Elections in Ukraine

• 23 Apr 2019

Recently, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been elected as the new president of Ukraine.

• Volodymyr Zelenskiy belongs to the servant of the people party. He is also a political satirist with no political background.

Issues Ukraine is Facing

• Confrontation with Russia
  • Ukraine is at loggerheads with Russia over the occupation of Crimean peninsula by Russia.
  • The annexation of Crimea from Ukraine followed a Russian military intervention in Crimea that took place in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and was part of wider unrest across southern and eastern Ukraine.
  • Last year Russia also arrested 24 Ukrainian naval officers from Kerch Strait for alleged border violations.
  • Ukraine is also seeking North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and European Union membership, a move that would be offensive to Russia and that could obstruct attempts to resolve other tensions with Russia.

Euromaidan Movement

Euromaidan (European Square) was a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began in November 2013 with public protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti ("Independence Square") in Kyiv, Ukraine.

• The separatist movement in East Ukraine
  • The Donbass region (the Donetsk and Luhansk regions) of eastern Ukraine is facing a pro-Russian separatist movement since 2014.
  • According to the Ukrainian government, the movement is actively supported by the Russian government and Russian paramilitaries make up to between 15% to 80% of the separatists fighting against Ukraine government.

Normandy Format

Normandy format is also known as the Normandy contact group, or the Normandy Four is a diplomatic group of senior representatives of the four countries (Germany, Russia, Ukraine, and France) to resolve the war in Eastern Ukraine.

• Corruption
  • Corruption was one the key reason behind the ouster of a sitting president, Petro Poroshenko.
  • Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index shows Ukraine at 120 among 188 countries.
  • The newly elected president has vowed various severe measures against corruption.
• Economic Crisis
  • Ukraine’s economy is recovering from the severe decline in the economy it experienced after the 2014 unrest, yet the gross domestic product is still substantially below its level in 2013.
  • In December 2018 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has given US$3.9 billion packages to Ukraine.
  • But further assistance is conditional on Ukraine making key reforms and tackling corruption.

India-Ukraine Relations

• Immediately after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Government of India recognized the Republic of Ukraine as a sovereign independent country in December 1991.
• The Embassy of India in Kyiv was established in May 1992 and Ukraine opened its Mission in New Delhi in February 1993.
• India and Ukraine enjoy warm and friendly relations and cooperate in areas like Culture, Arts, Education, Mutual Legal Assistance, Outer Space cooperation.
• Defense Relations
  • India and Ukraine also have significant defense cooperation. Ukraine has been a source of military technology and equipment for India since its independence.
  • Indian companies are collaborating with Ukrainian companies in this area.
  • India is dependent on Ukraine’s military-industrial complex which plays an instrumental role in the modernization and upkeep of its air force.
• Diaspora
  • Ukraine also has a significant size of the Indian community excluding students, it is estimated to be about two thousand.
  • There are above 8,000 Indian students enrolled in various Ukrainian medical/technical universities.