Section: Atlantic Council (USA)
Targeting Russia’s Oil: Why Sanctions Will Ultimately Work
It has been three years since the European Union (EU) and the United States enacted a series of sanctions against Russia for the unlawful annexation of Crimea and the subsequent war in eastern Ukraine. Some of these sanctions deliberately target Russia’s oil industry because it is the backbone of the country’s economy. However, as...
Fighting Back: What Options Does the United States Have to Respond to Cyberattacks?
In the wake of the recent WannaCry and Petya ransomware attacks, cyber warfare has once again made mainstream news headlines. With cyberattacks becoming increasingly common, it becomes important to understand the options the United States has in dealing with these kinds of attacks. Petya, though in many ways similar to WannaCry and other...
Zapad: A Window into Russia’s Military Mind?
Russia’s large-scale military exercise to be conducted in September can provide critical insight for NATO allies seeking to improve their readiness posture against an increasingly revanchist Russia, according to an Estonian defense official. “Russians train exactly as they intend to fight, thus Zapad will give up ample information on their...
Addressing Twenty-First-Century Threats
Conventional forces called critical component of NATO’s toolkit Though the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign poses a significant threat to Western security, NATO allies working to counter Russian aggression must remember the importance of bolstering conventional forces, according to an Atlantic Council analyst. “Conventional forces...
NATO Enhances its Eastern Front
The Baltic States and Poland have long wanted an enduring NATO presence on their territories. Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014 convinced their allies they need it. With plans approved at the Warsaw Summit in 2016, now the four countries each have a battle group of approximately 1,000 troops stationed on their territory....
What in the World is Vladimir Putin Up To?
Russia has decisively expanded its global footprint in a way that analysts say challenges the West and will force US President Donald J. Trump to rethink his “America First” strategy. This challenge extends well beyond Russia’s neighborhood—Ukraine, Georgia, and the Baltic States—to Syria, Libya, and even Afghanistan. Western governments...
Cyberattack Cripples Ukraine
The massive cyberattack that crippled public transportation, the central bank, government offices, the state power distributor, and public firms in Ukraine on June 27 serves as a potent reminder of the havoc that can be unleashed by low-level actors, according to an Atlantic Council analyst. “This is another reminder that low-capability actors...
Here’s How to Fight Back Against Russian Political Warfare
Three-and-a-half years ago, Russia illegally annexed Crimea and launched its campaign to destabilize eastern Ukraine. Russian aggression prompted the biggest increase in NATO’s collective defense capabilities since the Cold War—including the historic deployment in June of four multinational battlegroups in the three Baltic States and...
Ukrainian Officials Tout Banking Sector Reforms
When considering the state of Ukraine’s banking reforms, it is important to consider not only what remains to be done, but how much the country has achieved, according to an economic adviser to the Ukrainian government. “The fact that Ukraine is even alive, and surviving, and growing today, is quite amazing given where it was in 2014,”...
Putin’s Façade
At first glance, Russian actions since the 2014 annexation of Crimea appear to signal a resurgence of power in the international system. Increases in military spending, forays into the Middle East, and a foreign policy punching above its weight have all served to remind the world that Russia maintains influence on the global stage. However,...
