Politico-Economic Results in April 2014

Abstract

The situation in Ukraine ratcheted up sharply in April 2014 in the Dontesk and Lugansk Regions, where armed insurgents seized the regional administration buildings. Negotiations in Geneva between officials from Russia, Ukraine, the United States, and the European Union came to an agreement on April 17 on disarmament of the insurgents subject to their amnesty. However, not only did the insurgents defy the agreement, they also began to take hostages, OSCE diplomats. Russia keeps demanding to desist from the use of force against the insurgents, however it remains unclear what should be done under the circumstances. Again, Russia and Ukraine have found themselves on the verge of war, with Russia facing the threat of tougher individual and economic sanctions by OECD member states. In Russia, a law regarding the collection of signatures for elections at all levels (save for parties that have passed the 3% threshold at the federal election) was adopted on the second, most important, reading, as well as a law on the abolishment of direct voting for mayors and city council members passed the first reading – the law, however, is going to be amended so that it retains the possibility of direct voting for mayors with the consent of a regional legislative body. Substantial adjustments were made to the adopted in the first reading federal law On the Russian Citizenship whereby the eligibility for the Russian citizenship was toughened for dozens of millions of Central Asian nationals.