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Stories and ideas

Hospitality in practice: how does Estonia support Ukrainian refugees?

Estonia has been supporting Ukraine and Ukrainians significantly over the last three years since the full-scale invasion. Even though it was a challenge to receive a significant number of Ukrainian refugees at such a quick pace, the small country of Estonia managed to establish a specific approach to integration.

September 26, 2025 - Nino Chanadiri

Russian mall shutdown sparks uproar and confusion

Yekaterinburg’s largest shopping mall was suddenly closed on June 27th. Greenwich, which stands proud in the city centre, is Yekaterinburg’s answer to Moscow’s Okhotny Ryad or Afi Mall. Opened in 2004, Greenwich has routinely been listed as one of Russia’s best shopping malls and entertainment facilities. Why, then, was it shut down so suddenly without so much as a whisper from commentators crying wolf?

September 26, 2025 - James C. Pearce

Belarusian folklore as a language of expression during repressions

Throughout history, Belarusians have turned to their rich folklore traditions in times of repression. What may appear as a period of cultural stagnation is, in fact, often a moment of resilience and creative revival. The current wave of repression is no exception – once again, Belarusian culture is finding ways to endure.

September 26, 2025 - Maria Badzei

There is no smell of peace here

After nearly a month of pretending to pursue peace and diplomacy, Russia has launched a new wave of attacks on Ukrainian cities. For more than three weeks, the capital had been spared from massive strikes, but this lull ended on the night of August 28th when the Kremlin fired drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles at Kyiv, killing 23 people and injuring more than a hundred.

September 15, 2025 - Stanislav Storozhenko

More than culture: The UK–Poland Season as a test of relations in a post-Brexit Europe

Relations between Britain and Poland remain obscured by issues such as Brexit and foreign policy realignment. Nevertheless, the realm of cultural diplomacy can prove a suitable forum for maintaining and strengthening links outside of government actions.

September 9, 2025 - Zula Rabikowska

A weekly dose of disinformation

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it has used social media as a platform to promote pro-military and pro-state propaganda. This policy affected all public institutions in Russia, including in the regions. Soon after, a top-down system of social media posting was developed and people working on the ground soon found themselves in the position of having to act also as propagandists. Not all agreed with this policy.

“Become a force defending the motherland,” reads the caption on a photo of a man holding a weapon, promoting Russian military contract service. Since the spring of 2022, posts like this with military-patriotic themes have flooded the social media pages of government-funded institutions on VKontakte (the most popular social media platform in Russia, similar to Facebook). These posts can be found on public pages, including schools, kindergartens, social service centres, hospitals, theatres, museums and libraries.

July 8, 2025 - Novaya Vkladka

The fight for a letter: how Ukraine is removing Russia’s imperial legacy

For decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, remnants of the Soviet and Russian imperial legacy, such as symbols, street names and the names of cities and villages, remained visible in Ukraine’s public spaces. Russia’s 2014 invasion, followed by the full-scale assault in 2022, accelerated efforts to purge this legacy, though not always without controversy.

For years, Dmytro Karpiy has been on a mission to erase Soviet and Russian imperial symbols from Ukraine’s streets, advocating for the renaming of places and the removal of monuments that glorify a past empire. His latest battle is over a single letter in the name of Brovary, a city in Kyiv Oblast, where he has lived for 16 years.

July 8, 2025 - Olena Makarenko

Dancing with the dictator: how Belarusian propaganda took over TikTok

In September 2020, following the August protests and mass state media layoffs, Russia Today sent a team to Belarus. Their mission was to help reboot state media and to teach social media strategies. Since then, Belarusian institutions have leaned heavily on the Russian experience. One of their key platforms for cheap and effective propaganda distribution has been TikTok.

On the left, a young man is picking outfits for his visit to the military office. On the right, a man in uniform rates each look with sarcastic flair. Just another quirky TikTok? Not quite. The TikTok clip, created in the platform’s popular “stitch” format, has gained over seven million views. What seems like harmless fun is actually part of something much bigger – a surge of pro-Lukashenka TikTok creators aiming to promote regime narratives. The campaign makes authoritarianism look relatable, even charming. Welcome to Lukashenka’s TikTok, where propaganda comes complete with trendy beats and filters. Is there any chance for pro-democratic forces to fight back?

July 8, 2025 - Kseniya Tarasevich

Belarusian literature: wandering through a swamp

It cannot be said that today’s Belarusian literature has inherited the tradition of its perished predecessors naturally, through the continuation of stylistic choices or rediscovered forms. Rather, this tradition is now displayed through allusions, reminiscences, quotes, inclusions of images or metaphors developed by former poets that are now included in the fabric of modern and postmodern verse. At the same time, today’s Belarusian literature continues to "clear the path" of the generation from the late Soviet period.

Belarusian writers, who try to convey the dramatic history of Belarusian literature through, for example, public speeches, show that there are two approaches that can be described as optimistic and pessimistic perspectives. In the optimistic one, Belarusian literature is presented as a phoenix burnt to black ashes only to rise again. Indeed, over the past century alone, Belarusian writers twice had to reinvent the historical novel, the science fiction story, the school of translation, literary criticism and free verse.

July 8, 2025 - Vera Beika

The faces of resilience

Ukrainians are reclaiming their roots and identity, flooding cultural venues in defiance. This highlights a disconnect the West fails to understand. War here is not just about soldiers and weapons: it is a rallying cry for the entire society.

My trip back home to Germany, after visiting Kyiv and Lviv, awaits. But before leaving, I meet Olga Myrovych, head of the Lviv Media Forum. This non-profit organization champions media independence and public dialogue in Ukraine. In a warm Lviv café, the contrast to the weight of our conversation is stark. After a week of intense reporting, I ask the question that has grown ever more urgent: how can the world truly grasp Ukraine’s fight for survival?

May 5, 2025 - Isabelle de Pommereau

Peace, not surrender: under these conditions Ukrainians will return home

According to Ukraine’s ministry of national unity only 30 per cent of those who are abroad have said that they were ready to return home immediately. Another 40 per cent are waiting for the official end of the war and long-term security guarantees. The remaining 30 per cent have now said they would build their lives abroad.

Many Ukrainian refugees who are now spread around the world fear that even after a ceasefire the war could flare up again, putting their families at risk one more time. Diplomatic pressure without guarantees of a just and lasting peace that takes into account Ukraine's interests is perceived as something akin to surrender. Such a peace would not provide what Ukrainians need most: certainty that their lives will not be turned into rubble again.

May 5, 2025 - Halyna Khalymonyk

The contradiction of the female figure in Belarusian politics

In the months leading up to the 2020 elections, Alyaksandr Lukashenka's remark that the “constitution is not written for women” sparked significant public outcry. Operating within a deeply patriarchal paradigm, he rarely shies away from such sexist comments. Yet, he continuously underestimates the role of women and their potential in politics, as seen in recent Belarusian history.

Since 1994 Alyaksandr Lukashenka has held an unyielding grip on Belarus, often referring to himself as a “women's president”. This characterization is not without purpose; he strategically appeals to specific demographics within the electorate, many of whom find themselves in vulnerable positions reliant on state social support – predominantly women. One might wonder why he still seeks voter loyalty when elections are routinely manipulated and international observers repeatedly report ballot stuffing and significant violations in vote counting. The reality is that genuine support from even a fraction of the electorate simplifies his task. It allows for less money and administrative resources to be spent on falsification and for mitigating the impacts of dishonest elections. The mass protests of 2020 arose precisely because the scale and transparency of the fraud were too blatant to ignore.

February 28, 2025 - Nasta Zakharevich

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