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Latest Articles about Europe's East
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Russian-Ukrainian War Should Doom the ‘5+2’ Negotiations on Transnistria (Part Four)
*Read Part One here. *Read Part Two here. *Read Part Three here. Russia, immersed in its war against Ukraine, does not currently have Moldova in its crosshairs, at least as long as Ukraine holds out. Russia has adopted a reactive posture regarding Moldova. The Kremlin seems... MORE
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Russian-Ukrainian War Should Doom the ‘5+2’ Negotiations on Transnistria (Part Three)
*Read Part One here. *Read Part Two here. The European Union has recently granted Moldova the status of candidate country for EU membership (Consilium.europa.eu, June 24, 2022). By way of consequence, the security arrangements of an EU candidate country cannot be left to an organization... MORE
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The Kremlin’s ‘Holy War’ and Its Cossack Crusaders
Western analysts have recently devoted much attention to the religious dimension of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the true measure of influence that Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church wields over President Vladimir Putin (see EDM, January 25). Moscow’s proposed unilateral ceasefire on January 6,... MORE
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Russo-Ukrainian War Should Doom the ‘5+2’ Negotiations on Transnistria (Part Two)
*Read Part One here. The “5+2” forum on Transnistria was designed in 2005 based on the old model of the European Concert, updated as Euro-Atlantic: to settle a local conflict through negotiations among great powers. Similarly, the negotiating formats on the conflicts in Karabakh (1994–2020),... MORE
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Russia Seeks to Circumvent the Advancing Western Alliance in Africa
The broad coalition built last week for supplying main battle tanks to Ukraine signifies a new surge in strengthening the unity of the US-led Western alliance, and Russia has had no response to this upgrade. It will take a few months to train and equip... MORE
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Russo-Ukrainian War Should Doom the ‘5+2’ Negotiations on Transnistria (Part One)
Russia’s war against Ukraine has dealt the coup de grâce to the “5+2” negotiations on the settlement of conflict in Transnistria, the forum where Russia and Ukraine sit next to each other. Moscow and Kyiv have been seated formally at the top of the table,... MORE
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Belarusians ‘Disappearing’ More in Russian Census Than in Reality
The number of Belarusians living within the Russian Federation fell from 521,000 in 2010 to only 208,000 in 2021, according to newly released official Russian census data. This represents a decline of more than 60 percent since the end of the Soviet period when there... MORE
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The Political Considerations Behind Russia’s Military Command Chaos
On January 11, the Russian Ministry of Defense once again changed the command structure of the Russian forces fighting against Ukraine. Army General Valery Gerasimov (born in 1955), chief of the Russian General Staff, finally became the commander of Russia’s joint forces in Ukraine, replacing... MORE
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Kyiv Quells Russian Orthodox Church’s Influence Within Ukraine (Part One)
While some analysis has covered Ukrainian church life, a Western layman might think that religious persecutions are actively taking place in Ukraine. Moreover, such rhetoric can be heard from Western sources and other media with anti-Ukrainian undertones (YouTube, December 22, 2022). In retrospect, the current... MORE
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Prospects for Ukraine’s Economy in 2023 Remain Cautiously Optimistic
Russia’s re-invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 took a heavy toll on the Ukrainian economy. Moscow focused on destroying the Russian-speaking industrial heartland in the southeast, displacing millions of workers, damaging crops, smashing the power grid and blocking exports from Ukraine’s seaports. As a result,... MORE