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Latest Articles about Europe's East
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Realists Winning Tug of War Over Belarus
After the crackdown on the March 25 rally in Minsk, the main Belarusian daily Belarus Segodnya published an extensive report devoted to the White Legion, a group of young vigilantes under the guidance of Sergei Chislov, a graduate of Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School... MORE
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Popular Myths About the Belarusian Economy
Stereotypes reduce the complexity of the world into a few simple guidelines, which can enter everyday thoughts and decisions. For years, Belarus has been repeatedly labeled “Europe’s last dictatorship,” thus inhibiting deeper and more serious analysis of the country. Moreover, fighting this stereotype can prove... MORE
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In Belarus, Rhetoric Not All That Matters
Since April 18, the news in Minsk has been preoccupied with how an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Directorate for Combating Organized Crime stole $269,150 in cash from a safe at work. This money had earlier been seized by the Directorate from some... MORE
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Will the North–South Transport Corridor Overshadow the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars Railway?
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s official visit to Iran in early March 2017—his third in three years—was scheduled to include the testing of a section of a new railway along the Iran-Azerbaijan border. The Astara (Iran)–Astara (Azerbaijan) railroad is part of the North–South Transport Corridor (NSTC),... MORE
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April Ceasefire in Donbas: Opportunity for Renewed Russian Gains?
“Despite the declared truce, our forces have lost several [the exact number depends on the day] soldiers, several others have been wounded over the past day… Notwithstanding the casualties, the Ukrainian army has not returned fire.” This is how a typical daily press release put... MORE
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Georgia and Ukraine Welcome New Thaw in Bilateral Relations
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili traveled to Ukraine on March 27, meeting with the host country’s President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman. The visit occurred within the framework of a GUAM summit. GUAM, a loose economic and political cooperation organization, brings together Georgia,... MORE
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Large Russian Land-Air-Sea Exercises in Crimea Highlight Vulnerabilities in Ukrainian Navy and Coastal Defense
As the month of March came to a close, Russia conducted a series of unprecedented land, air and sea drills at the “Opuk” combat training area, located near the city of Theodosia, in annexed Crimea. These coordinated exercises, involving thousands of troops, notably marked the... MORE
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Russian-Turkish Relations Undermined by Status of Crimea
By certain measures, Russian-Turkish relations appear to be firmly developing in a positive direction, but in fact serious points of contention continue to undermine this rapprochement. On the one hand, earlier this year, Russia conducted its first ever joint military operations with a member of... MORE
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Breaking out of the West’s Conditioned Response to Belarus ‘Failing the Democracy Test’
The consequences of Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s April 3 meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as well as the March 25 crackdown on the Freedom Day rally in Minsk continue to be vigorously discussed. These consequences are inter-related. Irrespective of some politicians’ intent to... MORE
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Russian Agitprop Pervades Central and Eastern Europe
The outbreak of the mass EuroMaidan street protests in Kyiv (2013) and Russia’s subsequent aggression against Ukraine convinced the Kremlin of the need to project Russian “soft power” to blunt any response from Europe. However, Western countries ostracized Russia particularly after it illegally and forcibly... MORE