Public opinion survey “Citizens attitude towards different types of territorial organisation”
In the end of December 2013, the Razumkov Centre had conducted a survey to determine the public perception of different options for territorial organisation. According to the survey results, the majority of Ukrainians oppose the idea of having a federal state (61% of citizens expressed negative views and only 16 % were positive about it). The...
Razumkov Centre’s Annual Report-2013
2013 was marked by constant declarations of political leaders regarding the readiness to make every possible effort to sign the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, and the discrepancy between these statements and actual cases, the uncertainty of a large part of society, an obvious pressure from Russia on Ukrainian...
Resolving the situation in Donbas may take many years
The second round of consultation with the contact group in Donetsk on 27 June ended with new agreements. The leaders of the self-proclaimed republics promised ceasefire until 30 June and the release of four OSCE observers in the nearest future. Also, the meeting resulted into an agreement to release hostages, informs the news agency Deutsche...
Should Finland Join NATO?
The Ukrainian crisis has focused the attention of the international community and global mass media on the region. The annexation of Crimea and the possibility of several regions in eastern Ukraine seceding have been rightly seen as major changes to the post-Cold War geopolitical situation in Eastern Europe. At the same time, these events may...
Event Report: The Cost of Peace and Freedom
The Atlantic Initiative held a public event in Berlin in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation on The Cost of Peace and Freedom: What is security worth to us today? The panel included a security expert and a member of the Bundestag’s budgetary and defense committees. Panelists discussed Germany’s role in global defense...
Highlights of the Summer so far!
We wrap up June with a look back at some of the highlights of summer 2014 so far. With the recent collapse of the Iraqi government’s authority in northern Iraq, the Ukraine crisis and the end of the fifth round of TTIP negotiations, it continues to be an eventful year for the foreign policy community at large. Our members have been...
Ten Myths Used to Justify Russian Policy in the Ukraine Crisis
The political upheaval in Ukraine has placed territorial and social cohesion, as well as the country’s financial and economic viability, at stake. The events in Crimea have recently made clear that this critical destabilising effect primarily emanates from pro-Russian forces or actions by Russia itself. The arguments used by the Kremlin to...
The Dawn Still Hasn’t Broken for Eastern Europe
As Russian tanks and materiel pour into Ukraine, and the West congratulates itself on its failures to respond, the former subjects of the various Russian empires have come to realize that they are once again playing a game of decades against a determined hegemon. It is therefore entirely on their own shoulders to determine their future —...
Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and the New Security Paradigm
Armenia is in an increasingly difficult situation of its own making, one made worse by recent events. If not properly managed, an increasingly dangerous world will become much hotter very soon. Since it illegally occupied the Nagorno-Karabakh region and surrounding Azerbaijani provinces two decades ago, Yerevan and its puppet state in the...
What Next for Ukraine and the Eastern Partnership?
Ukraine remains a sovereign country. It has not yet been chopped into statelets, its ‘oblasts at undeclared war with each other, as rump statelets align with West and East and studiously indifferent and unbelievable neutrality. Ukraine remains a sovereign country. Its capital is in Kyiv, its armed forces have retaken or are retaking land...
