that they'd go on until the deadline was correct. It's not a terribly impressive prediction from Yekhanurov, though, since the reason for the stall is Yekhanurov's NU is doing everything it can to prevent resolution. Certainly blog supporters aren't the ones holding up the process. They're clear they would like to see the parties back in coalition.

Last Wednesday, Tymoshenko and Socialist Leader Moroz called for talks with Yushchenko by that Friday. They didn't get them.

RosUkrEnergo and the Gas Issue

Good news for anyone who'd like to see some resolution in the gas issue. One impediment in reaching resolution, Naftogaz Chief Oleksiy Ivchenko, has resigned. He negotiated the current deal with Russia on behalf of Ukraine, and we were subsequently treated to months of unpleasant revelations about the deal. Let's hope he's replaced by someone more willing to keep negotiations open and transparent.

Also a nice rebuke to Yushchenko for his part in supporting the current non-transparent energy deal (and playing dumb about its owners), written by Taras Kuzio in the Kyiv Post.  I heartily approve.