issue spotlight

Europe in crisis

War in Ukraine

Experts from across the Atlantic Council are assessing the consequences of Russia’s February 2022 invasion, including what it means for Ukraine’s sovereignty, Europe’s security, and the United States’ leadership.

More on the war View UkraineAlert
Europe’s choice: Fund Ukraine now or pay a far higher price if Russia wins

New Atlanticist Dec 4, 2024

A winning strategy to end Russia’s war against Ukraine

More than a dozen experts from the United States and Europe share their recommendations to the incoming Trump administration about how best to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.

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Europe’s choice: Fund Ukraine now or pay a far higher price if Russia wins

Russia Tomorrow Jan 8, 2025

Sanctioned kleptocracy: How Putin’s kremligarchs have survived the war—and even prospered

By Ilya Zaslavskiy

The latest report in the Atlantic Council’s Russia Tomorrow series explores how Russia’s kleptocratic networks infiltrated the West and measures the US and Europe can take to combat the malign influence of Russian kleptocracy around the globe.
Corruption Economic Sanctions
Europe’s choice: Fund Ukraine now or pay a far higher price if Russia wins

UkraineAlert Jan 14, 2025

No peace without security: Ukraine needs guarantees against new Russian invasion

By Peter Dickinson

Ukraine is ready to make territorial concessions but insists that any peace deal must include credible long-term security guarantees to prevent a new Russian invasion, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict European Union

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COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS

The Power Vertical

The Power Vertical is a blog and podcast for Russia wonks and Kremlin watchers by Brian Whitmore. It covers emerging and developing trends in Russian politics, shining a spotlight on the high-stakes power struggles, machinations, and clashing interests that shape Kremlin policy today.

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Host and Eurasia Center Senior Fellow Brian Whitmore invites guest experts to deliver their insights and analysis in this weekly podcast. The Atlantic Council and the Charles T. McDowell Center for Global Studies at the University of Texas at Arlington co-sponsor this production.

The Russia Tomorrow series

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 challenged much of the common Western understanding of Russia. How can the world better understand Russia? What are the steps forward for Western policy? The Eurasia Center’s new “Russia Tomorrow” series seeks to reevaluate conceptions of Russia today and better prepare for its future tomorrow.

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Russia Tomorrow

Russia Tomorrow: Five scenarios for Russia’s future

by Casey Michel

A new Atlantic Council report explores five paths that Russia future might take in its future. What forces will shape Russia’s future?

recent events

Online Event Fri, December 12, 2025 • 11:00 am ET

Report launch: Analyzing stagnation and militarization in the Russian economy
Economy & Business Europe & Eurasia Politics & Diplomacy Russia
Online Event Tue, November 25, 2025 • 11:00 am ET

Unpacking the peace talks to end Russian aggression in Ukraine
Conflict Defense Policy Europe & Eurasia NATO
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The Eurasia Center’s mission is to enhance transatlantic cooperation in promoting stability, democratic values, and prosperity in Eurasia, from Eastern Europe and Turkey in the West to the Caucasus, Russia, and Central Asia in the East.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Dec 9, 2025

Europe’s choice: Fund Ukraine now or pay a far higher price if Russia wins

By Elena Davlikanova, Lesia Orobets

Europe’s reluctance to pay for Ukraine’s defense is shortsighted, write Elena Davlikanova and Lesia Orobets. If Russia’s invasion succeeds, Europe will soon have to boost defense spending to levels that would completely dwarf the current cost of backing Ukraine.

Conflict
Economic Sanctions

UkraineAlert

Dec 8, 2025

Ukraine’s wartime experience provides blueprint for infrastructure protection

By Oleksandr Bakalinskyi, Maggie McDonough

Since 2014, Ukraine’s critical infrastructure has faced sustained and increasingly sophisticated attacks but continues to function, adapt, and evolve, offering the world one of the most comprehensive case studies for resilience under unrelenting cyber-kinetic pressure, write Oleksandr Bakalinskyi and Maggie McDonough.

Conflict
Cybersecurity

New Atlanticist

Dec 5, 2025

The cost of an unjust peace in Ukraine? An emboldened China.

By Phillip M. Ramirez

A peace deal aimed at ending the war in Ukraine that favors Russia could embolden China to take military action of its own.

China
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Dec 4, 2025

Ukraine’s warning to the West: A bad peace will lead to a bigger war

By Myroslava Gongadze

It is delusional to think that sacrificing Ukraine will satisfy Russia. Instead, a bad peace will only lead to a bigger war, while the price of today's hesitation will ultimately be far higher than the cost of action, writes Myroslava Gongadze.

Conflict
Corruption

UkraineAlert

Dec 4, 2025

Russia has learned from Ukraine and is now winning the drone war

By David Kirichenko

Ukraine's more agile army and vibrant tech sector initially gave the country an edge in the drone war against Russia, but Moscow has now regained the initiative thanks to an emphasis on mass and training, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict
Defense Industry

UkraineAlert

Dec 3, 2025

Returning Ukraine’s abducted children should be central to any peace plan

By Kristina Hook

The United States should lead efforts to secure the release and return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. This could help build confidence in the peace process and boost efforts to end the war, writes Kristina Hook.

Conflict
European Union

TURKEYSource

Dec 2, 2025

Any peace deal that empowers Russia is a direct security threat to Turkey

By Yevgeniya Gaber

As US talks with Russia and Ukraine intensify, Turkey must reassert regional leadership and help secure a sustainable peace in Ukraine and in the Black Sea.

Conflict
Europe & Eurasia

In the News

Dec 2, 2025

Linderman in the Dispatch on Russia’s decreasing hold on the South Caucasus and how the US should respond

By Laura Linderman

On November 21, Laura Linderman, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, was published in the Dispatch on Russia’s decreasing influence in the South Caucasus and the path forward for US policymakers in the region.

Europe & Eurasia
Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding

UkraineAlert

Dec 2, 2025

Ukraine peace plan must not include amnesty for Russian war crimes

By Ivan Horodyskyy

US President Donald Trump's 28-point peace plan for Ukraine includes an amnesty for war crimes that critics say will only strengthen Putin's sense of impunity and set the stage for more Russian aggression, writes Ivan Horodyskyy.

Conflict
European Union

UkraineAlert

Nov 27, 2025

While Trump talks peace, Putin is escalating efforts to erase Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree this week calling for an escalation in efforts to erase all traces of Ukrainian identity from the approximately 20 percent of Ukraine currently under Kremlin control, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Human Rights
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Experts

Fellow

Shawn Creamer

Nonresident Senior Fellow

GeoStrategy Initiative Indo-Pacific Security Initiative

Security & Defense East Asia

Fellow

William B. Taylor

Distinguished Fellow

Eurasia Center

English Europe & Eurasia

Fellow

Joanna Siekiera

Nonresident Fellow

Indo-Pacific Security Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Rule of Law Polish

Fellow

Anthony J. Ruggiero

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Indo-Pacific Security Initiative

Arms Control Defense Policy

Staff

Katherine Spencer

Program Assistant

Eurasia Center

Central Asia Conflict

Fellow

Leslie Shedd

Nonresident Fellow

Eurasia Center

Eastern Europe Elections
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Events

Public Event Wed, December 10, 2025 • 3:30 pm ET

Representatives Mark Messmer and Donald Norcross on US hypersonic capabilities
China Defense Industry Defense Policy Defense Technologies
Online Event Fri, December 12, 2025 • 11:00 am ET

Report launch: Analyzing stagnation and militarization in the Russian economy
Economy & Business Europe & Eurasia Politics & Diplomacy Russia