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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.

Content

Russia's Ambassador to NATO, Alexander Grushko

NATOSource

Apr 10, 2015

NATO Reduces Size of Russian Delegation After Internal Reports of Espionage

By Michael R. Gordon, New York Times

For a year after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization cut back its cooperation with Russia as punishment for the country’s incursions into Ukraine, Russia’s NATO mission has seemed curiously impervious to the deteriorating ties.

Intelligence NATO
ZAPAD 2013

NATOSource

Apr 9, 2015

Benitez: Russia’s Military Exercises are Very Dangerous

By Jela de Franceschi and Isabela Cocoli, Voice of America

NATOSource Director and Brent Scowcroft Center Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council Jorge Benitez said that Russian military activities along the Finnish border, the deployment of strategic weapons systems to Kaliningrad and Crimea, and positions across the Baltic Fleet, Black Sea Fleet, and in the western and southern military districts, mimicked a full-scale attack against […]

NATO Russia

New Atlanticist

Apr 9, 2015

The Bear is Inside the Wire

By Frank J. Cilluffo and Sharon L. Cardash

Russian hackers, fresh from breaching the State Department’s unclassified networks in recent months, have managed to sneak into “sensitive but unclassified” White House networks, CNN reported on April 7. The perpetrators gained access to real-time non-public details of the President’s schedule, precisely the type of information foreign intelligence services prioritize for collection. The White House […]

Cybersecurity Russia
Czech soldiers participating in exercise Noble Jump, April 8, 2015

NATOSource

Apr 9, 2015

Exercise Tests If New NATO Force Can Respond Rapidly

By Naftali Bendavid, Wall Street Journal

When 200 Dutch troops converged on the air force base here this week, it wasn’t a routine case of reporting for duty but a test for a key element of NATO’s response to the renewed Russian threat.

Central Europe Germany

New Atlanticist

Apr 9, 2015

Can Gazprom Really Cut Out Ukrainian Transit Post-South Stream?

By Nolan Theisen

Despite an unceremonious end to the controversial South Stream mega-pipeline, Russia remains outspoken and determined in its effort to carve Ukraine entirely out of its European natural gas deliveries which accounted for 62 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Gazprom’s European-bound exports in 2014. Formally announced in 2007, South Stream had been the centerpiece of this […]

Energy & Environment Energy Markets & Governance

Event Recap

Apr 8, 2015

Former Putin Adviser on Kremlin’s Big War

Western sanctions on Russia are not working and a proposal to provide defensive weapons to Ukrainian security forces will not deter the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, according to Andrei Illarionov, a former adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “For those few people who are there [on the sanctions list], yes, it is rather painful,” but […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 7, 2015

Will Sanctions on Russia, Weapons for Ukrainians Keep Putin at Bay?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Former Putin advisor says they will not, advocates stronger response Western sanctions on Russia are not working and a proposal to provide defensive weapons to Ukrainian security forces will not deter the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, according to Andrei Illarionov, a former advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “For those few people who are there […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 7, 2015

Putin’s Chilling Message to the West

By Ariel Cohen

Vladimir Putin’s 10-day disappearance shortly after the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov and his triumphal reappearance after the broadcast of a 150-minute documentary on state television, suggest a more erratic—and aggressive—policy course in Russia. Here’s why. After Putin’s disappearance on March 5, the Russian media and the blogosphere dealt with little else.  However, the […]

Russia Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin laying flowers at a monument, April 6, 2015

NATOSource

Apr 7, 2015

America Will Lose Patience with European Appeasement

By Robert D. Kaplan, Financial Times

[N]o word captures the general mood of Europe better than appeasement.

Europe & Eurasia Russia

In the News

Apr 4, 2015

Benitez on Russian Military Exercises

By Jorge Benitez

Voice of America quotes NATOSource Director and Brent Scowcroft Center Senior Fellow Jorge Benitez on Russian military exercises near the borders of NATO countries:

NATO Russia

Experts

Events