Reports

The discourse around President Donald Trump’s impeachment and acquittal has been characterized by bitter attacks, self-righteousness and moralizing put-downs. To go beyond this state of affairs, both sides will need to address the unresolved questions that emerged during the hearing – in a manner that reflects the American constitutional spirit, ...

Corruption can be a catalyst for political change, as in Latin America, or the basis of a rent-seeking regime, as in Russia. But in rare instances, it can also affect the ebb and flow of global geopolitics. This is clearly evident on the rim of the former Soviet Union, where ...

The European Union has decided to prolong its ineffective sanctions on Russia. That’s hardly surprising, since no one has come up with any new solutions. Moreover, some countries, like Germany, make a strong stand for sanctions while at the same time supporting other initiatives – like Nord Stream 2 – ...

The evident stalemate in Ukraine is as much in Western policymakers’ heads as on the Donbas battlefront. Since the European Union has framed the conflict in moral terms that do not allow it to admit failure, it must maintain the pretense of success – giving Russia and Ukraine ample leeway ...

Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s defeat of Petro Poroshenko in Ukraine’s presidential election had more to do with the economics than relations with Russia. While resolving the conflicts in Crimea and the Donbas region will help boost economic growth, streamlining and cleaning up Ukraine’s bloated and partially corrupt bureaucracy will be the president-elect’s ...

In 2019, the geopolitical interplay between Russia, Ukraine and Europe will depend on their leaders. In Russia, President Vladimir Putin will have to decide whether to continue his assertive foreign policy. In Ukraine, the presidential election could bring the mercurial Yulia Tymoshenko to power – how she will deal with ...

This may have been independent Ukraine’s last calm summer for a while. There will soon be a reckoning with what succeeded and what did not after the revolution of 2013-2014, during which the eyes of the world were on Kiev. Ukrainians will elect a president early next year, with parliamentary ...

Washington’s decision to sell modern U.S. anti-tank missiles to Kiev means that a red line in the West’s involvement in the Ukrainian crisis has been crossed. Whether the delivery of this expensive weapon system to the embattled nation serves U.S. national security interests or brings Kiev closer to reclaiming the ...

Four years after the Maidan revolution swept President Viktor Yanukovych from power, Ukraine remains suspended between Russia and the West. The protracted armed struggle to break free of Moscow’s orbit has helped forge a Ukrainian nation, but its politics and economy remain as dysfunctional as ever. This survey looks at ...

A close look at how events are unfolding in the Ukraine conflict makes clear that the Minsk agreement and the Normandy format, which were supposed to help lead to a resolution, are irrelevant. Russia is digging in, while the West has few strategic options. The most likely scenario now is ...

Naftogaz, the natural gas giant that is Ukraine’s largest taxpayer, is again in the news for the wrong reasons. The last two members of its independent supervisory board have resigned, indicating that vested interests have gained the upper hand over the reformist management team. What is happening at Naftogaz reflects ...

What to do with Crimea is a seemingly insoluble problem. With patriotic Russian opinion firmly set in the “Crimean consensus,” returning the territory to Ukraine is out of the question. Letting it remain as part of Russia is equally unacceptable to Ukraine and the West. Perhaps the best place to ...

In no time, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was elevated from Donald Trump’s doghouse to the status of an honored guest at the White House. The U.S. president has discovered reasons to demonstrate to his NATO allies, and the world, his tough stand on Russia. As East-West tension mounts, the conflict ...

Well into the fourth year after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of hostilities in Donbas, Ukraine finds itself in a curious state of limbo. There is good news – the economy has bottomed out, the war in the east has frozen at low intensity, and the danger of ...

The Ukrainian government and its international supporters are beaming with confidence that the country is finally turning the corner. While the economy may have bottomed out, there is still plenty of room for worry. As long as the political elites continue to put personal enrichment before transparent governance, the odds ...

Russia is turning Crimea into a forward bastion, armed with its latest missile, naval and radar technology. The consequences for the region are dire, raising the threat level for several NATO members and consolidating Moscow’s position against Ukraine and Georgia. The Black Sea is now as likely as the Baltics ...

Due to geopolitical reality, Ukraine will not be able to join the European Union, but it can carve out a niche for itself between Russia and the West. The country has enough natural assets and talent to prosper in a position similar to Austria’s did during the Cold War. Western ...

Dreams of NATO’s eastern expansion were dead well before Russia’s intervention in east Ukraine. But as Western military cooperation with Kiev deepens, the alliance is beginning to realize it may have got something better ­– extra political leverage in the east, with no strings attached.

The low-intensity conflict smoldering in eastern Ukraine could be politically “frozen” for an undetermined duration. Moscow and Kiev are increasingly motivated to seek such an imperfect deal, but there is an economic roadblock: the bill for reconstruction of the ravaged Donbas region will be staggering. No one, in either the ...

The European Union plans to adopt a “Global Strategy” for its foreign and security policies (EGS) at its June 22 summit. The document is the result of years of reflection on the increasing complexity of Europe’s external relations and interconnections. A fundamental problem for the EU is that neither its ...

On December 18, 2015, the government of Ukraine announced it had no intention of honoring a $3 billion Eurobond loan owed to Russia that would mature on December 20. Given the cross-default clause written into that bond, under British law, this was a momentous decision. It gave the Kremlin the ...

Since Ukraine gained independence in 1991, its relations with Russia have never been normal. Major crises are always liable to break out. The present one has lasted for almost two years and is entering a new phase that can make or break Ukraine. <i>This report is part of GIS’s “Global ...

As winter approaches, Ukraine’s embattled government faces a radically different set of challenges than those it grappled with just weeks ago. Instead of deriving comfort from the stillness that has descended on the Donbas battlefield with Russian-backed separatists, the authorities in Kiev must deal with an emerging threat from their ...

More than the United States, China and certainly Europe, Russia pins its ambitions on diplomacy. The government needs diplomatic successes to bolster its position at home as much as its standing abroad. Over the past 25 years, foreign policy has served Russia’s bid to become again a great European power ...