Three months of protests in Ukraine led to the fall of the Yanukovych regime. This revolutionary change precipitated the invasion of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea by Russian armed forces. Therefore, the new Ukrainian authorities and all western international actors are engaged in finding an appropriate answer to the biggest external challenge to Ukrainian statehood, sovereignty and territorial integrity since 1991.

Crimea’s regional Parliament voted to become independent a week before it held its referendum asking whether to remain part of Ukraine or reunite with Russia. Last week, Crimea has become a de facto and de jure part of Russia. Interestingly, the independence bill referenced the precedent of Kosovo’s independence. It strikes me that there is more than just hypocrisy in this comparison, rightly deemed “shameful” by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Exactly 15 years after the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavian Serbia, the Serbian political arena has been overwhelmingly dominated by the Serbian Progressive Party, an odd conglomerate of Slobodan Milošević’s blue-eyed boys, radicals and nationalists who unexpectedly turned into pro-European politicians advised by American consultants and who signed the breakthrough agreement on the normalisation of the Serbia – Kosovo relations.

Erich Honecker (1912-1994) was a German communist activist. During the Second World War he was persecuted by the Nazis, and after the war he was among the most influential politicians of the German Democratic Republic, being supported and trusted by the USSR. As an activist and later First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and head of state in 1971-1989, he influenced the GDR for decades.

Unexpected developments in Ukraine are occurring at a very fast pace. On Saturday February 22nd, the dismissal of President Viktor Yanukovych and the release of Yulia Tymoshenko clearly marked a turning point in the crisis, surprising many observers. No less important were the seizure of Crimea by Russian troops a week later and the protests in eastern and southern Ukraine. For months we have been witnessing a political drama which has already created its own myths and political symbols.

New Eastern Europe, the Royal Castle in Warsaw, the Polish PEN Club and the Ukrainian PEN Club invite you to the lecture "Christian Ukraine: Old schemes and new challenges" by Prof. Myroslav Marynovych, the head of the Ukrainian PEN Club and vice-rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. The lecture will be held on Thursday March 27th at 5:00 PM at the Concert Hall of the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

We invite scholars, undergraduate and post-graduate students and practitioners from Ukraine and other countries who carry out research in the field of international relations to take part in the Third Annual International Scientific and Practical Conference "Modern Trends in International Relations: Politics, economics, law" held on April 25th 2014 at the Faculty of International Relations of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv.

In the past couple years, Georgia has been Europeanising: policies, practices and laws have been adjusted to EU standards to secure an Association Agreement (AA), a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) and a visa-free regime. However, we can observe the Europeanisation not only of Georgia’s policies, but also of its political culture. Although the Georgian and European political cultures still have little in common, the West has become a key point of reference in the debates on Georgian national identity.

The 13th edition of the Visegrad Summer School will be held from June 29th to July 12th 2014. Each candidate should register at www.visegradsummerschool.org and provide an on-line application form. The deadline for submitting applications is March 31st 2014. Accepted participants will be informed on April 30th 2014.

An interview with Russian writer Alexander Snegirev. Interviewer: Filip Mazurczak

Recent events in Ukraine are unfolding at a dizzying pace. From the attempted brutal clearing of the Maidan Nezalezhnosti to the subsequent deposing of Viktor Yanukovych, the Russo-Cossack push into Crimea and the de facto annexation of that peninsula, Ukraine seems situated on the brink of a national catastrophe. Meanwhile, Russia radiates serenity.