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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.

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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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RAF Typhoons Intercept Russian Jets, July 24, 2015

NATOSource

Aug 3, 2015

NATO Reports Surge in Jet Interceptions as Russia Tensions Increase

By Alberto Nardelli and George Arnett, Guardian

World powers are reporting surges in airspace violations and instances where aircraft are scrambled to intercept foreign jets, amid a sharp rise in geopolitical tensions in Europe and Asia.

NATO Russia
Norwegian and Italian figher jets participating in NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission, May 22, 2015

NATOSource

Aug 3, 2015

NATO to Cut Half the Jets Patrolling Baltic Allies

By Alberto Nardelli and George Arnett, Guardian

Nato member aircraft were forced to conduct more than 500 scrambles over Europe in 2014 – a fourfold increase on the previous year.

NATO Northern Europe

In the News

Aug 3, 2015

Riley: Commission v. Gazprom: Time to do a Deal?

By Alan Riley

Global Energy Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Alan Riley writes for Natural Gas Europe on why Gazprom has strong incentives to deal with the European Commission’s competition investigation:

Russia

UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2015

Retribution in the New Crimea

By Melinda Haring

In March 2015, the Atlantic Council and Freedom House published a report by Crimean journalist Andrii Klymenko showing how Russia’s occupation and annexation of Crimea has unleashed an ongoing chain of human rights violations across the peninsula. Five days after release of the report—Human Rights Abuses in Russian-Occupied Crimea—Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) charged Klymenko […]

Russia Ukraine
SACEUR Gen. Philip Breedlove, May 21, 2014

NATOSource

Jul 31, 2015

NATO Commander Concerned About Russia’s Belligerency and Repeated Talk of Using Nuclear Weapons

By PBS

Excerpts from PBS interview with NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Philip Breedlove by Gwen Ifill, July 29, 2015.

NATO Nuclear Nonproliferation

In the News

Jul 31, 2015

Tanchum: Russia Races to Outflank China in Middle East Nuclear Technology Market

By Micha'el Tanchum

Eurasian Energy Futures Initiative Nonresident Senior Fellow Micha’el Tanchum writes for the The Diplomat on Russia hurrying to secure new markets for nuclear technology as China emerges as a competing supplier:

China Nuclear Nonproliferation

UkraineAlert

Jul 31, 2015

Russia Threatens Ukrainian Pilot Nadiya Savchenko with 25-Year Jail Term

By Irena Chalupa

Nadiya Savchenko, Ukraine’s most famous female military officer, has languished in a Moscow prison for more than a year since Moscow-backed separatists captured her in eastern Ukraine last June and smuggled across the border to Russia shackled, her head covered by a sack. Now her captors have moved her again—and again under the cover of […]

Russia Ukraine
Finnish Army helicopter, August 7, 2010

NATOSource

Jul 30, 2015

Minister Niinistö: Finland Needs to Rethink its Defense of Åland Islands

By Estonian Public Broadcasting and YLE

From Estonian Public Broadcasting:  Finnish Defense Minister Jussi Niinistö has disclosed that Finland is planning to test its defenses of Åland Islands from “little green men.”

NATO NATO Partnerships
Estonian soldier participating in NATO's Steadfast Javelin Exercise, May 11, 2015

NATOSource

Jul 30, 2015

Gaps in NATO Hybrid Defense

By Mark Galeotti, War on the Rocks

[In hybrid warfare,] soldiers are often the last, not the first into the breach, only appearing once the war has been all but won through political and economic subversion, division, and demoralization.

European Union Intelligence
RAF Typhoons Intercept Russian Jets, July 24, 2015

NATOSource

Jul 30, 2015

British Fighters Intercept Ten Russian Military Aircraft in One Mission

By Royal Air Force and Telegraph

From Royal Air Force:  On Friday 24th July as part of NATO’s ongoing mission to police Baltic airspace, RAF Typhoons intercepted 10 Russian aircraft during a single Baltic Air Patrol, Quick Reaction Alert mission:

NATO Russia

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