Section: Atlantic Council (USA)
Now Is Not the Time to Scrap the Minsk Agreement
A Reply to David J. Kramer Editor’s Note: On June 22, Ambassador John Herbst and David J. Kramer debated whether we should bury the Minsk agreement, the troubled ceasefire agreement in Ukraine, at an Atlantic Council event in Washington, DC. Their remarks have been adapted from the debate.Ukraine’s discussion of the war with Russia...
It’s Time to Scrap Minsk
Editor’s Note: On June 22, Ambassador John Herbst and David Kramer debated whether we should bury the Minsk agreement, the troubled ceasefire agreement in Ukraine, at an Atlantic Council event in Washington, DC. Their remarks have been adapted from the debate.The Minsk ceasefire agreement, signed February 15, 2015, by the leaders of Russia,...
Memo to NATO: Wake Up Before Putin Turns the Black Sea into a Russian Lake
By invading Ukraine and annexing Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin has transformed the security situation in the Black Sea.Upon capturing those territories, Moscow lost no time in seizing Ukrainian energy facilities in the Black Sea and accelerating its ongoing military modernization there. As a result, Moscow has built a combined arms...
What Brexit Means for Ukraine
After British voters approved a referendum to leave the EU on June 23, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister for European Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze said: “We respect the British citizens’ decision, but Ukraine feels sorry for these events. To my mind this will weaken the EU and it will have to concentrate on its own...
The Dangerous Perspective of Theo Sommer
This time, Theo Sommer has outdone himself. After closing his eyes to the mass murders of the Soviet regime in an article published on May 31, the editor-at-large of Germany’s prestigious Die Zeit newspaper has now demonstrated in a just-published piece an alarming ignorance not just of Ukraine but of elementary strategic logic. The former...
Independent Judiciary an ‘Antidote’ to Corruption in Ukraine
An independent judiciary and institutional transparency are necessary to root out corruption from government and businesses in Ukraine, according to a transnational criminal lawyer. …read more Source: Atlantic...
Europe’s Short Memory and Ukraine’s Long Crisis
“People have forgotten that there’s a real humanitarian situation and a real need in a European country,” said Jock Mendoza-Wilson, director of international and investor relations at System Capital Management, during a recent Atlantic Council panel examining the crisis in Ukraine.In fact, he said, six hundred thousand people on...
Thanks to Russia, Ukrainians Swell Ranks of Kyiv Patriarchate
Russia’s continued meddling in Ukraine is driving Ukrainian citizens out of the Russian Orthodox Church. Instead, they are swelling the ranks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate.Traditionally, Ukraine has been home to the vast majority of Russian Orthodox Church members. In 1990, of the almost twelve thousand Orthodox...
Now’s the Time to Block Nord Stream 2 and Step Up Ukraine’s Energy Diplomacy
Ukraine—a county that rejected aggression and militarization when it broke away from the Soviet Union—is fighting three wars today: the front in the east against an expansionist power, the battle within to defeat cronyism and corruption, and an economic war to reorient trade flows and modernize its economy. The world’s attention, as well as...
EU Renews Sanctions on Crimea but Overlooks Plight of Crimean Tatars
In April 2016, Crimea’s de facto authorities banned the Crimean Tatar Mejlis—the organ of political representation for Crimean Tatars on the peninsula—under the pretext of “extremism.” Increasingly, Crimean Tatars seem to be framed as “extremist” just for being themselves.A historically nonviolent community, Crimean Tatars were the most...