issue spotlight

Stay updated

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

In the News

Mar 15, 2015

Herbst: Putin and the ‘Mariupol Test’

By John Herbst

Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center Director John Herbst cowrites for the New York Times on whether Russia will move on the strategic Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and how the West should react:

Russia Ukraine
US tank arriving in Riga, March 10, 2015

NATOSource

Mar 14, 2015

US Sending 3,000 Troops to Baltic Allies

By Jon Harper, Stars and Stripes

Thousands of troops and major hardware from the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division are heading to the Baltic region to reassure NATO allies

NATO Northern Europe
Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist, March 26, 2014

NATOSource

Mar 13, 2015

Sweden Plans to Increase Military Spending

By Wall Street Journal and AFP

From Charlie Duxbury, Wall Street Journal:  The Nordic state has seen its airspace violated by Russian military jets on a number of occasions and the appearance of a mystery foreign submarine in Swedish waters last fall further raised tensions.

Northern Europe Russia
Swedish soldier, Nov. 14, 2010

NATOSource

Mar 13, 2015

Sweden Sending Troops to Strategic Baltic Island Amid Russia Tensions

By Richard Milne, Financial Times

Sweden will put troops back on the strategic Baltic Sea island of Gotland after a decade-long absence as increased sabre-rattling from Russia unnerves the region.

Northern Europe Russia

Event Recap

Mar 12, 2015

Human Rights Abuses in Russian Occupied Crimea

By Atlantic Council

On March 6, the Atlantic Council’s Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center hosted a panel discussion introducing a report Human Rights Abuses in Russian-Occupied Crimea, by Andrii Klymenko. The report chronicles how in one year of occupation, the Russian authorities have established a repressive system of control aimed at suppressing and intimidating “disloyal” groups. Rather than protecting […]

Russia Ukraine
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Jan. 22, 2014

NATOSource

Mar 12, 2015

Germany’s Foreign Minister: The Transatlantic Order is Under Challenge

By Frank-Walter Steinmeier, New York Times

Today, the trans-Atlantic bond is being tested again. Crises are erupting ever closer to the European Union’s borders:

European Union Germany

UkraineAlert

Mar 12, 2015

Did Kharkiv Just Become Russia’s Next Target in Ukraine War?

By New Atlanticist

A Criminal Case Could Turn the City’s Political Strongman Back into a Kremlin Ally  In Russia’s campaign to re-assert control over Ukraine, a logical target for its “hybrid war” is Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city and a center of its Russian-speaking population. And indeed, Russia has been working steadily to destabilize Kharkiv (just 25 miles from […]

Russia Ukraine
A German Army Leopard II tank, Oct. 25, 2012

NATOSource

Mar 10, 2015

Calls in Germany Grow to Reverse Cuts to Army

By Anton Troianovski, Wall Street Journal

[A] chorus of leading German politicians is saying the Ukraine conflict calls for boosting military spending—until recently, a political taboo.

Germany NATO
The Aerorozvidka project has 16 drones

NATOSource

Mar 10, 2015

Ukraine’s Drone Warriors

By Patrick Tucker, Defense One

The Aerorozvidka project is one example of what you might call a war startup.

Drones Russia
Pro-Russian fighters in Sloviansk, April 16, 2014

NATOSource

Mar 10, 2015

How Many Russians Are Fighting in Ukraine?

By Mark Urban, BBC

The Kremlin has denied its forces are directly involved in combat, but the latest estimate by US Lt Gen Ben Hodges, commander of the US Army in Europe, says 12,000 Russian troops are operating inside the neighbouring country.

NATO Russia

Experts

Events