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As the world watches the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfold, UkraineAlert delivers the best Atlantic Council expert insight and analysis on Ukraine twice a week directly to your inbox.


editor’s picks

Latest analysis


UkraineAlert

Mar 11, 2021

Biden must persuade Germany and Austria to stop the “Schroederization” of Europe

By
Anders Åslund and Benjamin L. Schmitt

US President Joe Biden needs to address the issue of Western politicians accepting Kremlin-linked jobs following their retirement from public service, argue Anders Åslund and Benjamin L. Schmitt.


Corruption


Geopolitics & Energy Security


UkraineAlert

Mar 9, 2021

US sanctions Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky

By
Peter Dickinson

The United States imposed sanctions against Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky on March 5 in a move that underlined American support for Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Mar 9, 2021

America’s Russia policy must not ignore human rights

By
Dylan Myles-Primakoff

Dylan Myles-Primakoff outlines why any effective future US policy towards Russia must include a human rights dimension.


Human Rights


Politics & Diplomacy

UkraineAlert

Mar 9, 2021

New report on Russia policy misses the mark

Atlantic Council experts voice their disagreement with a recent report on the role of human rights in US policy toward Russia.


Human Rights


Politics & Diplomacy


UkraineAlert

Mar 7, 2021

Ukraine-EU border crossings in urgent need of upgrade

By
Lesia Dubenko and Pavlo Kravchuk

Ukraine's EU border crossings play an important infrastructure role in the country's Euro-Atlantic integration but little has been done to upgrade border facilities since the country turned west in 2014.


Economy & Business


Eurozone


UkraineAlert

Mar 4, 2021

Zelenskyy aims to end Ukraine’s oligarch era

By
Iuliia Mendel

As events in recent weeks have shown, President Zelenskyy is prepared to challenge the power of Ukraine’s oligarchs everywhere from the energy and banking sectors to politics and the media.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Mar 4, 2021

Ukraine can feed the world

By
Roman Leshchenko

The launch of an agricultural land market will leave Ukraine well placed to assume an ever-greater role in global food security, says Ukraine's Minister of Agrarian Policy Roman Leshchenko.


Economy & Business


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Mar 3, 2021

Difficult neighbors: How the Belarus crisis has strained ties between Minsk and Kyiv

By
Vladislav Davidzon

The democratic awakening that has taken place in Belarus since August 2020 has fractured and realigned the economic, military, diplomatic, and security relationship between Minsk and Kyiv.


Belarus


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Mar 2, 2021

Ukrainian parliament finally moves to end multi-voting

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukraine scored a small but significant victory in the battle against political corruption on March 2 with the launch of a new voting system in the country’s parliament that should put an end to the practice of MPs voting on behalf of absent colleagues.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Mar 1, 2021

Getting Ukraine’s security service reform right

By
Oleksandra Ustinova and Steven Pifer

Ukrainian MPs are currently preparing a long-awaited bill to reform the country's security service. The initiative is encouraging but numerous measures are still required to distance Ukraine from the KGB past.


Democratic Transitions


Intelligence

spotlight

The views expressed in UkraineAlert are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Atlantic Council, its staff, or its supporters.

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Content

UkraineAlert

May 4, 2016

The Long Arm of Russian “Soft” Power

By Orysia Lutsevych

Anxious about losing ground to Western influence in the post-Soviet space and the ousting of pro-Russia elites by popular electoral uprisings in the early 2000s, the Kremlin has developed a range of proxy groups in support of its foreign policy. This network of pro-Kremlin groups promotes the Russian World (Russkiy Mir), a flexible tool that […]

Moldova Russia

UkraineAlert

May 3, 2016

Ukraine’s New Government Scores Big Reform Win

By Basil A. Kalymon

Land Reform Should Be Next April 27 was a bellwether day for economic reform in Ukraine. Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman announced that the cabinet has decided to unify natural gas prices in Ukraine to a single market price for both retail and industrial users. Effectively, this implies increased prices for the retail consumer that will […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 2, 2016

What the Banning of Crimean Tatars’ Mejlis Means

By Eleanor Knott

In the two years since Russia illegally annexed Crimea, Crimean Tatars have faced the brunt of the de facto authorities’ brutality. On April 15, Crimea’s so-called prosecutor, Natalia Poklonskaya, banned the Mejlis, Crimean Tatars’ representative body in Crimea, labelling it “an extremist organization.” Following the prosecutor’s move, Crimea’s Supreme Court banned the Mejlis on April […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 2, 2016

Memo to Europe: Don’t Fall for Russia’s Empty Promises

By Stephen Blank

As of this writing, the “cessation of hostilities” in Syria has all but collapsed, and thousands of Russian forces are aiding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s campaign to retake Aleppo. At the same time, the Minsk II agreement between Russia and Ukraine remains, as it always has been, an agreement more honored in the breach than […]

NATO Russia

UkraineAlert

Apr 28, 2016

Yanukovych Cronies Try Last-Ditch Effort to Dilute Ukraine’s Transparency Reforms

By Josh Cohen

On March 15, Ukraine’s parliament passed an important anticorruption initiative that requires officials to file an electronic declaration listing their financial assets—meeting a requirement for visa liberalization. While Kyiv continues to fixate on President Petro Poroshenko’s new government, on April 18 the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CCU) began to consider an appeal put forth by forty-eight […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 27, 2016

Has Ukraine Passed the Tipping Point Yet?

By Melinda Haring

How are Ukraine’s reforms coming along? It depends who you ask. During a recent visit to Kyiv, I heard a wide range of views. “Reforms are painful, slow, and haven’t passed the tipping point yet,” said Orysia Lutsevych, manager of the Ukraine Forum at London’s Chatham House, during the Kyiv Security Forum on April 14-15. […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 27, 2016

A New Attempt to Resolve the Ukraine Conflict

By Marieluise Beck and Ralf Fücks

The diplomatic efforts of the West to find a political solution to the Ukraine conflict have reached an impasse. Implementation of the terms of the Minsk agreement—far-reaching autonomous rights for the Donbas in return for a withdrawal of Russian arms and troops, the holding of regional elections under international supervision, and Ukrainian control of the […]

OSCE Russia

UkraineAlert

Apr 26, 2016

Two Years Later, Kremlin’s Lethal Lies about Odesa Fire Still Motivate Donbas Recruits

By Halya Coynash

Forty-eight people lost their lives in clashes between pro-unity supporters and pro-Russian backers and a fire in Odesa on May 2, 2014. Only hours later, Russia attempted to portray the mass riots and ensuing fire as a massacre, and that has continued regardless of several investigations, including one by the Council of Europe’s International Advisory […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 25, 2016

Here’s How to Make Ukraine’s Reforms Irreversible

By Hanna Hopko

We live in a time of transformations: today, we decide which Ukraine our children will live in tomorrow. But a new Ukraine will be hard to achieve unless citizens with no connections to the old system take action and begin controlling the government and thinking long-term. In 2013, Ukrainians protested to demonstrate that there was […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 21, 2016

Why I’m Pessimistic about Ukraine’s New Government

By Sergii Leshchenko

President Petro Poroshenko’s passivity in the fight against corruption has restored the old rules of Ukrainian politics and renewed the significance of the oligarchs. They’re his main partners now. The search for a new prime minister is only part of this ignoble process. Over the last two months, Poroshenko has managed to back himself into […]

Ukraine