Section: Atlantic Council (USA)
There They Go Again: International Media Enables Russian Aggression in Ukraine
When does a Russian warlord become a “pro-Russian separatist?” Newsrooms around the world may want to ask themselves this question following Russian militant leader Arsen Pavlov’s assassination in Donetsk in mid-October. In the wake of the killing, one news report after another ran with headlines referring to Pavlov as a pro-Russian...
No Peace without the People: A Case for Grassroots Reconciliation in Ukraine
This week’s meeting in Paris of the Normandy Four is a critical one. If there is no measurable progress there to advance a framework for peace in Ukraine, public sentiment that Minsk is exhausted as a peace process will only grow. (Editor’s note: France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine agreed to a preliminary roadmap for implementing the...
Only KGB Generals Stand between Putin and Absolute Power
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin rules supreme. On September 18, his United Russia party won its largest-ever majority—enough to change the constitution—in the parliamentary elections. He seems to be running circles around the West in both Ukraine and Syria.Yet, Russia’s stability must not be overestimated. Last year, retail sales...
Why Ukraine’s New Ultranationalist Party Will Not Last
On October 14, the Azov Battalion—Ukraine’s controversial ultranationalist paramilitary group that has been fighting in the Donbas as part of the National Guard—entered the political fray. Registered as a political party under the name National Corps, the new party proposes an ambitious military and nationalist agenda, including a...
Ukraine’s Invisible Refugees
Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan are not the world’s only major “refugee” hosting nations.Ukraine too hosts enormous numbers of people who have had to leave their homes because of war. Millions fled their homes in 2014 after Russian operatives and tanks invaded Ukraine’s eastern regions and annexed Crimea.But they are not labeled...
Europe Funds Russian Aggression in Ukraine, Syria, and Beyond
Three-Fourths of Russian Oil Sold to Europe On October 20, the Council of the European Union will consider its strategy toward the Russian Federation. Following the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Europe faces a genuine challenge: to recognize Russian aggression against Ukraine for what it is, and to provide...
Ukraine Scores Diplomatic Breakthrough
“Security First, Elections Next,” the West Concedes After long resisting Western pressure to implement the political points in the Minsk agreements, Ukraine scored a diplomatic victory last week when the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) passed two important resolutions.The first resolution officially defines the...
Ukraine’s New Liberals Face Tough Climb from Streets to Seats in Parliament
Ukraine now has a liberal European party, but can it become a nationwide party with real heft in parliament?On July 9, Euromaidan leaders joined forces with the Democratic Alliance party. The reinvigorated party is still preparing its program statement, but broadly it’s a liberal European party that supports free market ideas, strongly...
Will the West Ever Stand Up to Putin?
German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested that the Normandy Four—leaders from France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine—gather on October 19 to discuss the war in Ukraine.But this is premature. Nothing will come out of this meeting without a detailed roadmap for a real ceasefire and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adherence to fully implement...
Natalie Jaresko Says $25 Billion More Needed to Make Ukraine’s Reforms Irreversible
Fatigue, Vested Interests, and Populism Threaten Ukraine’s “Longest and Most Successful” Reform Process “There’s no country in the world that has been in such dire circumstances and yet turned around the economy in such a short period of time,” said Natalie Jaresko, who served as Ukraine’s Finance Minister from December 2014 to...
