Latest Articles about Europe
Ukraine in Quest for Internationally Guaranteed Neutrality
Ukraine has abandoned its aspiration to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and is seeking, instead, some form of neutrality under international guarantees. Kyiv aims to achieve this goal after the end of the ongoing war with Russia, but it is already at work... MORE
China’s Contorted Response to Russia Sanctions
Introduction The unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine will devastate its economy, but the extent of the severity partially depends on China and how much economic aid it is prepared to extend. In the short term, surging commodity... MORE
War Polarizes Belarusian Analysts and Belarusians Themselves
The Belarusian service of the Russian independent media outlet Mediazona, founded in 2014 and blocked by the Russian government on March 5, recently published an extensive interview with Yegor Lebedok, a military expert (Mediazona, March 24). Lebedok is a doctor of physics and a graduate... MORE
Moscow Mulling Wholesale Border Changes in Central Eastern Europe
The most compelling reason why the international community is opposed to any border change is the capacity of changes in one border to spark consideration of changes in others, creating or at least exacerbating problems in the relations between existing countries. Until Russian President Vladimir... MORE
Rhetoric Versus Reality: The European Union and Imports of Russian Natural Gas
On March 8, the European Commission announced plans to cut European Union imports of Russian natural gas by two-thirds by the end of 2022 (EurActiv—Polish service, March 9). Last year, Russia supplied EU consumers with 155 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas. Moreover, the EU... MORE
Russia Redeploys Troops From Its Bases in Georgia to Ukraine
The Kremlin’s large-scale war against Ukraine has vividly demonstrated various weaknesses of the Russian military. And as Russian losses have mounted, speculation grew quickly about whether Moscow would seek to redeploy additional troops to the front lines from different regions, including Georgia. That possibility appears... MORE
Russia’s Strategic Confusion in Ukraine Deepens and Widens
For at least the past 3 weeks of the 33-day-long war against Ukraine, it has been clear that the Russian offensive has lost momentum, with its key groupings of forces stuck in the suburbs of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Mykolaiv. The question that all concerned observers... MORE
Armenia’s Attempts of Maneuvering Amidst the Russian-Ukrainian War
For a long time, given Armenia’s security predicament, attempts to avoid antagonizing Russia have been one of the key features of the country’s policy. Obligations deriving from Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), or the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) have never... MORE
Putin Opens a Second Front: The Battle Against ‘Traitors’ Inside Russia
Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, conceived as a “blitzkrieg,” has gone on already for a month, inflicting colossal damage to Ukraine and making life in Russia substantially worse. Nevertheless, pro-government sociological centers claim that the popular approval for Vladimir Putin continues to grow, affirming that... MORE
How Uzbekistan Views the Russian War Against Ukraine
Uzbekistan chose not to take sides in Russia’s war against Ukraine, as first announced by the Uzbekistan presidential administration when the war started and later demonstrated by Uzbekistan’s avoidance of voting on the United Nations’ resolution condemning the invasion of Ukraine. A neutral posture was... MORE