New Atlanticist

In Russia, Speaking Power to Truth

By Irena Chalupa

Thugs Beat the Official Who Revealed Kremlin’s Secret Burial of Soldiers Killed in Ukraine War The story Lev Shlosberg told Russians last week is potential political dynamite for President Vladimir Putin: Shlosberg, a provincial legislator from Pskov, visited the funeral for two local men, paratroopers of the 76th Airborne Division, who had been killed in […]

NATO Sec Gen: Russian Aggression Is a “Wake Up Call”

By New Atlanticist

Leaders at NATO Summit Criticize Russia, Caution against Isolationism The crises in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are expected to top the agenda as Western leaders gathered in Wales for the NATO Summit this week. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, speaking at the Atlantic Council’s Future Leaders Summit, called Russia’s aggression […]

Quick Take: NATO Summit Will Make No Big Step on Ukraine-Russia Crisis

By Jorge Benitez

Alliance Will Talk Budgets, Partnerships, and Rapid Deployment, But Its Ukraine Move Will Be Symbolic As NATO convenes its annual summit conference this week, policy analysts have urged the alliance to take a major step in response to the escalating crisis in Ukraine. They are unlikely to do so, focusing instead on three more prosaic […]

In a Dirty War, a Ukrainian General Builds Trust With Rebels to Free Hostages

Volodymyr Ruban Crosses the War’s Front Lines to Negotiate With Russian-Backed Separatists Amid the war in southeast Ukraine, hundreds or thousands of people have been imprisoned by  both sides – some as enemy combatants, others more arbitrarily. The man whom both sides call to get hostages or prisoners released is an officer of Ukraine’s military […]

US and Allies Should Take Three Steps Now to Prevent Putin’s Moves Beyond Ukraine

By John E. Herbst

As NATO Convenes Its Summit, It Should Stiffen Its Doctrine and Arm Ukraine for Self-Defense The Kremlin’s seizure of Crimea, its six-month-old war-by-proxy in southeastern Ukraine, and now its invasion of the southeast with its own paratroopers, armor, and artillery, are conclusive proof of a dangerous policy that requires a strong, comprehensive response from the […]

Life in Luhansk’s War Zone: Old People Search for Water, Cellphone Signal

By Irena Chalupa

Residents Recount Their Struggle to Survive Daily Shells and Gunfire Building by building, daily artillery explosions are blasting and burning Ukraine’s southeastern-most provincial capital, Luhansk, into a ruin whose remaining residents are those too poor or aged to escape. Roughly half of the city’s pre-war population of about 450,000 has fled—to other locales in Ukraine […]

Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Crusader Quits Government

By Irena Chalupa

‘No Political Will’ for a ‘Large-Scale War’ Against Graft, Tetiana Chornovol Says Ukraine’s most prominent anti-corruption campaigner, Tetiana Chornovol, has quit her post as head of the government’s National Anti-Corruption Committee, writing on the prominent Ukrainian news website, Ukrainska Pravda, that the government is unprepared for “an uncompromising, large-scale war against corruption.”