This branch of research analyses the relations of Russia and the New Independent States with the rest of the world, with a special focus on security issues.
To implement the “grand strategy”, Moscow’s strongest card is the energy weapon. However, the fall in oil prices and the conflict in Ukraine have brought things sharply into perspective. The traditional military dimension of the army is currently resigned to waging “limited wars” in localized...
In the recent years Russia has made a significant effort in favor of modernizing its armed forces which allowed it to execute the swift annexation of Crimea in March 2014. Nevertheless, the deteriorating economic situation casts doubts on Russia’s ability to continue these ambitious reforms.<...>
Throughout the Ukraine crisis, the West has been surprised at the brutality of Russia's reaction. It has also been surprised by the broad support for Vladimir Putin's policy among the country’s elites and the population at large (88% of whom back the policy), despite the impact of sanctions...
Two questions arise when the role of a diaspora in crisis is considered. Do diasporas embody an internal threat to the security of the nation state? And why do some efforts to use diasporas as a tool of international politics succeed while others fail? In this paper, the Ukrainian 2014-2015...
After denying Russian intervention in Crimea, President Putin ultimately recognized that it indeed happened and then used fallacious arguments to justify it.
In 2014, Germany’s relations with Russia markedly deteriorated. The decline was precipitous but it did not occur suddenly. It began some time before Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and the Kremlin’s support for separatism and thinly concealed military intervention in eastern...
For much of the post-Soviet period, Central Asia has been a backwater of Russian foreign policy. But things are changing. Circumstances in and beyond the region are driving a more committed approach in Moscow.
Recent events have provided the opportunity for the rekindling of relations between Ukraine and the European Union.
Moscow has every intention of including Ukraine in its Eurasian Union, with one major playing card: the exchange of Kiev’s sovereignty for economic and financial advantages.
Ukraine is divided along historical, ideological, economic, religious and linguistic lines, which it has failed to unite in its brief history.
