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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.

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

recent events

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.

Content

A masked Wagner fighter visits a makeshift memorial to Yevgeny Prigozhin in Saint Petersburg, Russia, August 24, 2023. (Source: Reuters/Anastasia Barashkova)

New Atlanticist

Aug 24, 2023

Russian War Report: Russian media pins Prigozhin crash on all except Putin

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

On Wednesday, August 23, Wagner Group PMC founder Yevgeny Prighozhin and many of his top brass were reported to be killed in a plane crash. Rumors swirled shortly thereafter as to the nature of the crash.

Conflict Media

Podcast

Aug 24, 2023

Semtex teddy bear: The mercenary build-up in Libya

By Alia Brahimi

Host and Nonresident Senior Fellow Alia Brahimi speaks with Libya expert Emadeddin Badi about tthe surge of African, Syrian and Russian mercenaries in Libya since 2019.

Conflict Crisis Management

Report

Aug 24, 2023

The global future of nuclear energy

By Matt Bowen

Nuclear energy could play a larger global role in addressing growing energy demands while reducing the risks of climate change and air pollution.

Americas Energy & Environment

UkraineAlert

Aug 23, 2023

Putin’s Russia is trapped in genocidal denial over Ukrainian independence

By Mercedes Sapuppo

Russia’s longstanding denial of Ukrainian national identity and refusal to accept the reality of Ukrainian independence are now fueling an invasion that many view as genocidal in nature, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Aug 23, 2023

Ukraine’s fight against Russian imperialism is Europe’s longest independence struggle

By Peter Dickinson

The war unleashed by Vladimir Putin eighteen months ago is best understood as the latest chapter in a dark saga of Russian imperial aggression against Ukraine that stretches back centuries, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Democratic Transitions

Fast Thinking

Aug 23, 2023

What Prigozhin’s plane crash tells us about Putin’s Russia

By Atlantic Council

Atlantic Council experts share their insights on the apparent death of Wagner Group founder Yevgeniy Prigozhin.

Conflict Europe & Eurasia

New Atlanticist

Aug 23, 2023

Experts react: What the Prigozhin plane crash reveals about Putin, the Wagner Group’s future, and the war in Ukraine

By Atlantic Council experts

Experts weigh in on what the mercenary leader's apparent death will mean for the Russian state and Wagner's operations abroad.

Belarus China

In the News

Aug 23, 2023

Dahl featured in Omni, discussing the Danish response to the recent Quran burnings in Sweden and Kremlins response

By Ann-Sofie Dahl

On August 23, Transatlantic Security Initiative nonresident senior fellow Ann-Sofie Dahl was mentioned in Omni, discussing the Danish response to the recent Quran burnings in Sweden and how the Kremlin has reacted to these developments (text in Swedish).   

Northern Europe Russia

Issue Brief

Aug 23, 2023

The case for seizing Putin regime assets

By Kristina Hook and Yonah Diamond

A coordinated asset-seizure program connected to Russian aggression and atrocities can build international consensus—increasing the effectiveness of economic responses to Russia's war, eighteen months in.

Economic Sanctions International Financial Institutions

AfricaSource

Aug 23, 2023

Piece by piece, the BRICS really are building a multipolar world

By Hippolyte Fofack

Coming out of the Johannesburg summit, the BRICS group has the potential to accelerate the process of dedollarization and the transition to a multipolar world.

Brazil China

Experts