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Tag: Russia

Russian aggression against Ukraine: No peace in sight

Negotiations concerning Russia’s war in Ukraine have been going on for many years at this point. While there have been almost continuous discussions regarding peace, it has become clear that Moscow does not place any real value in such talks. The war will therefore be decided on the battlefield.

Peace talks between Ukraine and Russia broke down completely on September 30th 2022, when the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council made a unanimous decision that it was impossible to negotiate with Vladimir Putin and approved Ukraine’s symbolic application for NATO membership. The decision was preceded by seven years of fruitless attempts to settle the conflict between the two countries through diplomatic means, which was followed by the full-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine and several more fruitless negotiation rounds.

June 22, 2024 - Yulia Kazdobina

A parallel world of co-existence in Montenegro

The beautiful country of Montenegro caught me by surprise during a recent weeks-long research trip. But it was not just the natural beauty and historical sites, but also another picture which astounds in times of war in Ukraine: a large Russian and Ukrainian diaspora which settled mainly on the Montenegrin coast. living together peacefully by an overwhelming majority. This lasting experience led me to write this article, analysing the lives of the two diasporas belonging to two states waging a brutal war against each other.

Already before the outbreak of the full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022, Montenegro was always a country of longing and emigration equally among Russian and Ukrainian citizens. Linguistic similarities and the common Orthodox faith serve as the basis of this attraction. Yet, linguistic and religious interplays were by far not the only reason for Russian and Ukrainian emigration to Montenegro.

June 22, 2024 - Svenja Petersen

Why Turkey’s ambitions are focused on the South Caucasus

It is clear that Turkey is very keen to be increasingly involved in the South Caucasus region. Its interests in this region are inextricably linked to cooperation with Azerbaijan and numerous transport projects, particularly those that allow for the transportation of energy resources. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the importance of supplying energy from the Caspian Sea to Europe has only become more crucial.

Much has been written about the Turkish involvement in the South Caucasus in 2020, when the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh re-ignited after a period of calming. As expected, Turkey supported Azerbaijan, its close ally. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called on the Armenian government to withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh and gave assurances that Ankara would support Baku militarily if necessary. There were even rumours that a Turkish F-16 fighter jet shot down an Armenian plane, which was denied by Ankara.

June 22, 2024 - Adam Reichardt

How Putin entangled Germany in Schröder’s net

An interview with Markus Wehner and Reinhard Bingener, authors of The Moscow Connection. The Schröder Network and Germany’s Path to Dependency. Interviewer: Jarosław Kociszewski

JAROSŁAW KOCISZEWSKI: After reading your book The Moscow Connection. The Schröder Network and Germany's Path to Dependency, I had an impression that what you wrote about Russia, and especially about the Kremlin’s connections with German politicians, was very well-known already in Poland, but also in other parts of Central and Eastern Europe. How new was this information for the German audience?

REINHARD BINGENER: I think this information was partly new and partly old. Many of the things that we wrote about in the book were known before the information was public. However, this information was released over time and therefore there was a lack of a broader picture. Our idea was to combine the facts and present this big picture.

June 22, 2024 - Jarosław Kociszewski Markus Wehner Reinhard Bingener

Making the invisible seen. The Baltic struggle for independence

A conversation with Una Bergmane, author of Politics of Uncertainty: The United States, the Baltic Question, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union. Interviewer: Maciek Makulski

MACIEJ MAKULSKI: How did you arrive at the point when you thought that there is still much to uncover when it comes to our understanding of the processes around the collapse of the Soviet Union and the regaining of independence by the Baltic states?

UNA BERGMANE: I would probably say by accident, since I wanted to write a master's thesis about French-Baltic relations in the 1920s and 30s when the Baltic states were independent before the Soviet occupation. But then I discovered that there was already a doctoral dissertation just defended in Paris on that very topic. So I started then to look at what seemed like the next logical thing – what France did when the Baltic countries wanted to become independent again at the end of the 1980s. What was interesting for me initially was the discrepancy between what I saw in the French archives.

June 22, 2024 - Maciej Makulski Una Bergmane

“One formula. Forty-eight nations”: a review of Russian Colonialism 101: How to Occupy a Neighbor and Get Away with It

As Russia’s aggression against Ukraine drags on, it is important to remember the wider forces that brought about this war. Exposing a centuries-old tradition of oppression emanating from the Kremlin, Maksym Eristavi has compiled a powerful book that demands an end to such colonial tendencies.

May 24, 2024 - Nicole Yurcaba

Gold must not become Russia’s anti-sanction silver bullet

Despite being the most sanctioned country in the world, Russia keeps successfully circumventing these restrictions. Among all of its economic options, gold is helping it to do so.

May 8, 2024 - Lesia Dubenko

Why the “Russian law” is so dangerous for Georgia

There is an apparent attempt to distance Georgia from the geopolitical area which is supported by the vast majority of Georgians and put this Eastern European country in isolation under the claws of Russia. The stakes could not be higher.

May 5, 2024 - Grigol Julukhidze Mariam Gubievi

When will a different future seem possible for Russia?

As Russia continues to adapt to its new isolated existence, it appears that nothing will change in the country’s domestic politics. Despite this, history has shown that opportunities to challenge Moscow’s seemingly impenetrable status quo can and will eventually appear.

April 26, 2024 - James C. Pearce

“The Devils” and Putin: a Dostoevskian reflection

Moscow’s brutal actions in Ukraine and at home offer an insight into a country struggling with conceptions of morality. Indeed, Putin’s Russia now appears to be gripped by a nihilism described in detail by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Amid such uncertainties, it is almost impossible to predict the country’s future.

April 23, 2024 - Serghei Sadohin

The “Deceased Hope”: on the death of Alexei Navalny

Boris Nemtsov, the indomitable Russian regime critic, died on February 27th 2015 after a pernicious assault on his life, yet the Putin regime survived his violent death almost unscathed. Will Alexei Navalny's untimely death also pass by without any serious consequences for Russia's ruling establishment?

April 12, 2024 - Leonid Luks

Is Abkhazia being absorbed by Russia?

After the August 2008 war between Russia and Georgia, Moscow recognized the independence of the separatist regions of Georgia – Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region. After the recognition, Moscow pursued relations with both regions, which Georgia considers to be occupied by Russia, as those with equal states. Moscow took into account the sentiments of the local population and the political elite in the occupied regions, especially in Abkhazia, and refrained from intense pressure. However, after the start of Russia's full-scale military aggression in Ukraine in 2022, Moscow's attitude has changed.

Before the August 2008 war, Moscow formally recognized the territorial integrity of Georgia and refrained from relations with the separatist regions at the official level. It was only after the August war when the situation changed. Russia recognized the independence of both regions, after which Moscow's influence over Sokhumi (the capital of occupied Abkhazia) and Tskhinvali (the capital of the occupied Tskhinvali region) increased in all directions. In particular, the fourth and seventh military bases of the Russian defence ministry and Federal Security Service’s border service were established to ensure the security of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region. The budget and economic life of the occupied regions are also completely dependent on Russia.

April 11, 2024 - Mamuka Komakhia

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