January 5: Georgia
Georgia’s incumbent President Mikhail Saakashvili wins re-election in a snap election with roughly 52 percent of the vote. Saakashvili called for the early election to resolve a political crisis that led to violent clashes between protestors and riot police in November 2007. Notwithstanding an array of alleged violations including misuse of state resources and media bias, international observers call the election mostly clean, and the most competitive in Georgian history.
January 25: Russia
Serbia and Russia’s state-owned gas giant, Gazprom, sign an energy agreement that gives Gazprom a controlling stake in Serbia’s national gas and oil monopoly, NIS. Gazprom also agrees to construct a gas pipeline through Serbia to pump Russian natural gas to other European countries. The deal, together with another deal reached four days earlier with Bulgaria to build a fuel pipeline, gives the Russian company significant control over gas supplies to Europe.
February 17: Russia
Serbia’s province of Kosovo unilaterally declares independence, prompting protests across Serbia and by the Serb minority in Kosovo. While Serbia says the declaration is illegal, other countries are divided on whether to recognize Kosovo’s independence. With the help of Russia, Serbia vows to block Kosovo from obtaining membership in the United Nations.
March 1: Armenia
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan declares a 20-day state of emergency in response to mass demonstrations and violent clashes between protestors and police in Yerevan, Armenia. The protestors dispute Serge Sargsyan’s victory over former President Levon Ter-Petrossian in the February 19 presidential election. Armenia’s Constitutional Court acknowledges election violations, but says they did not affect the outcome.
March 2: Russia
Dmitry Medvedev wins 70 percent of the vote in a Russian presidential election that is widely criticized as flawed. President Vladimir Putin, who is to become prime minister after his term expires in May, endorsed Medvedev. Previously, Medvedev was chairman of Russia’s state-run gas monopoly, Gazprom, and Putin’s First Deputy Prime Minister in charge of social programs.
March 26: Belarus
Belarusian police forcefully break up an unapproved rally to mark the anniversary of Belarus’s short-lived independence in 1918. The opposition uses the event to protest against the authoritarian rule of President Alexander Lukashenko.
April 29: Georgia/Russia
Russia announces plans to increase peacekeeping troops in Georgia’s two breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, claiming the need to protect Russian citizens. Georgia accuses Russia of a provocative action, and NATO says that the troop buildup undermines Georgia’s territorial integrity and raises tensions in the region. In protest, Georgia also blocks talks over Russia’s membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Several days earlier, Georgia accused Russia of shooting down an unmmaned Georgian spy plane over Abkhazia. Relations between Russia and Georgia have steadily deteriorated over recent years.
May 23: Georgia
Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili consolidates his power after his ruling United National Movement-Democrats party wins a landslide victory in the country’s parliamentary elections. The opposition, saying the election was rigged, calls for mass protests, and threatens to boycott the new parliament. The president vows to work with the opposition.
July 8: Czech Republic/Russia
The Czech Republic signs an agreement with the United States to host a radar base for the controversial U.S. missile defense shield project. Russia, which regards the project as hostile and a potential threat to its own territory, threatens to retaliate by military means. The United States argues that the defense system is directed against long-range missiles from rogue countries, such as Iran.
July 21: Russia
Russia and China sign a treaty demarcating an eastern portion of their 2,700-mile border, ending a territorial dispute that has lasted for more than 40 years and which led to armed clashes in the past. According to the agreement, Russia cedes two border islands to China, which are located at the point where the Amur and Ussuri rivers meet in Russia’s Far East. The islands are largely uninhabited.
August 8: Georgia/Russia
Georgia launches a military offensive to regain control over its breakaway region of South Ossetia, following days of clashes with South Ossetian separatists. Within hours, Russia sends thousands of troops into the region and bombs targets in other Georgian cities. While Russia says it is defending Russian civilians and peacekeepers in the region, Georgia blames Russia for initiating the invasion.
September 3: Ukraine
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko’s party, Our Ukraine, pulls out of the ruling coalition after Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s bloc backed the opposition’s legislation designed to curtail presidential powers. (Sept. 16): Ukraine’s governing coalition collapses. Parliament now has 30 days to form another coalition. If it fails to do so, the president can dissolve the parliament and call an election.
September 22: Russia
Russian warships leave for Venezuela to take part in joint military exercises scheduled for November. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says that Latin America needs a strong friendship with Russia to counter the influence of the United States in the region. (Sept. 26): Russia and Venezuela sign an energy accord that broadens cooperation on oil and gas production between the two countries. Russia is also one of Venezuela’s largest arms suppliers.
September 22: Russia
Russian warships leave for Venezuela to take part in joint military exercises scheduled for November. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says that Latin America needs a strong friendship with Russia to counter the influence of the United States in the region. (Sept. 26): Russia and Venezuela sign an energy accord that broadens cooperation on oil and gas production between the two countries. Russia is also one of Venezuela’s largest arms suppliers.
October 1: Russia/Georgia
More than 200 European Union observers arrive in Georgia to monitor the pullout of Russian troops from the buffer zones surrounding Georgia’s breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) is deployed under a French-brokered ceasefire deal between Russia and Georgia. However, Russia, which has recognized the independence of the two breakaway regions, plans to keep 8,000 troops there. (October 22): The United States, the European Union, and international organizations pledge $4.55 billion for Georgia to resettle refugees and rebuild infrastructure after the country’s brief conflict with Russia.
October 8: Ukraine
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko dissolves parliament and announces general elections to take place in December. This will be the third parliamentary election in less than three years.
October 15: Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan’s President, Ilham Aliyev, wins a second term in office after the main opposition parties boycott the election, denouncing it as a farce.
October 27: Ukraine
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) offers Ukraine a loan of $16.5 billion to help it maintain economic and financial stability. The global demand for steel, Ukraine’s main export commodity, falls, causing Ukrainian currency to plummet. Also, the country’s banks and stocks are badly hit by the global financial crisis. (October 29): The IMF, the European Union, and the World Bank grant Hungary a rescue package of $25 billion to offset the devastating results of the global economic crisis on the country’s economy and restore investor confidence. Hungary’s economy depends on overseas loans, but, as global credit has tightened, investors have pulled out.
November 28: Russia
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev meets with Cuban President Raul Castro to boost the mutual relations. Russia is especially interested in drilling for oil in Cuban waters and in Cuban nickel industry. Cuba is the last leg of Medvedev’s Latin American tour, where he wants to increase Russia’s presence. In Venezuela, Medvedev discussed building a nuclear energy plant, gas projects, and military cooperation. In Brazil, President Medvedev and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva discussed ways to boost trade. He also visited Peru.
December 2: Russia/Georgia/Ukraine
After a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, the organization agrees that Georgia and Ukraine will join the alliance in the future, but not before implementing more reforms. Also, issues complicating these countries’ membership are territorial disputes with Russia: over Crimea in Ukraine and South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia. Russia also strongly opposes its former republics becoming members of the bloc.
December 9: Ukraine
The pro-Western parties of President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko agree to re-form their coalition government and cancel early parliamentary elections. Although the alliance is fragile, it brings hopes that it will bring the end to the political deadlock that has lasted since September.
December 28: Russia
Russian people vote Alexander Nevsky the greatest Russian in a TV poll with 50 million participants. Nevsky defeated Swedish and Germanic invaders in the 13th century to preserve independent medieval Russia. Joseph Stalin is voted the third greatest Russian, a controversial choice as he was responsible for deaths of millions of people. Many Russians still consider Stalin a hero who defeated Nazi Germany.