News stories by Pavol Stracansky, page 2

MOSCOW, Jun 05 (IPS) - As the Palestinian unity government announced June 2 receives a cautious welcome from many world leaders, Russia's support for the new body is providing the Kremlin with an opportune platform to pursue its foreign policy ambitions and strengthen its domestic ideology.

MOSCOW, Jun 03 (IPS) - Aleksander Mizdrakin is convinced he knows who Russia's future international partners are – and they're not in Europe, nor is the United States among them.

KIEV, May 30 (IPS) - As Ukraine's president elect Petro Poroshenko prepares to begin his presidency, Ukrainians are hoping he will not forget that separatist violence is just one of a long list of problems he needs to help solve in the country.

MOSCOW, May 21 (IPS) - International bodies and local campaign groups have repeatedly criticised Russia for not doing anywhere near enough in terms of providing prevention services or access to medical treatment for HIV/AIDS sufferers. The fourth Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) HIV/AIDS Conference, which finished in Moscow last week, has not put a stop to that criticism.

MOSCOW, May 13 (IPS) - As Russia faces harsh sanctions and growing international isolation over its annexation of Crimea and support of separatists in eastern Ukraine, economists and sociologists are warning that the Kremlin's international policies may fuel a potentially devastating brain drain.

MOSCOW, Apr 26 (IPS) - NGOs working in Russia are facing more repression in the form of even tighter legislation on foreign funding as part of what some rights activists say is a concerted campaign to "liquidate" civil society in the country.

VIENNA, Apr 17 (IPS) - The Uruguayan government has made a controversial move to regulate the production and sale of cannabis. The government believes that this will help in the fight against drug-related crime and in dealing with public health issues.

KIEV, Apr 16 (IPS) - As local authorities prepare to put an end to opioid substitution treatment (OST) programmes in the newly annexed Crimean peninsula, drug users there say they are being forced to choose between a return to addiction and becoming refugees.

MOSCOW, Mar 20 (IPS) - As the West imposes what have been called the most comprehensive sanctions on Russia since the end of the Cold War, many ordinary Russians say they have no fear of any economic measures the U.S. or the EU may take against their country.

KIEV, Mar 18 (IPS) - As Crimea prepares to become part of Russia following a referendum which much of the international community says has no legitimacy, families on the peninsula are being forced apart by the political upheaval while others are considering leaving the region.