Europe & Eurasia

What Trump’s Venezuela oil blockade means for Maduro and the world

By Atlantic Council experts

Atlantic Council experts react to news that the US military would soon impose a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into or out of Venezuela.

‘Putin is lying’: Zelenskyy visits front to expose false claims of Russian gains

By Peter Dickinson

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid a personal visit last week to a front line city that Putin has repeatedly bragged of seizing in order to expose the Russian leader's habit of lying about battlefield gains, writes Peter Dickinson.

The only winner from Ukrainian wartime elections would be Putin

By Yuriy Boyechko

Ukrainians are fighting to defend their democracy against Kremlin authoritarianism, but they are also in no rush to hold wartime elections amid relentless Russian bombardment and with millions of Ukrainians displaced, writes Yuriy Boyechko.

Europe’s battle over Russia’s blocked assets is nearing its endgame

By Charles Lichfield

EU heads of state and government meet this week to discuss and vote on a “reparations loan” plan that would use blocked Russian assets to aid Ukraine.

As the US, Ukraine, and Europe talk of peace, Russia still thinks only of surrender

By John E. Herbst

As US and European officials work with Kyiv to sort out security guarantees and other elements of a potential deal, Moscow continues its obstinance.

How Europe can strengthen its own defenses and rebalance transatlantic relations

Europe should advance a new security architecture aimed at strengthening its own defense while continuing to cooperate with the United States in areas of mutual interest.

The Russian economy in 2025: Between stagnation and militarization 

By Elina Ribakova, Lucas Risinger

The latest report in the Atlantic Council's Russia Tomorrow series examines the Russian wartime economy.

Bosnia’s forgotten war is still with us

By Thom Shanker

Fewer than fifty years after the end of World War II, genocide returned to Europe in Bosnia. The carnage ended on December 14, 1995, with the signing of the US-brokered Dayton Accords. Thirty years on, have the war's lessons—for Europe; for diplomacy, humanitarian intervention, and more—been heeded?

“Youth as merchandise”: Iraqi mercenaries in Ukraine

By Alia Brahimi

In Season 2, Episode 13 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by the Iraqi political analyst Mohammed Salih to discuss the legion of Iraqi men turning up on the frontlines of the war in Ukraine.

Russia’s insistence on a defenseless Ukraine betrays Putin’s true intentions

By Peter Dickinson

Russia's key demands during US-led peace talks all appear designed to leave Ukraine disarmed and defenseless. This is a clear indication of Vladimir Putin's intention to continue his invasion and complete the conquest of Ukraine, writes Peter Dickinson.