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Latest Articles about Europe's East
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Dirty Business: The Russian-Iranian Strategic Partnership Intensifies
In May 2023, United States National Security Council spokesman John Kirby announced that Russia is looking to purchase additional Iranian drones and loitering munitions. Kyiv believes that Moscow already received around 2,400 units from its “brother in arms” and has already used over 400 of... MORE
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Moscow’s Plans for Russian Fleet Unlikely to Be Realized Anytime Soon
The Russian Navy has played second fiddle to the Russian army in Moscow’s ongoing war against Ukraine. Indeed, it has suffered embarrassing losses including the Moskva flagship of its Black Sea Fleet and the drone attacks on that fleet’s home base at Sevastopol (see EDM,... MORE
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EU Set to Green-Light Suspension of Import Duties for Ukrainian Grain Exports
On May 25, the Council of the European Union ultimately renewed the temporary agreement for the bloc’s trade liberalization with Ukraine for another year (Consilium.europa.eu, May 25). The decision, which came into force on June 6, was not, however, easy to achieve as the EU’s... MORE
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Kakhovka Dam Destruction: Russia’s Ecocide and Economic War Against Ukraine (Part One)
On June 6, a humanitarian and ecological disaster was triggered when the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) in Ukraine was destroyed—most likely the work of Russian forces in the area (New Voice of Ukraine, June 6). Ukrainian hydropower operator Ukrhydroenergo reported that, as of June 8,... MORE
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Russia Stays on the Course of Economic Delusion and Military Attrition
The summer economic forum in St. Petersburg used to be a vanity fair of Russian opulence and corruption. But last week's modest, if not frugal, event was rather an exercise in self-reassurance of sustainable stagnation. The international profile of the event was seriously curtailed, and... MORE
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The True State of Russian Arms Manufacturing, June 2023
In recent weeks, Russia’s military leadership has wholly changed its rhetoric regarding domestic arms manufacturing and the country’s military-industrial complex. From the nervous statements and even threats made to the upper management of state-owned companies and production facilities throughout 2022 and during the first months... MORE
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Occupying More of Ukraine Will Bring More Problems for Russia, Some in Moscow Now Saying
There are many compelling arguments against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. But perhaps the most powerful one for Russians is this: Even if the Kremlin leader should win, as he clearly still hopes to do, Russia would lose. This is because the more... MORE
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Belarus Policy Lesson? Pursuing Geo-Strategic Interests May Be More Productive Than Direct Democracy Promotion
Relationships between geo-strategic aspirations and achieving value-laden results such as democracy promotion have never been easy. Due to Belarus’s cultural heterogeneity, crude geopolitics have invariably achieved more in both areas as compared with crude moralization along the lines of human rights. Thus, between 2008 and... MORE
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Ukraine Needs to Secure Its Maritime Future: ‘Mosquito Fleet’ Provides a Viable Strategy
The Ukrainian Armed Forces face the difficult task of liberating 80 percent of Ukraine’s coast, now controlled by Russia, including the Azov Sea region and Crimean Peninsula. The country also needs to restore navigation from its Black Sea ports blockaded by Russia as well as... MORE
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Moscow Seeks to Use Ammonia Pipeline Blast to Pressure West on Ukraine
Moscow and Kyiv have been trading barbs over who is to blame for the explosion on the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline on June 5, with the Russian side saying it was the work of Ukrainian “terrorists” and the Ukrainian side saying that it was the result... MORE