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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

UkraineAlert

Jan 23, 2015

Russian Troops Lead Moscow’s Biggest Direct Offensive in Ukraine Since August

By James Rupert

As Kremlin Escalates, the War Costs Ukraine $6 Million-Plus Daily, Atlantic Council’s Herbst Says A “substantial number” of Russian Federation special forces troops led this week’s capture of the Donetsk airport amid what appears to be Russia’s biggest direct military offensive in Ukraine since last summer. The offensive, by thousands of Russian troops, appears aimed […]

Russia Ukraine
SACEUR Gen. Philip Breedlove, Sept. 12, 2014

NATOSource

Jan 22, 2015

Threat of New Russian Incursion as Violence Flares in Ukraine

By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes

There are signs Russian forces are building up their presence in eastern Ukraine, where fighting in recent days between Ukrainian troops and separatists has intensified, NATO Supreme Allied Command Gen. Philip Breedlove said Thursday.

NATO Russia
Colonel Aivar Jaeski

NATOSource

Jan 22, 2015

NATO Colonel Sheds Light on Russia ‘Psy-Ops’

By Valentina Pop, euobserver

[Aivar] Jaeski [Deputy Director of the NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence in Latvia], who also oversaw Nato information operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, described Moscow’s campaign as “a psy-op”

NATO Northern Europe
President Barack Obama, Jan. 25, 2011

NATOSource

Jan 21, 2015

Transatlantic Priorities in Obama’s State of the Union Address

By White House

My first duty as commander in chief is to defend the United States of America.

Afghanistan Cybersecurity

UkraineAlert

Jan 20, 2015

Russian Militia in Ukraine Says It’s Building an Air Force: Is that Quixotic or Dangerous?

By New Atlanticist

The Kremlin-loyalist Russian TV station LifeNews told the story January 17 that the Lugansk People’s Republic, the mini-state propped up by Russia in Ukraine’s Lugansk province, is establishing an air force. The station played just a minute of video showing men in winter military uniforms rolling a 1960s-era two-seat jet trainer—marked with the red star […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 20, 2015

Russia Sends New Army Troops Into Ukraine War, Kyiv Says

By James Rupert

Intensified Combat and a Wave of Bombings May Be Kremlin Pushing Ukraine to Accept New Talks Russia reportedly has sent two battalions of troops into Ukraine’s Donbas region to strengthen its forces there amid a week-long spike in combat. At a minimum, Russia’s injection of new regular troops, tanks and rockets is a warning to […]

Russia Ukraine
Gen. Martin Dempsey, Jan. 6, 2012

NATOSource

Jan 20, 2015

Dempsey: Terrorism and Russian Aggression Threaten European Security

By Lisa Ferdinando, DoD News

Terrorism and Russian aggression are two “very distinct threats” to European security, according to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Europe & Eurasia Italy
Russia-Belarus military exercise Zapad, Sept. 26, 2013

NATOSource

Jan 16, 2015

Russia Could Soon Run Multiple Ukraine-Sized Operations: US General

By Adrian Croft, Reuters

Russia is working to develop within a few years the capability to threaten several neighbors at once on the scale of its present operation in Ukraine, a senior American general said.

NATO Northern Europe

UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2015

Four Months after Ukraine-Russia Truce, Putin Can’t Risk Implementing It

By James Rupert

The War at Donetsk’s Airport is On—And Peace Talks Planned for This Week Are Off The intensified battle between Ukraine and Russia for the airport in Donetsk seems likely to be a fight over this month’s military message in the Donbas war. Russia’s army veterans, fighting as mercenaries, form the bulk of the anti-Ukraine force […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2015

Ukraine’s Dignified Warrior: Nadiya Savchenko Confronts the Kremlin

By Irena Chalupa

Paratrooper, Pilot, Parliamentarian, She Pressures Moscow with Hunger Strike in Prison In seven months since a Russian-backed militia in southeastern Ukraine captured Nadiya Savchenko, the Ukrainian paratrooper and pilot has become one of her country’s biggest icons in its war against the Russian invasion. Her captors spirited her illegally into Russia, held her in isolation, […]

Russia Ukraine

Experts