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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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REUTERS/Konstantin Grishin

New Atlanticist

May 20, 2014

For Crimea’s Tatars, Russia’s Occupation is a ‘Third Tragedy’

By Idil Izmirli

Note to Western Allies: ‘Tatars Understand That They Now Face a Long, New Struggle’  In the dark first hours of May 18, 1944, Soviet army convoys rumbled into the villages of Crimea’s native Tatars and began forcing 230,000 of them into exile. Soldiers packed the Tatars into rail cars, typically without food or water, to […]

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

May 19, 2014

Journalism is a Crime In Crimea

By Volodymyr Prytula

Under Russian Control, Vigilantes and Police Detain, Beat, Threaten Reporters Osman Pashaev, 37, is one of the most popular television reporters in Crimea. Pashaev, an ethnic Tatar, worked for years for the region’s Tatar channel ATR and recently founded his own internet channel. Yesterday, Pashaev joined other Crimea journalists in covering the Tatar community’s public […]

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

May 19, 2014

Russian Separatist Commander Appeals for Volunteers, Says He is Short of Fighters

By Irena Chalupa

Colonel Igor Girkin, in Video, Laments Failure of Ukrainians to Rally to His Secessionist Uprising The Russian armed forces colonel commanding eastern Ukraine’s secessionist militias can’t recruit enough local men as fighters, and that doesn’t make him happy.  Igor Girkin has been away from his family and his apartment in Moscow for months now, leading […]

Russia Ukraine
BAE found malicious code in ten countries

NATOSource

May 19, 2014

Russian Cyber Campaign Continues to Penetrate NATO Ministries

By Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg View

It shouldn’t be easy to shut down a European ministry for days, depriving bureaucrats of access to e-mail and the web. Someone, however, has managed to do just that to Belgium’s foreign ministry, which had to quarantine its entire computer system last Saturday

NATO Russia
REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

New Atlanticist

May 19, 2014

Russian Campaign in Eastern Ukraine is Losing Steam, ex-US Ambassador Says

By James Rupert

Atlantic Council’s John Herbst Cites Putin Pullbacks, Statements by Russian Leaders in Ukraine Insurgency Today’s announcement by Russia’s government that President Vladimir Putin has ordered a pullback of Russian troops from Ukraine’s border is the latest of a half-dozen signals that “the Russian effort to destabilize eastern Ukraine is losing steam,” according to the director […]

Russia Ukraine
Latvian soldier participating in Steadfast Jazz exercise

NATOSource

May 19, 2014

Unprotected in the East: NATO Appears Toothless in Russia Crisis

By Spiegel

According to information SPIEGEL obtained by SPIEGEL, a draft version of a comprehensive, restricted internal NATO assessment of the situation reads: “Russia’s ability to undertake significant military action with little warning presents a wider threat to the maintenance of security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area.

Germany NATO
Opening ceremony for Steadfast Jazz Exercise

NATOSource

May 19, 2014

Spiegel: NATO Unprepared If Russia Moved into Baltic Members

By Deutsche Welle

According to the German magazine Spiegel, NATO is examining scenarios in the event of a Russian military move in Eastern Europe. Alarm bells are already ringing in eastern states, and NATO is keen to show it could cope.

Germany NATO

In the News

May 18, 2014

Karatnycky on Ukrainian Presidential Election

By Adrian Karatnycky

The New York Times quotes Transatlantic Relations Program Senior Fellow Adrian Karatnycky on Petro Poroshenko’s candidacy in the upcoming Ukrainian presidential election:

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

May 16, 2014

Ukraine Magnate’s Steelworkers Confront Secessionist Militias

By Irena Chalupa and James Rupert

Rinat Akhmetov’s Intervention Means Kyiv Government Will Have to Negotiate With Him What does it mean?  Thousands of steelworkers and other employees of Ukraine’s biggest business empire are now patrolling several cities in southeastern Ukraine, working with local police to oppose further violence by Russian-backed secessionist militias. However effective this initiative turns out to be, […]

Russia Ukraine
Defense Commission of the Swedish Parliament visited Lithuania

NATOSource

May 16, 2014

Swedish Defense Commission Says Russian Aggression in Ukraine has Increased Risk in Nordic and Baltic Region

By Swedish Mission to NATO

The Swedish Parliamentary Defence Commission (Försvarsberedningen) presented its defence report to Minister for Defence Karin Enström on 15 May.

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