This month President Yushchenko and Prime Minister Tymoshenko will travel separately to Moscow for energy talks, with Russia threatening more cut-offs and price hikes if Ukraine dares follow through on threats to cut murky middlemen out of the trade and raise transit tariffs. The outcome of the 2009 presidential campaign may hinge on whether Ukraine’s two rival Orange leaders can put aside their energy policy differences and maintain a united front More

Valentyna Semenyuk appeared to be heading out of office last week following a move by the new government to replace her as head of the State Property Fund with a loyalist committed to the ambitious Tymoshenko privatisation programme. However, Semenyuk received a reprieve in the form of a Presidential decree as Viktor Yushchenko moved to reassert his authority over his erstwhile Orange ally as the power struggle between the two entered a new phase More

Intesa Sanpaolo, an Italian banking group, announced last week that it had agreed to pay EUR 504 million for 100% of Pravex Bank, the Ukrainian bank controlled by the family of Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetskiy. The deal is expected to be finalised in the coming months following approval by the Italian and Ukrainian authorities More

Amid all the fanfare that has accompanied the signing of a protocol which will bring Ukraine WTO membership, it is worth noting that a disagreement over a relatively small amount of money has made it impossible for Ukraine to enjoy the benefits of an obscure but extremely important agency of the United States government, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) More