After the 2014 coup ousting Ukraine’s elected President Yanukovych, the mainstream U.S. media hailed this unconstitutional move as a victory for “democracy” while ignoring the darker side, neo-Nazis coddled by the U.S. government since the Cold War, as Robert Parry wrote four days after the putsch. [...]

Few Americans understand the ugly history behind the Nazi-affiliated movements that have gained substantial power in today’s U.S.-backed Ukrainian regime. Western propaganda has made these right-wing extremists the “good guys” versus the Russian “bad guys,” as Jonathan Marshall explains. The latest issue of Foreign Policy magazine, one of the leading journals in its field, offers a tw [...]

The father of a young American who died aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is pressing Secretary of State John Kerry to release evidence to support his early claims that the U.S. government possessed details about the launch of the missile that killed 298 people, reports Robert Parry. The father of Quinn Schansman, the only American citizen to die in the 2014 shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Fli [...]

There is a longstanding tradition of EU leaders turning a blind eye to the behavior of the Ukrainian leadership even though it doesn’t correspond to what is called Western values, said French economist Jacques Sapir. Moscow has accused President Poroshenko's advisor Yuri Biryukov of using Nazi rhetoric. In his post on Facebook Biryukov said he was “squeamish” about Russians and compared [...]

The Ukraine crisis represents just another failure of neocon-driven "regime change," strikingly similar to those orchestrated by Washington in the Middle East and North Africa, US investigative journalist Robert Parry notes, warning that Ukraine may soon become the next failed state. Two years after the US-fomented coup, Ukraine continues "to wallow in graft and cronyism" while the living stand [...]

Russia has started supplying the southern Ukrainian city of Henichesk with natural gas at the request of local authorities amid severe frosts in the region, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak said Monday. According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Henichesk Mayor Alexander Tulupov, in view of cold weather conditions in the region, has addressed the Russian side with a request to supp [...]

The European Union follows the United States when it comes to foreign policy, and isn't using any pressure to make Ukraine implement the terms of the Minsk Agreements despite its claims, a political analyst told RIA Novosti. The European Union isn't using its influence on Kiev when it comes implementing the Minsk Agreement to resolve the conflict in the south-east of the country, the deputy dir [...]

The Ukrainian authorities' drive to further spoil relations with Russia is fraught with disastrous consequences for Kiev, according to Radio France International. Kiev's determination to continue to spoil ties with Moscow may have a "disastrous impact" on Ukraine in the end, Radio France International (RFI) reported. [...]

With corruption rampant and living standards falling, Ukraine may become the next failed state that “benefited” from a neoconservative-driven “regime change,” though the blame will always be placed elsewhere – in this case, on the demonized Russian President Putin, writes Robert Parry. Nearly two years since U.S. officials helped foment a coup in Ukraine – partly justified by corrup [...]

A lot of Ukrainian citizens understand that the worst for their country is yet to come. The current government which is on the brink of collapse will not be able to reform the country's "rotten system", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote. It is unlikely that Ukraine will be able to come out from the current crisis. The government is stuck in internal squabbles, while the country is being run [...]

Alleged US mercenaries were seen in a night club in the city of Mariupol under Kiev's control, a Donetsk People's Republic military official said. The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic's (DPR) intelligence has detected the presence of alleged US mercenaries in southern Donbass, DPR deputy defense minister said Thursday. [...]

Despite the US and EU’s efforts, the Ukrainian "project" is in danger. If the Ukrainian government falls it will be a deep embarrassment for Washington, Brussels and the IMF which sacrificed relations with Russia to support it. The political feuding in Ukraine poses a risk not only to the country’s future but also to US President Barack Obama’s reputation, journalists Alessandra Prentice [...]

Russian Finance Ministry said that Ukraine has missed the December 31 deadline to pay off its $3 billion debt to Russia and is currently in default. Ukraine has missed the December 31 deadline to pay off its $3 billion debt to Russia and is currently in default, Russian Finance Ministry said on Thursday. [...]

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 ha [...]

Kiev's attempts to avoid paying back its $3 billion debt to Moscow could end in the country defaulting on its foreign debt. Why didn't Kiev's Western benefactors side with Kiev in the IMF decision on the debt? Sputnik takes a look. On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund board recognized Kiev's outstanding $3 billion debt to Moscow as sovereign, a status Kiev had fiercely contested. [...]

Beijing has said political dialogue is the only solution to the conflict in Ukraine, and not sanctions. On Monday, the European Union announced it was prolonging economic sanctions against Russia for another six months, for what it called Moscow’s noncompliance with the terms of a ceasefire agreed in Minsk, Belarus. [...]

Russia didn’t ditch negotiations with Europe over its free trade agreement with Ukraine, said Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. The EU left the negotiations with the words “game over,” which isn’t “very European and intolerant,” according to Putin. [...]

Ukraine has imposed a moratorium on the $3 billion Russian debt repayment, said the country’s Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk at a cabinet meeting on Friday. The announcement comes ahead of the December 20 deadline for the debt redemption. "Considering that Russia has refused, despite our efforts, to sign an agreement on restructuring and to accept our proposals, the cabinet is imposing a mor [...]

Ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko says she’s “scared” of current PM Arseny Yatsenyuk, as he produces “the impression” of being “a bit inadequate” for the post. Tymoshenko, currently leader of the ‘Fatherland’ party in the parliament, was talking with local channel ‘112 Ukraine’ when she quite pointedly said what she thinks of the sitting PM. [...]

The Ukrainian economy is set to contract 12 percent this year, while inflation is forecast to reach 50.8 percent, according to the World Bank. The main reasons for the slowing economy and rising inflation are the military conflict in Eastern Ukraine and a fall in trade with Russia. [...]

A recent edition of The Current on CBC Radio One in Canada featured a panel discussion of respected, liberal journalists discussing how mainstream media should report on Donald Trump and his campaign for the U.S. presidency. Among those on the panel was Doug Saunders of the Globe and Mail daily in Canada. The panelists agreed that journalists have a duty to explain how Trump’s views are racis [...]

The International Monetary Fund has agreed to change its policy on lending to countries that are in arrears to other governments. With Ukraine being among the states that asks for financial aid while owing Russia, the move has angered Moscow. "The IMF's Executive Board met today and agreed to change the current policy on non-toleration of arrears to official creditors," according to the IMF's C [...]