Section: Atlantic Council (USA)
Russian Special Forces and Regular Troops Lead Moscow’s Biggest Direct Offensive in Ukraine Since August
As Kremlin Escalates, the War Costs Ukraine $6 Million-Plus Daily, Atlantic Council’s Herbst Says A “substantial number” of Russian Federation special forces troops led this week’s capture of the Donetsk airport amid what appears to be Russia’s biggest direct military offensive in Ukraine since last summer. The offensive, by...
Obama’s Passage to India: A Chance to “Revitalize” Bilateral Relations
Turn ‘This Moment of Renewal … Into Concrete Action,’ Senator Mark Warner Says President Barack Obama’s visit to New Delhi this month presents an opportunity to “regenerate, restart, and revitalize” the bilateral relationship with India, according to Senator Mark R. Warner, co-chairman of the bipartisan Senate India...
Russian Militia in Ukraine Says It’s Building an Air Force: Is that Quixotic or Dangerous?
The Kremlin-loyalist Russian TV station LifeNews told the story January 17 that the Lugansk People’s Republic, the mini-state propped up by Russia in Ukraine’s Lugansk province, is establishing an air force. The station played just a minute of video showing men in winter military uniforms rolling a 1960s-era two-seat jet...
Russia Sends New Army Troops Into Ukraine War, Kyiv Says
Intensified Combat and a Wave of Bombings May Be Kremlin Pushing Ukraine to Accept New Talks Russia reportedly has sent two battalions of troops into Ukraine’s Donbas region to strengthen its forces there amid a week-long spike in combat. At a minimum, Russia’s injection of new regular troops, tanks and rockets is a warning to...
Four Months after the Ukraine-Russia Truce, Putin Can’t Risk Implementing That Deal
The War at Donetsk’s Airport is On—For the Same Reason that Peace Talks Planned for This Week Are Off The intensified battle between Ukraine and Russia for the airport in Donetsk seems likely to be a fight over this month’s military message in the Donbas war. Russia’s army veterans, fighting as mercenaries, form the bulk of the...
Ukraine’s Dignified Warrior: Nadia Savchenko Confronts Her Kremlin Captors
Paratrooper, Pilot, and now Parliament Member, Savchenko Pursues a Hunger Strike That Is Raising Public Pressure Against Moscow In seven months since a Russian-backed militia in southeastern Ukraine captured Nadiya Savchenko, the Ukrainian paratrooper and pilot has become one of her country’s biggest icons in its war against the Russian...
Rajan Menon on Ukraine’s Defense: Build an Army, and New Strategic Relationships
Author of New Book on Ukraine Conflict Urges Careful Priorities for Kyiv Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Rajan Menon, chairman of political science at the City College of New York, has just co-authored a new book, Conflict in Ukraine with Eugene Rumer of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The book, to be published in March by MIT...
As Ukraine Finances Sink Below ‘Life Support,’ the West Gropes for Loan Money
Slowly Dribbling Out Help May Cost More in the End, George Soros and Economist Tim Ash Write Ukraine’s finances are now “beyond life support,” says economist Tim Ash as its foreign reserves dropped last month to their lowest level in more than a decade. Ukraine’s official reserves, now $7.5 billion, are less than half of what the...
US Energy Policy: Seek Diversification for Europe
Energy Envoy Amos Hochstein Urges Creation of a True Euro-Energy Market, Including Russia Europe must diversify its energy sources to avoid the threat of Russia again shutting off its gas supply, said Amos Hochstein, the State Department’s Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs. About one-third of Europe’s gas...
What the Kremlin’s Setback Means for 2015
Economics Stalled Putin, But He Often Answers Setbacks With Military Threats [Below are excerpts from an essay by longtime Berlin-based journalist and author Elizabeth Pond. Read her full analysis here.] In the Ukraine crisis, soft economic power last month trumped hard military power for the first time. The threatened meltdown of the Russian...
