Twin crises in Syria and Ukraine prove the West cannot restrain Russia
Only days after the latest ceasefire agreement came into force in Syria, a United Nations aid convoy en route to Aleppo was attacked and destroyed. The UN was quick to declare this both a premeditated attack and a war crime. Citing air space intelligence, the US government released a statement accusing the Russian Air Force of responsibility,...
Numbers Don’t Lie: Statistics Point To Massive Fraud In Russia’s Duma Vote
According to one estimate, ” the scope of the falsification in favor of United Russia in these elections amounted to approximately 12 million votes” …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection...
German economy minister to discuss EU sanctions with Putin
German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, heading to Moscow for talks about trade with President Vladimir Putin, said on Wednesday he favoured a lifting of EU sanctions on Russia but that would require making progress on peace in Ukraine. The European Union imposed the sanctions after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014. Soon...
Czechs Hold Russian Dissident Artist on Interpol List, Extradition Unsure
Moscow is awaiting official notice from Prague about the possible repatriation of Oleg Vorotnikov, a founding member of Russian public-art collective Voina. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Russian MP: ‘We Will Buy Bulgaria’
Tolstoy’s great-grandson, a prominent lawmaker and TV personality, says Russia will ‘buy out the whole of Bulgaria’ to secure its loyalty. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Not in Our Name: Journalist NGOs Should Condemn Propagandist Graham Phillips’ Torture Stunt
At a human level, it is impossible to understand somebody accosting a person maimed and blinded and telling him that he’s useless, a zombie whom nobody needs. When that individual, Briton Graham Phillips, claims to be acting as a ‘journalist’, such behaviour needs a clear response from the journalist community. …read more...
Ukrainian citizens are now a group at risk in Russian-occupied Crimea
Gury Kornilyev, a young botanist from Yalta, recently lost his job after two years of harassment over his rejection of Russian citizenship. He knows of two other colleagues who were dismissed or demoted for their pro-Ukrainian position, and they are only some of the many Ukrainian nationals who are now a group at risk in occupied Crimea...
Putin’s Illusions about Crimea
In the recent plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum [on September 3 in Vladivostok], Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the issue of Crimea’s ownership is historically closed.Despite the adamant tone, such statements do not show Russia’s confidence but instead reveal the Kremlin’s vulnerability on this issue....
Separatists of the world unite in Moscow while Russia steps up repression of Crimean Tatars
The Kremlin is funding a second separatist jamboree in Moscow on Sept 25. The event which purports to unite “parties and movements advocating for self-determination”, and which Russian embassies tout as in defence of minorities, will be held 4 days before the Supreme Court appeal against Russia’s criminalization of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis,...
The Geo-economic Challenges of the Eurasian Space
The crisis in Ukraine has focused attention on military power as the main driver of events in the region. Yet, a number of geo-economic projects—proposed new pipelines and transport corridors—have the potential to dramatically reshape the politics and balances of the Eurasian space. What opportunities do they present, and how do the current...
