Section: News & Summaries

      Putin’s Next Potential Target: The Baltic States
      Jan05

      Putin’s Next Potential Target: The Baltic States

      Although Russia’s economy is reeling and its military forces are increasingly engaged in Syria and Ukraine, NATO commanders, governments, and analysts are concerned that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adventurism has not run its course. Most anxieties focus on the Baltic states as Russia’s next potential military...

      From Ordinary Business Trip to Russian Jail: Former Ukrainian Political Prisoner Exhorts West to Keep Pressure on Russia
      Jan05

      From Ordinary Business Trip to Russian Jail: Former Ukrainian Political Prisoner Exhorts West to Keep Pressure on Russia

      Editor’s Note: Yuriy Yatsenko testified before the US Helsinki Commission in Washington on December 11, 2015. His remarks have been shortened.I am a Ukrainian citizen who was illegally arrested and detained by the Russian Federation for over a year for political reasons. Nadiya Savchenko, Oleg Sentsov, and others who are less known have...

      What Will 2016 Mean for Ukraine?
      Jan04

      What Will 2016 Mean for Ukraine?

      In 2015, Ukraine proved it wasn’t a pushover. The country united in the face of Russian aggression and Russian President Vladimir Putin learned that if he wanted his Novorossiya project, it was going to cost him more than a few little green men.Notably, the war in Ukraine was completely absent from Putin’s December 2015 address to the...

      New Russian Management of the Donbas Signifies Putin May Be Ready to Negotiate
      Jan04

      New Russian Management of the Donbas Signifies Putin May Be Ready to Negotiate

      On December 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed one of his close, trusted aides, Boris Gryzlov, Russia’s representative in the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, which concluded the two Minsk agreements on the Donbas in September 2014 and February 2015. This appointment suggests an important change in Russia’s policy...

      New OSCE Chairman is satisfied with the ceasefire in Donbas while 3 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the first two days of the new year
      Jan04

      New OSCE Chairman is satisfied with the ceasefire in Donbas while 3 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the first two days of the new year

      New OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Foreign Minister of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier is satisfied with the ceasefire in Donbas and hopes for further development. “It gives hope that the parties to the conflict will discuss other difficult steps that yet have to be made to fully implement the Minsk Agreements, to find constructive solutions,...

      The historic Crimean wine auction

      The wines are ‘pearls that have endured heavy ordeals, including during the war’. ||| Moscow – Legendary Crimean winemaker Massandra, once a supplier to Russia’s Tsar Nicolas II, has provoked the ire of Kiev by putting 13 000 vintage bottles up for auction on December 29. Massandra described the wines, some dating back to...

      Russian soldiers of 9th motor-rifle regiment of first army corps of Russian Federation Armed Forces captured Kominternove
      Dec30

      Russian soldiers of 9th motor-rifle regiment of first army corps of Russian Federation Armed Forces captured Kominternove

      On December 22 the 9th motor-rifle regiment of the first army corps of the Russian Federation Armed Forces seized Kominternove located in the “grey zone” supported by armored vehicles and an 82-mm mortar unit. They took hold of the western outskirts and started installing engineering equipment and fortifications as well as started mining the...

      World’s rich get a bit poorer

      The world’s 400 wealthiest individuals shed $19 billion in 2015, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. ||| New York – The richest people on Earth became a bit poorer this year. The world’s 400 wealthiest individuals shed $19 billion in 2015, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Falling commodities prices and...

      AFP’s person of the year: Merkel

      AFP journalists have chosen German chancellor Angela Merkel as the most influential figure of 2015. ||| Berlin – AFP journalists have chosen Angela Merkel as the most influential figure of 2015 after the German chancellor stamped her mark on the European migrant and Greek financial crises.The vote by editorial staff from all services and...

      Russia, IS and the Future of NATO
      Dec24

      Russia, IS and the Future of NATO

      The years 2014-15 were a watershed for European security. The hope that NATO could enjoy a strategic pause and peace dividend after the end of its operation in Afghanistan has been dashed, as direct threats to the alliance have emerged at the Eastern and Southern flanks. Whether NATO manages to find an effective response to this situation will...