Europe & Eurasia

Russian Ambassador: Some NATO Countries Ready to Assist Eliminating Chemical Weapons in Syria

By Alexander Grushko, Russian Embassy to the UK

Excerpt from ITAR-TASS interview with Alexander Grushko, Russia’s Permanent Representative to NATO.

Over Sixty Aircraft from NATO Members and Partners Training Together in Exercise Arctic Challenge

By USAF and NORDEFCO

From U.S. Air Force:  The first-ever Exercise Arctic Challenge, which includes more than 60 aircraft from five partner nations, here began Sept. 16.

Discussion with Georgian Presidential Candidate Dr. Davit Bakradze

On September 20, the Atlantic Council’s Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center and the National Democratic Institute cohosted a private roundtable discussion with Georgian Presidential Candidate Dr. Davit Bakradze, and his party representatives from the United National Movement (UNM). The discussion focused on Dr. Bakradze’s political platform and assessment of the upcoming October Presidential elections, as well […]

Russia and Belarus Launch Strategic Military Exercise Zapad 2013

By ITAR-TASS and RIA Novosti

From ITAR-TASS:  The Zapad 2013 (West 2013) joint strategic exercise of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus will be launched in the two countries on Friday

Hundreds of Russians Fighting as Mercenaries in Syria – FSB

By RIA Novosti

Some 300 to 400 Russians are fighting in the Syrian civil war as soldiers of fortune, a senior official in Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) told reporters on Friday.

Top US Diplomat for Europe Calls for a “Transatlantic Renaissance”

By John Kerry and Victoria Nuland, Department of State

Secretary of State John Kerry: [I]n Brussels, Toria helped guide NATO through a very critical and uncertain time when Article 5 was invoked in September of 2001

NATO Secretary General Condemns Slaying of EULEX Staff Member in Kosovo

By Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO

I strongly condemn the attack on a EULEX convoy which led to the death of one Lithuanian staff member of the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo. Such violence is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

Can Germany Be a Civil Superpower?

By Julian Lindley-French

The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘superpower’ as a “very powerful and influential nation.” On September 22, democratic Germany will go to the polls. Some commentators and politicians are posing what they believe to be a fundamental and existential question implicit in the election – a German Europe or a European Germany? The Economist in a […]

The Syrian Sisyphus

By Harlan Ullman

The framework for elimination of Syrian chemical weapons agreed to last week by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov could, and could is the operative word, potentially become the most stunning geostrategic event in global security since Richard Nixon’s outreach to China and the demise of the Soviet Union. […]

European Values, not Geopolitics, Should Decide Ukraine’s European Integration

By Taras Kuzio

The European Parliament on September 12 called on Russia to respect the right of EU Eastern Partnership members such as Ukraine to enter Association Agreements and not use trade sanctions, forcing them to choose the Eurasian over the European Union. The trade war is music to the ears of the authoritarian Ukrainian authorities who have […]