Eurasia Center

Ukraine is the Eurasia Center’s main focus because Russia’s war threatens the vital interests of the United States and its allies. The outcome of the war will determine Ukraine’s future and Europe’s as well. Ukraine’s on-and-off efforts to reform are another area of great attention. Since the 2014 Maidan Revolution, Ukraine has made notable, if uneven, progress toward reform that must continue even as it fights off Moscow’s massive invasion.

Russia under Vladimir Putin violently menaces its neighbors and seeks to tear down the US-led global order. But the Kremlin aggression of today need not preclude a more peaceful and prosperous tomorrow. While Putin’s regime tries to paint US policy—and Eurasia Center activity—as anti-Russian, the Center’s efforts are based on the understanding that defeating Kremlin aggression in Ukraine will be positive not just for Ukraine, Europe, and the United States, but also for Russia itself.

Named for the mountain range between southern Russia and northern Turkey and Iran, the South Caucasus is home to the nations of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. This geopolitically complex region has the potential to be a crossroads of global commerce. The Eurasia Center supports efforts for a just peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan and works to help prevent further democratic backsliding by Georgia’s increasingly authoritarian leadership.

The Central Asian republics—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan —are located at the nexus of Russia, China, South Asia, and the Middle East. Growing dynamism in the region may provide openings for greater freedom and prosperity. It is in US interests that this region not fall under the outsized influence of either China or Russia. The Eurasia Center regularly hosts leaders from Central Asia for expert discussions and high-level events.

When Belarusian dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka attempted to steal the 2020 presidential election, he inadvertently set off a national movement in Belarus toward greater freedom and self-determination that persists today. The Center has reported actively on the efforts of the Belarusian opposition, led by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and provided a premier platform to keep Belarus on the agenda in Washington.

Moldova has moved fitfully toward an open society and market economy while Moscow has supported separatists in the region of Transnistria. But, its European Union candidacy may herald a better integrated future. The Eurasia Center’s Moldova programming actively promotes the country’s democratic and European future.