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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

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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.

Content

Testimony

Jul 8, 2020

Ambassador Fried testifies to House Committee on Foreign Affairs on exposing and demanding accountability for Kremlin crimes abroad

Exposing and demanding accountability for Kremlin crimes abroad

Economic Sanctions Energy & Environment
Russian President Vladimir Putin work before a meeting on the situation with the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Russia, outside Moscow

Atlantic Council Strategy Paper Series

Jul 7, 2020

An economic test for Putin and Russia

By Mathew Burrows, Peter Engelke

Russia faces threats on two fronts: A notoriously fragile health system leaves puts Russia in a poor position to weather a prolonged COVID-related shutdown, while its ongoing energy price war with Saudi Arabia leaves little capacity to kickstart post-COVID economic growth.

Coronavirus Russia

Issue Brief

Jul 7, 2020

Emerging technologies: new challenges to global stability

By Robert A. Manning

The world may be fast approaching the perfect storm, with the intersection of two major global trends. At a moment of historic transition, when the post-WWII and post-Cold War international order is eroding amid competing visions of world order and renewed geopolitical rivalries, the world is also in the early stages of an unprecedented technological transformation

China Cybersecurity

UkraineAlert

Jul 6, 2020

Czar Putin wants a new age of empires

By Nataliia Popovych and Danylo Lubkivsky

In both word and deed, Putin has made it clear that he rejects today’s rules-based international order and seeks to reverse the verdict of 1991. His vision for a new age of empires represents an existential challenge to the West.

Conflict Disinformation

In the News

Jul 6, 2020

Sherman in C4ISRNET: Understanding Russia’s quest to rid itself of foreign tech

Cybersecurity Internet

BelarusAlert

Jul 3, 2020

Minsk Maidan? Belarus facing summer of discontent

By Victor Tregubov

Belarus has been an international backwater for much of the past 25 years, but it may soon find itself thrust into the geopolitical spotlight as tensions mount ahead of the country's August 9 presidential election.

Belarus Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Jun 29, 2020

How fake news helped hide Soviet genocide in Ukraine

By Georgiy Kent

Stalin’s man-made famine in 1930s Ukraine ranks as one of the worst crimes of the twentieth century but it remains relatively unknown. The new movie "Mr. Jones" seeks to counter decades of disinformation.

Disinformation Media

New Atlanticist

Jun 29, 2020

How revelations of Russian bounties in Afghanistan could escalate the US-Russia feud

By David A. Wemer

"The United States and its democratic allies have options," to push back against Moscow, but they must "think through the challenge with care and in context of the larger challenge Putin poses for us," Daniel Fried says.

Afghanistan Conflict

New Atlanticist

Jun 29, 2020

Russian bounties on US troops signify a dangerous new phase in relations

By Doug Klain

The United States and its allies must listen to the warnings of intelligence agencies and recognize this coordinated campaign of destabilization for what it is: a new and lethal threat shared by each country within which Putin’s agents are operating. The Hot Peace is heating up.

Politics & Diplomacy Russia

Strategic Insights Memo

Jun 29, 2020

Navigating the growing Russia-China strategic alignment

By Stephen J. Hadley, Paula J. Dobriansky

On May 13, 2020, the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security hosted a strategy consortium with a small group of experts and officials to discuss the evolution of the Russia-China relationship and how the United States and its allies should navigate it. This paper summarizes many of the points made during this meeting. Background: The […]

China Politics & Diplomacy

Experts