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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.

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

Member of Donbass militia, June 2, 2014

NATOSource

Jul 31, 2014

NATO has to Prepare to Contain the Chaos at Europe’s Edge

By Rory Stewart, Financial Times

[N]ow the ungoverned space is on the edge of Europe and the insurgents are being supported by a country with some of the world’s most sophisticated military equipment and most effective intelligence services.

Central Asia Moldova

UkraineAlert

Jul 31, 2014

From Lugansk to Las Vegas: The Corrupt Empire of Oleksander Yefremov

By Irena Chalupa

How a Ukrainian Boss and His Political Machine Have Helped Russia’s Attack on Ukraine Oleksander Yefremov, a boyish-looking sixty-year-old, is one of eastern Ukraine’s most prominent politicians and businessmen. For over a decade, he has been the corrupt strongman of Lugansk, one of the two provinces where Russia’s government and military have been sponsoring the […]

Russia Ukraine
Soldier with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, Feb. 25, 2014

NATOSource

Jul 31, 2014

British Defense Committee Finds NATO ‘Poorly Prepared’ to Defend Members From Russian Threat

By House of Commons Defense Committee

Our conclusion is that NATO is currently not well-prepared for a Russian threat against a NATO Member State.

NATO Russia

Event Recap

Jul 31, 2014

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister: Kremlin Should ‘Take Back … Mercenaries’ Driving the Ukraine War

By James Rupert

Pavlo Klimkin, in Washington Visit, Speaks at Atlantic Council Forum Ukraine’s government is ready to negotiate new political powers for local governments in southeastern Ukraine, but such a settlement will require first that Russia remove both the leaders and the mercenary fighters of the separatist militias that it has created there, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister […]

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Jul 31, 2014

Europe’s New Sanctions: a ‘Game Changer’ in Pressing Kremlin on Ukraine, Burwell Says

By James Rupert

EU’s Economic Ties to Russia Slow its Pace, But New Steps Show Unity With US This week’s European sanctions on Russia are “a game-changer” in applying the European Union’s first restrictions on a relatively broad sector of trade, says the Atlantic Council’s Fran Burwell. While the sanctions are shaped to avoid directly damaging key European […]

Russia Ukraine

In the News

Jul 30, 2014

Hansen: Europe’s Step in the Right Direction

By Ian Hansen

Atlantic Council Program Assistant Ian Hansen writes for US News and World Report on why the EU action against Russia must go beyond sanctions:

European Union International Organizations

Defense Industrialist

Jul 30, 2014

Russian Imports, Ukrainian Exports

By James Hasik

Kiev will have an easier time severing military-industrial ties than Moscow will. Harsher sanctions, meant specifically to limit technologically advanced imports to the Russian armaments industry, are on the way from the countries of Europe and North America. In response, President Putin earlier this week convened a meeting of officials from government and industry on “import replacement.” […]

Russia Ukraine
Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and President Barack Obama, July 8, 2014

NATOSource

Jul 30, 2014

Russia and the West’s Dangerous Clash: Time for NATO & EU Expansion East?

By Ian Bond, Denis Corboy, William Courtney, and Kenneth Yalowitz, National Interest

[T]he North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), while modestly buttressing defenses in member states in Central Europe and the Baltics, has left Ukraine out in the cold.

NATO NATO Partnerships

Event Recap

Jul 29, 2014

Impact of Corruption on Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova

On Tuesday, July 29th, the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center hosted an off-the-record private strategy session on the impact of corruption in Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova, co-organized with the Legatum Institute of London, and the Institute of Modern Russia at the Atlantic Council. The session featured discussants Oliver Bullough, award winning journalist and author; Peter Pomerantsev, […]

Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Barack Obama, June 18, 2012

NATOSource

Jul 29, 2014

US Says Russia Violated Arms Treaty

By Michael R. Gordon, New York Times

The United States has concluded that Russia violated a landmark arms control treaty by testing a prohibited ground-launched cruise missile

Europe & Eurasia NATO

Experts

Events