Out will go the bodyguards and mistresses, in are likely to come the street activists and war veterans: Ukraine's next parliament will be pro-Western and strongly nationalist, and it won't be to Russia's liking.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Saturday he expected planned talks with Russia's President Vladimir Putin next week in Italy to be difficult but said Moscow had a crucial role to play in bringing peace to his country.
For millions of Ukrainians, it was a crime against humanity. In February, more than 100 protesters were gunned down in the Maidan uprising that toppled the president, Viktor Yanukovich. The victims are now known as “the Heavenly Hundred.”
The Russian parliament moved a step closer on Wednesday to adopting a law that would allow for foreign assets inside the country to be seized and for the state to pay compensation for the loss of property due to Western sanctions.
Latvia's center-right government held a clear lead in a general election on Saturday after taking a hard line over the actions of neighbor and former ruler Russia in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has secured a temporary peace in the troubled east which he says gives him a chance to move Ukraine towards its dream of a place in Europe - but Russia's Vladimir Putin still holds cards that could thwart him.
Moscow called on Sunday for a new "reset 2.0" in relations with Washington, saying the situation in Ukraine that had led to Western sanctions against Russia was improving thanks to Kremlin peace initiatives.
Six months after Russia annexed Crimea, residents of the Black Sea peninsula cast their first votes in a Russian election - an election many of them are calling unfair and undemocratic.
