Russia's European neighbors are increasing their defense budgets, which is quite logical because Ukraine is on fire and many are wary of Moscow. A new arms race in Eastern and Northern Europe is looming, although limited in scale.
This April, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute issued a report
[1]
claiming that the Baltic, Central and Northern European countries will engage in increased military spending. They are eagerly justifying this drive based on developments in southeastern...
... internal cleavages, on the contrary, aggravates it. The result is a conflict of narratives and a crisis of confidence both inside and outside the state. And it is precisely this that has caused the political crisis in Ukraine.
Crisis of Confidence or the Ukrainian Crisis: Which Came First?
The Ukrainian crisis has had serious repercussions for Russia’s relations with the European Union and the United States. Thus, on September 30, 2014 the U.S. Ambassador to Germany Peter Wittig declared that Vladimir ...
Irina Khakamada
, one of Russia’s most prominent female liberal politicians, met RIAC website editor Maria Smekalova to share her views on the future of Russian liberalism, offer her scenario for resolving the Ukraine crisis and unveil the secrets behind negotiating successfully with foreigners.
As an outspoken liberal, how would you define liberalism, which seems quite a vague notion? Do you see any Russia-specific traits or is it universal?
Pure liberalism is something that does not exist...
The recent
article
by Amnesty International on summary killings in Eastern Ukraine (in particular the case of Ihor Branovytsky), committed by separatist forces, added factual and legal analysis to growing pile of data on woeful violations in Eastern Ukraine. The
non-international armed conflict
between the Ukrainian government and Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics shows that, despite international obligations on both sides, international humanitarian law and human rights norms are rarely...
The 2015 Riga Security Seminar devoted to the problems of preserving and strengthening security in Europe in the context of the Ukrainian crisis took place on April 9–10. The seminar was organized by the
Latvian Institute of International Affairs
and the
European Leadership Network
, with the support of the
Friederich Ebert Stiftung
and the U.S.
Nuclear Threat Initiative
...
On April 9, 2015, Riga played host to the Second Meeting of the Young Expert’s Group on Resolving the Ukrainian Crisis and Ensuring Safety in the Euro-Atlantic Region. One of the topics discussed at the meeting was the role of civil society in establishing peace in Ukraine. The second session was dedicated to the issue of security in the Euro-Atlantic ...
... perspectives. Long-term issues concern Euro-Atlantic security, stable trade relations and democracy-building in the region. Short-term issues concern conflict-management in the Eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian territorial integrity and economic stabilization. The Ukrainian crisis and atmosphere of distrust between Russia and the West showed that Europe’s security architecture is dysfunctional and has to be partially revised. Government efforts and official diplomatic channels seem unable to overcome the ...
... scientific-theoretical, and not ideological, meaning. It implies a view of the international behaviour of a state as the continuation of its domestic policy.
In that respect,
Russia’s policy with regard to the United States, the European Union and the Ukrainian crisis is attributed to the predominance in Moscow of an anti-Western authoritarian coalition. Indeed, some analysts consider the current course as a means of mobilizing public support and discrediting political opposition in the country in ...
An open letter from Ivan Timofeev to his American counterpart Robert E. Berls Jr.
Last week the
Moscow Times
published an open letter by Robert Berls, senior adviser for Russia and Eurasia at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). In his letter to the Russian colleagues, Mr.Berls expressed his concern over deteriorating relations between Russia and the West. RIAC Program Director Ivan Timofeev responded to his letter and wrote his own one that we publish on the
Russia Direct
and RIAC website. ...
... more than a generation ago by the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) now faces one of the greatest tests of its relevancy and effectiveness since it was created as it searches for a resolution to the Ukrainian crisis. All this as the OSCE prepares to commemorate its 40
th
anniversary in 2015.
To discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the OSCE and the world in the new post-Cold War era, Russia Direct sat down with Andrey Kortunov, General ...
