
Latest Articles about Baltics

Soul-Searching in the Opposition Amid Growing Threats to Belarusian Sovereignty
The Belarusian opposition media continues to be frustrated with Ukrainians' worsening attitude toward Belarusians in their country. The September 2022 telephone and online survey of 2,000 Ukrainians by the Kyiv-based International Institute of Sociology revealed that, regarding Belarusians, Ukrainians view the group with the third-most... MORE

Nord Stream Explosions: Russian Sabotage in the Baltic?
On Monday, September 26, European media reported a significant loss of pressure in the Nord Stream Two pipeline. Shortly thereafter, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson reported that a number of explosions had been recorded. Seismologists in Denmark and Sweden confirmed that they had registered the... MORE

Minsk Harnesses Anti-Polish Sentiment
On September 23, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei spoke at the most recent United Nations General Assembly session in New York (Facebook.com/belarusmfa, September 23). Opposition-minded commentators focused on what seems to be a contradiction between two refrains of Makei’s speech. On the one hand, he... MORE

Baltic Sea Countries Utilize LNG and Offshore Wind to Secure Energy Independence
On August 30, eight Baltic Sea littoral countries (Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden and Denmark) signed the so-called Marienborg Declaration, agreeing on the necessity of “phasing out Russian energy and decarbonizing the energy sector” within the region (Regeringen.dk, August 30). The document itself... MORE

Political Maneuvering in and Around Belarus
It has been relatively calm in Belarus lately. The economic decline continues (see EDM, August 9); Russian artillery keeps targeting Ukraine from Belarus’s territory; and citizens of Latvia, Poland and Lithuania continue to take advantage of visa-free travel to Belarus, mostly for the sake of... MORE

Moscow Losing Another Nation’s Orthodox Church—This Time Latvia’s
Since 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed and the Orthodox faithful and leaders in the former Soviet republics and formerly occupied Baltic countries began to press for independence from the Moscow Patriarchate, the Russian Orthodox Church and equally the Russian government have been worried about... MORE

Russian Cossacks’ Integration With the State
As Russia’s illegal re-invasion of Ukraine continues, a number of ramifications extend to the Russian domestic political scene with some, such as Yale University historian Timothy Snyder, positing on the incredible rise of the far right in Russia. Even so, the Cossacks appear to be... MORE

Belarusians at Home and Abroad Are Growing Apart
Musings of two Belarusian historians, Yury Shevtsov and Alexander Bely, symbolize the current condition of Belarusians’ cultural divide. Both consider the 1596 emergence of the Uniate Church, preserving the Eastern rite and discipline but submitting to papal authority, an important hallmark in Belarusian history. Yet,... MORE

Is China’s Summit Diplomacy in Central and Eastern Europe at a Dead End?
Introduction During a recent phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Polish President Andrzej Duda, the former said that both sides should actively cooperate to organize activities for the 10th anniversary of China-Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) cooperation (中国—中东欧国家合作, Zhongguo — Zhong dongou guojia... MORE

Belarus’s Economic Downturn
In mid-July 2022, Moody’s and Fitch—two of the three international credit rating agencies—declared that Belarus is in technical default on its debt. Government economists consider this qualification politically prejudiced (Sputnik, July 13). However, a technical default is only a deficiency in a loan agreement that... MORE