The Battle of the Fifth Columns
On February 17–18, the president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Sir Suma Chakrabarti, paid a visit to Minsk and met with President Alyaksandr Lukashenka (ONT, February 17). This was the first trip by an EBRD president to the Belarusian capital since the mid-1990s. On February 20, Belarus also hosted Edgars...
Looking at the Crisis in Ukraine through Russia’s Eyes
Colorado’s Honorary Consul General to Russia Deb Palmieri sought to challenge the West’s perception of the situation in Ukraine at a recent Fireside Chat and Reception at the Aspen Institute in Aspen, Colorado. …read more Source: Aspen...
Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine based on information received as of 18:00hrs, 2 March 2015
This report is for the media and the public. The SMM monitored the implementation of the “Package of measures for the Implementation of the Minsk agreements”. The SMM, based on its monitoring – which was restricted by third parties and by security considerations – noted the security situations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions to be relatively calm,...
A Moscow visit for President Park Geun-hye
President Park Geun-hye should go to Russia in May with several goals in mind, not the unitary goal of meeting the North Korean leader Kim Jung-un or improving inter-Korean relations in a significant way. As a wartime ally of the United States, the Soviets had agreed to fight in the Pacific theatre against Japan, the former colonizer of the...
Russia Bars Some Nemtsov Mourners, Ukraine Pushes Austerity Measures
Plus, Mongolia is hit with a major arbitration penalty and Macedonia’s ruling party explains its call for a ‘fight.’ …read more Source: Transitions Online...
How to Stop the War in Eastern Ukraine
Must Ukraine give up Donbas or would that only encourage more aggression? Second in a series. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine to hold news briefing in Kyiv tomorrow
KYIV, 03 March 2015 – The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) will hold its regular news briefing tomorrow in Kyiv. Michael Bociurkiw, the Spokesperson of the SMM, will talk about the recent Mission’s activities and the general security situation throughout Ukraine. Journalists are invited to attend the news briefing tomorrow,...
Don’t Doubt the Ceasefire
The second Minsk ceasefire agreement, signed on February 12, had an inauspicious beginning. Just after the ceasefire was supposed to come into effect, the separatist rebels forced Ukrainian troops to retreat from the encircled city of Debaltseve. The city’s fall, and the continued fighting along the front, could prove to be an early end to...
Murder That Revealed Truth
The photograph that hit millions of computer and smartphone screens late Friday (February 27) night, Moscow time, has instantly become a clear-focused image of what Russia has become amidst the Ukraine war: The night-time photograph in question shows a joyfully decorated bridge leading to the iconic St. Basil’s Cathedral and group of...
Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine based on information received as of 18:00hrs, 1 March 2015
This report is for the media and public The SMM monitored the implementation of the “Package of measures for the Implementation of the Minsk agreements”. Movement of heavy weapons was monitored by the SMM in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The SMM monitored four separate “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”) convoys in the Donetsk region. On...
