News Timeline: Russia and Other Former Soviet Republics 2015

February 12 – Ukraine
Ukraine’s government and pro-Russian separatists in the east sign a new ceasefire agreement in the Belarussian capital, Minsk after talks attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Francois Holland. Some of the main points of the deal are an immediate bilateral ceasefire and a withdrawal of all heavy weapons by both sides.

February 27 – Russia
Boris Nemtsov, one of the brightest and most charismatic leaders of the Russian political opposition, is assassinated in the center of Moscow. He is shot in the back several times from a passing car. Nemtsov supporters blame the Russian government and say the killing was politically motivated.  He was a harsh critic of Vladimir Putin regime and its support of Ukraine’s separatist rebels.

March 11 – Ukraine
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approves a $17.5 billion rescue package for Ukraine to help stabilize its economy. Last month, the European Union agreed to provide $2 billion in loans to Ukraine, while the United States has pledged $2 billion in loan guarantees. As a prerequisite for the loan, the Ukrainian parliament approved a reform package that modifies tax and energy laws, as well as introduces changes to the government’s budget. Due to the military operations in the east, deteriorating relations with Russia, Ukraine’s largest trading partner, and plunging foreign investment, inflation in Ukraine skyrocketed and its currency, the hryvnia, lost 80 percent of its value since last April.

March 18 – Russia / Georgia
Russia signs a treaty on “alliance and integration” with Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia. According to the agreement, Russia will incorporate the South Ossetian military into its armed forces, integrate South Ossetian customs service into that of Russia’s, and pay state worker salaries in South Ossetia. The treaty comes after Russia signed a similar treaty with Georgia’s another breakaway region of Abkhazia in November last year. Georgia condemns both treaties, describing them as a step towards annexation of its occupied territories.

April 14 – Armenia
Turkey criticizes Pope Francis for using the word “genocide” when describing the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915-16 and recalls its ambassador from the Vatican in protest.  The Pope made a speech ahead of the 100th anniversary of the deportations and killings, which remains a highly sensitive issue. Turkey admits that these atrocities were committed, but stops short of calling them a genocide. Also, while historians estimate that over a million Armenians perished, Turkey estimates the total at 300,000.

June 1 – Georgia / Ukraine
Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili renounces his Georgian citizenship and accepts Ukrainian citizenship as he becomes Governor of Odessa region in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed him governor of this important strategic region, saying he is the person capable of implementing needed radical reforms and fight deeply-rooted corruption and organized crime. By renouncing his citizenship, Saakashvili also wants to avoid an arrest in his native Georgia where he is wanted for abuse of power during his presidency. Saakashvili denies the charges, saying they are politically motivated.

June 27 – Armenia
Armenian government suspends its decision to raise electricity prices after a week of protests. Protesters were also angry about the country’s pervasive corruption, unaccountability of the government, and the influence of big business with links to Russia. Armenia’s electricity network is wholly owned by a Russian company, Inter-RAO.

July 8 – Russia
Russia vetoes a United Nations Security Council draft resolution that described the Srebrenica massacre as genocide. Ten members of the Council voted in favor, with China, Nigeria, Angola and Venezuela abstaining. Republika Srpska, one of the federal states within Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Serbia lobbied for the veto. Russia is considered an ally of Serbia. The Srebrenica massacre took place in July 1995 during the Bosnian War. In Srebrenica and many towns and villages around it, units of the Bosnian Serb Army of Republika Srpska under the command of General Ratko Mladić and a paramilitary unit from Serbia killed more than 8,000 Muslim Bosniaks, mainly men and boys.

July 29 – Russia / Ukraine
Russia uses its veto as a member of the Security Council at the United Nations to block a draft resolution that calls for setting up an international tribunal to prosecute those responsible for downing the Malaysian plane MH17 over eastern Ukraine in July 2014. Russia is the only country in the 15-member UN Security Council to do so. It is believed and there is evidence that the plane was hit by a missile fired by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. The anti-aircraft missile was produced and supplied by Russia.

September 1 – Azerbaijan
One of Azerbaijan’s top journalists, Khadija Ismayilova, is sentenced to over seven years in prison for embezzlement and tax evasion. In her work, Ismayilova focused on investigative reporting, specifically looking into businesses and offshore bank accounts linked to President Ilham Aliyev and his family. Ismayilova is one of many pro-democracy activists, journalists and lawyers who have been arrested in the past year. Human Rights groups, including Amnesty International, condemn the arrests, accusing the government of jailing its critics and opponents.

September 30 – Russia
Russia begins air strikes in Syria claiming it targets the militants of the Islamic State (IS). However, the Syrian opposition says that Russian strikes target mostly groups that fight IS and Bashir Assad’s government troops. The Syrian government is Russia’s ally.

October 12 – Belarus
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko wins a fifth term as president in an election in which veteran opposition candidates were barred from running. Three candidates that ran against Lukashenko are considered to have been put up by the regime to give appearance of competition. They received less than 5 percent of the vote. International elections observers and other human rights groups criticize the election as falling short of democratic norms with significant problems in counting votes and transparency.

October 13 – Ukraine / Russia
In an investigation report on the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 that crashed over Ukraine in 2014, the Dutch Safety Board concludes that the plane was brought down by a Russian-made Buk missile. The report does not say who fired the missile. Russia blames Ukraine for the disaster, while Ukraine and the West say Russia has equipped the rebels in eastern Ukraine with weapons.

October 20 – Russia
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrives in Russia on his first foreign trip since the country’s civil war erupted in 2011. He meets with President Vladimir Putin, Assad’s ally, who recently initiated Russia’s air bombings on IS and other rebels who oppose Assad’s government. By receiving Assad, Putin shows his country’s continued support for him.

October 30 – Belarus
The European Union (EU) and the United States temporarily suspend most of their sanctions against Belarus after President Alexander Lukashenko has freed six of his political opponents and made overtures to the West to improve relations between both sides. The lifted sanctions include the asset freeze and travel ban applying to Lukashenko and 170 individuals from his circles. An arms embargo remains in force. At the same time, the EU and the U.S. encourage Belarus to improve its human rights record and democracy. The sanctions will be evaluated again in four months.

November 24 – Russia
Turkey shoots down a Russian warplane in the Syrian-Turkey border area, which was on the bombing mission in Syria. Turkey claims the plane violated Turkish airspace, flying over Turkish territory despite 10 warnings to change course. Russia denies the claim and says that the plane never entered Turkish airspace. Turkey says it has previously warned Russia about violations of its airspace, as well as strikes against Syrian Turkic minority that lives in Syria along the Turkish border. Russian President Vladimir Putin describes the attack as “a stab in the back by the accomplices of terrorists.” Russia also imposes economic sanctions on Turkey.

December 2 – Russia
Montenegro becomes the 29th member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Montenegro’s membership in NATO shows a dramatic transformation of this small country, which 16 years ago, during the Kosovo war, was bombed by the same organization it now joins. Montenegro hopes that the presence of NATO in its region will solidify its recent stability. Russia, on the other hand, protests NATO’s expansion eastward and threatens with retaliation.