When the authoritarian leader of Belarus, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, made a speech defending the forced diversion to Minsk of a Ryanair passenger flight, he made several demonstrably false claims. These included a story about a threat to a Belarusian nuclear power station, which was more than 100km away
Russia says its forces are conducting drills, but the large presence of troops and military equipment near its border with Ukraine has leaders in Kyiv and the West concerned that it could lead to a major outbreak of fighting. Experts told Current Time what they think Moscow is up to.
Russia has issued an arrest warrant for Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, even as she says Moscow can play a role to mediate the political crisis in her country.
Georgian cancer patients appear to be regularly traveling to the European Union to claim asylum on humanitarian grounds – a measure allowed under EU migration law. Though Georgia boasts the region’s highest number of doctors (51 per 10,000 people, according to the World Health Organization) and has modernized its hospitals in recent years, these patients say they cannot find the help they need.
Ukraine's troubled railway company Ukrzaliznytsia and Deutsche Bahn have signed a 10-year memorandum of cooperation under which the German operator will plan a way forward for the state operator. Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk says it could lead to Deutsche Bahn jointly managing Ukrainian railways. Current Time sent two reporters to compare and contrast regional rail services in both countries.
Even after the EU and the United States adopted sanctions barring investment in Crimea, scores of EU companies have continued to do business on the peninsula, often through murky ownership structures, a new investigation by Current Time has found.
Euroskepticism doesn't get far with 81-year-old former Latvian President Vike-Freiberga. As head of state, she sidestepped tensions with Russia and successfully advocated for Latvia's 2004 entrance into the European Union. "We simply clenched our teeth and rowed forward," she told Current Time.
For many Latvians, joining the European Union on May 1, 2004 was all about reaffirming their European identity and leaving the Soviet past behind. Latvia’s population, however, has shrunk by some 365,000 people over the past 15 years. That trend, though, appears to be changing, as migrants start to return.
