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Latest Articles about Europe's East
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Zapad 2017: Myth and Reality
The joint Belarusian-Russian strategic military exercise Zapad 2017 may have generated more international interest than any previous Russian exercise since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The context included the marked deterioration of Russian relations with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) caused by Moscow’s... MORE
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Zapad 2017: Lessons Learned by Russia and Implications for NATO
The week-long Russian-Belarussian strategic military exercise Zapad 2017 attracted close attention in Ukraine and the member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). But this topic did not simply disappear after the formal end of the exercises on September 20; experts and analysts are... MORE
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What Are the Limits to Belarus’s Sovereignty?
The joint Russian-Belarusian Zapad 2017 war games, which ran during September 14–20, inspired a wide-ranging debate about the nature and geopolitical realities of Belarusian statehood and independence. Thus, according to the Belarusian military analyst Alexander Alesin, the Kremlin had evinced utmost irritation with Minsk because,... MORE
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Russia Raising Taxes on Gasoline and Cellular Network Services to Fund Development Projects in Crimea, Kaliningrad and Far East
The Russian government recently announced a hike in excise duties on gasoline. The overall retail price will increase by more than a ruble per liter (6.5¢/gallon), or by around 2.5 percent of its current market price, by the end of the next year (Ekho Moskvy,... MORE
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Zapad 2017: A Test for the West
The joint strategic Russian-Belarusian military exercise Zapad 2017 (“West” 2017), which took place on September 14–20, is worth studying in detail because of what it reveals about Moscow’s likely military operations in the westward direction in the event of a regional crisis. At the same... MORE
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Georgian Opposition Attacks Bank of Billionaire Ivanishvili
The party of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, United National Movement (UNM), has begun actively preparing for local elections, scheduled for October 21. Its first major action, which caused a big response, was a rally in downtown Tbilisi, at the central office of Cartu Bank,... MORE
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Belarus Shows Three Important Signs of Change
Nothing is eternal under the moon. Indeed, Belarusian attitudes toward Russia, the country’s meaningful other, are visibly shifting. Similarly, international opinions of Belarus’s national leader are currently exhibiting signs of change. Even the Belarusian opposition is now undergoing a transformation of sorts. Russia’s commanding position... MORE
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Is Europe’s Aviation Watchdog About to Effectively Isolate Half of Ukraine?
On September 20, The Kharkiv City Council sent an appeal, addressed to Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman, regarding concerns over recent actions by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Specifically, the appeal cites a draft bulletin allegedly sent by the EASA to the Ukrainian State... MORE
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Ukraine Successfully Places Eurobonds, but May Lose IMF Support
Ukraine has placed 15-year Eurobonds in the amount of $3 billion, President Petro Poroshenko announced on September 18. Poroshenko, who was on a visit to New York at the time for the United Nations General Assembly, noted that Ukraine had never borrowed so much for... MORE
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Russian Proposal Reopens Donbas UN Peacekeepers Debate
The attendance of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at this year’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session (September 12–25, 2017) highlighted the importance Kyiv places on the draft resolution it submitted to the UN calling for an international peacekeeping mission in Donbas. Indirectly reacting to Poroshenko’s... MORE