Politics of Ukraine

Ukraine's parliament voted on Dec. 24 to give the government the right to impose a trade embargo against Russia, which said  last week that it would suspend a free trade zone with Ukraine from Jan. 1.

The law, supported by 291 of parliament's 420 lawmakers, will come into force when it has been signed by the president. 

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree imposing trade barriers on Ukraine in response to Kiev joining Western sanctions against Moscow.

European Union envoys have agreed to extend the bloc's economic sanctions on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine by another six months until 31 July 2016, newswires reported on Friday.

The sanctions, which apply to Russia's oil, military and energy sectors as well as individuals linked to the Ukraine conflict, were to expire on 31 january next year  

MPs of the Verkhovna Rada in Kiev started a fight during the speech of Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk, as Reuters reports.

It all started when Rada deputy Oleg Barna went up to the tribune while Yatsenyuk was giving a speech, gave him a bouquet of roses and then tried to carry him off the stage, as a video shows.

More than 9,000 people have been killed since the conflict in Ukraine began 20 months ago, the United Nations said Dec. 9, warning that even though fighting had abated, millions were in precarious situations.

Journalists at the police - but not for a press conference, where they would ask Interior Ministry's top officials about their work.

Instead, they are the persons being questioned.

Russian energy concern Gazprom has stopped supplying UKriane with gas, with CEO Alexey Miller saying Kiev is failing to make the payments needed.

A prepayment system was introduced by Moscow last year, amid a gas pricing dispute that started soon after Crimea was incorporated into Russia.

Interfax quotes Miller as saying Ukraine has issued no new supply requests.

A planned "Nord Stream 2" pipeline will hurt the EU's security and help Russia control the bloc's energy markets, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk opined on Thursday.

He called on the EU Commission "to seriously get into the issue" and prevent Russia from facilitating "a bottleneck".

Local elections are being held on Sunday in most of the country except the separatist regions in the east, with Ukrainians electing members of local councils, chairmen of rural councils and city and town mayors.

Pro-Western President Petro Poroshenko faces a stern test of his unpopular belt-tightening measures and stuttering anti-corruption drive when Ukraine votes in local elections on Oct. 25 that exclude the pro-Russian separatist east.