The term “political technology” prevalent across the former Soviet space, might perhaps be best described as “a euphemism for what is by now a highly developed industry of political manipulation.” The Kremlin has used this tool widely in Russia as well as in other former... MORE

A constituent court of the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom may not use 100 percent of the capacity of OPAL, an onshore, German extension to the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline. Gazprom is expected... MORE

A bewildering array of divergent opinions on Belarus emanates from its closest neighbors. But for a relatively small and landlocked country committed to retaining and developing its statehood, it is vital to pay close attention to all those various viewpoints. Three concurrent recent examples highlight... MORE

Introduction: China’s (Junior) European Partners in the “16+1” On the heels of People’s Republic of China (PRC) President Xi Jinping’s busy bilateral tour in Western Europe in March, PRC Premier Li Keqiang started his own multilateral tour in Eastern Europe in April. Designed primarily to... MORE

April 2019 saw a flurry of activity around the Baltic Pipe infrastructure project set to connect Poland and Denmark. The pipeline, which will carry around 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas from the North Sea to Poland and further to the Baltic States, is... MORE

Introduction—A New Approach to United Front Work in Central and Eastern Europe In the era of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping, “united front work” (tongyi zhanxian gongzuo, 统一战线工作) has taken on greater significance and a global scale (China Brief, April 24, 2018;... MORE

The Kremlin’s decree, offering Russian citizenship (“passportization”) to residents of the Russian-occupied Donbas (eastern portions of Donetsk and Luhansk provinces), is the latest in the series of legislative and economic moves to wrest this territory from Ukraine in real terms, absorbing it de facto—though not... MORE

The first three months of 2019 already saw a series of positive developments in the normalization of relations between Belarus and the European Union. Yet, the process remains not only slow, but also contradictory. This is one of the conclusions that came out of a... MORE

Recently, presidents Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Vladimir Putin spent three days (February 13–15) together in Sochi, Russia. As a result, Lukashenka sacrificed his previously planned trip to the Munich Security Conference. Besides negotiating, both heads of state skied, and Lukashenka took part in Putin’s talks with... MORE

Introduction The China—Central and Eastern European Countries Cooperation Initiative (China—CEEC), organized in 2012, is an ambitious program intended to facilitate economic, technological, and cultural exchanges between the PRC and partner nations in Europe. The program is also frequently referred to as the “16+1” Initiative, in... MORE