New Atlanticist

Sep 28, 2020

Explainer: What’s behind the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan?

By Ariel Cohen and Hayley Arlin

COVID-19, plague, and now war. As if 2020 was not cruel enough, fighting erupted on September 27 between Armenia and Azerbaijan along the contact line of the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, leading Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to declare martial law and total mobilization. President Ilham G. Aliyev of Azerbaijan addressed his nation, and partial martial law was declared in a number of Azerbaijani regions, including the capital Baku.

Conflict The Caucasus

BelarusAlert

Sep 26, 2020

Lukashenka’s rapid decline is giving Putin nightmares

By Peter Dickinson

Belarus dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s worsening predicament is setting off alarm bells in the Kremlin, where events in neighboring Belarus are viewed as a possible blueprint for future unrest inside Russia itself.

Belarus Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Sep 23, 2020

Zelenskyy puts Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic future at risk

By Mykola Vorobiov

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised to end an era of corruption. Instead, he stands accused of reversing the limited progress of recent years and opening the door to Russian revenge.

Democratic Transitions Political Reform

UkraineAlert

Sep 23, 2020

Ukraine’s booming IT sector can drive positive change

By Yuliya Rimsky and Filip Sasic

As the international community seeks ways to strengthen Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration, private sector investment in the country’s attractive IT industry could have a significant and positive role to play.

Cybersecurity Entrepreneurship

BelarusAlert

Sep 22, 2020

How post-election protests are creating a new Belarus

By Franak Viačorka

After almost three decades in the post-Soviet doldrums, historic change is finally underway in Belarus. Lukashenka and Putin can still delay this process, but they can no longer derail it entirely.

Belarus Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Sep 22, 2020

Desecration of genocide monument marks a new low in Ukraine’s memory wars

By John Vsetecka

The recent desecration of an iconic Kyiv statue honoring the millions of Ukrainians killed in the 1930s Soviet genocide marks a new low in the memory wars over the country’s troubled and traumatic past.

Disinformation Resilience & Society

BelarusAlert

Sep 18, 2020

Sanctions against Belarus must also target Russia

By Anders Åslund

The US and EU are preparing to impose sanctions on Belarus over the Lukashenka regime’s violent crackdown on protests. To be effective, sanctions should also target Lukashenka’s Russian allies.

Belarus Democratic Transitions

Testimony

Sep 18, 2020

Kremlin control of Crimea and the occupied Donbas has been disastrous for many religious groups

By Atlantic Council

On September 16, Ambassador John Herbst, director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and former US ambassador to Ukraine, testified before the US Commission on International Religious Freedom on the alarming state of religious freedom in the Russian Federation.

Civil Society Conflict

UkraineAlert

Sep 17, 2020

Why Ukraine needs a new approach to refugees

By Eric Fritz

Refugees in Ukraine currently face an uphill battle, but if the Ukrainian authorities were to invest more in refugee resettlement programs, the country as a whole would inevitably benefit in the long run.

Human Rights Migration

BelarusAlert

Sep 17, 2020

Belarus national awakening offers hope for Ukraine as Soviet collapse continues

By Solomiia Bobrovska

Belarus has emerged from its post-Soviet slumber and has set out on the road to democracy. This is good news for the Belarusians themselves. It is also a welcome development for Ukraine but less so for Russia.

Belarus Democratic Transitions

The Eurasia Center’s mission is to promote policies that strengthen stability, democratic values, and prosperity in Eurasia, from Eastern Europe in the West to the Caucasus, Russia, and Central Asia in the East.