Section: Brookings (USA)
How Ukraine views Russia and the West
By Steven PiferFollowing the Soviet Union’s collapse, Ukraine and Russia maintained relations that at times were testy, but their differences largely appeared manageable. That changed in 2014, when the Kremlin used military force to seize Crimea and then supported armed separatism in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. As a result,...
Putin’s Counterrevolution
By Sergey AleksashenkoHow Putin’s autocracy undercut Russia’s economy and chances for democracy During his nearly twenty years at the center of Russian political power, Vladimir Putin has transformed the vast country in many ways, not all of them for the better. The near-chaos of the early post-Soviet years has been replaced by an...
NATO at a crossroads: Next steps for the trans-Atlantic alliance
Russia’s conflict with Ukraine stems in part from the Kremlin’s concern that Kyiv is drawing too close to institutions such as the European Union and NATO. Throughout his campaign, President Donald Trump called into question the usefulness of today’s NATO and spoke of building a better relationship with Moscow. Advocating...
Sen. Chris Coons says Putin has launched an undeclared war on the international order, calls for bipartisan approach to issue
“Make no mistake: the Putin regime has launched an undeclared war on the international order that has preserved peace and stability in the United States and Europe since World War II,” Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) said at a Brookings event today. In his remarks, the senator described how Vladimir Putin’s Russia is actively seeking to...
What Putin is up to, and why he may have overplayed his hand
Each year on December 20, the Russian intelligence community pays homage to its enduring guardianship of the Motherland. It was on this date in 1917, six weeks after the Bolshevik Revolution, that Vladimir Lenin established the Cheka, an acronym for “Emergency Commission.” Over the ensuing decades, the commission’s nomenclature and...
A European security architecture that won’t work
Mike O’Hanlon is a great colleague, and we have collaborated in the past, including on a book on nuclear arms control. However, we do not agree on everything. Author Steven Pifer Senior Fellow – Foreign Policy, Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence, Center on the United States and EuropeDirector – Arms Control and...
Is Russia a threat?
Steven Pifer, senior fellow and director of the Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative, examines the relationship between the U.S. and Russia in terms of nuclear policy, arms control, and the conflict with Ukraine. Also in this episode, Molly Reynolds, fellow in Governance Studies, discusses in a new “What’s Happening in Congress”...
The future of the European security order
In recent years numerous new threats have emerged in Europe and across its neighborhood. Several of these represent a resurgence of traditional security threats—from Russia’s annexation of Crimea and destabilization of Western Ukraine, to the rise of Islamic extremism and turmoil in the Middle East, and the terrorism it has bred. Other...
Addressing the real source of the U.S.-Russia rivalry
Donald Trump has indicated a clear interest in improving the U.S. relationship with Russia, as has his designate for secretary of state. Despite President Vladimir Putin’s misadventures and provocations from Georgia to Syria to Ukraine to the U.S. elections, this is not an unworthy ambition, if pursued with open eyes. Author Michael E....
Dealing with a simmering Ukraine-Russia conflict
Executive Summary A major foreign policy challenge that will confront the new U.S. administration from day one is Ukraine and its conflict with Russia. The February 2015 Minsk II settlement that was to end the fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region has yet to be implemented. There is little sign that Moscow wants a settlement,...
