...Karen E. Smith Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine is the most severe challenge that the European Union faces. The EU has generally responded in a united and robust manner, overcoming the clash of national interests that had previously characterized its policymaking vis-à-vis Russia. The most...

... trafficking and fishing have long thrived in northern peripheries beyond state reach, while Russia’s transition to capitalism in the 1990s institutionalized the black market. The invasion of Ukraine further tightened ties between Russian Arctic resource development and criminal underworlds. With the Kremlin...

... of manpower has deteriorated. The ill-fated reliance on the Wagner Group was a result of this degradation. Nuclear weapons cannot be used to break the pattern of slow-moving defeat, and the resource base for sustaining the long war is being depleted. In the medium term, Russia cannot count on rehabilitating...

... in 2014. This process further intensified in 2019, and escalated after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when the party refused to join the EU’s sanctions against Russia and started openly criticizing European officials, while escalating attacks on liberal values. l.tsuladze...

...Kristy Ironside In Russia, attempts at liberalizing state finances have long run up against the autocratic desire for control of the money supply. Russia ruble monetary policy autocracy sanctions history In the days following Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine in February 2022...

...-minute decision of then-President Viktor Yanukovych, pressured and bribed by Russia, to refrain from signing an association and free trade agreement with the European Union. The protests prevented Yanukovych from pivoting Ukraine away from Europe and anchoring it to Russia. But Euromaidan itself did...

...Johan Engvall Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has backfired, weakening Moscow economically, politically, and militarily, and these setbacks have undermined Moscow’s strategic position in its so-called near abroad. Russia had considered Central Asia one of its most secure regions of influence, thanks...

... like an actual evacuation from the war. [email protected] © 2023 by The Regents of the University of California 2023 Ukraine Russia Ukraine war historical memory displacement refugees As part of a project devoted to recording Ukrainian experiences of the current full...

...–Cold War era. For both Finland and Sweden, the key motivation for joining NATO was the need for greater strategic stability in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The swift decisions to cast aside their traditional military nonalignment cannot be understood without considering the strong...

...Marco Siddi An energy crisis has unfolded in the European Union since the autumn of 2021. The crisis has worsened due to Russia’s attack on Ukraine and climate change. The EU reacted by launching the REPowerEU agenda, which aims at cutting imports of Russian fossil fuels by diversifying trade...

...Michelle Bentley Even political actors who disregard the international consensus against aggressive war may still fear the taboos surrounding the most powerful weapons. weapons of mass destruction nuclear weapons chemical weapons taboos Vladimir Putin Ukraine Russia Vladimir Putin...

... and desperation. © 2022 by The Regents of the University of California 2022 Russia Ukraine Soviet Union society wartime national identity The Russian invasion of Ukraine seemingly shocked Russia experts as much as anyone else. At home, it brought disbelief, fear, and apprehension to the majority...

...Adeeb Khalid Claims that countries like China, Russia, Turkey, and Iran are driven by imperial legacies to engage in aggressive foreign policies may oversell the influence of bygone empires and uniquely Eurasian mentalities on present-day geopolitics. Empires of Eurasia: How Imperial Legacies...

... toward Ukraine. © 2022 by The Regents of the University of California 2022 Russia Ukraine history propaganda education World War II Russia’s predatory war against Ukraine reminds us how much history matters. Months before the invasion began on February 24, 2022, Russian President...

...Serhiy Kudelia Ukraine defied expectations by withstanding a full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, demonstrating the resilience of both local and national institutions. This was a striking contrast with 2014, when Russia seized Crimea and backed separatist revolts in the east of Ukraine...

...Neringa Klumbytė In the 1990s, Lithuania’s sovereignty politics was defined by its departure from the Soviet authoritarian regime and the transition to democracy, culminating in its integration into the European Union and NATO in 2004. Since Russia’s occupation of Crimea in 2014, Lithuania’s...

...Ed Pulford China’s tacit support for Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine raises questions about the extent of the two countries’ official “Friendship.” Studying the history of this tie, including during past crises comparable to the current war in Ukraine, shows that Friendship has its...

...Alexander Etkind Alexei Navalny has been the most prominent campaigner against Russia’s massive oil-fueled corruption, reaching millions of viewers with witty video exposés. Now imprisoned in a penal colony after returning to Moscow following his recovery from a poisoning, he has made his own...

...Melissa L. Caldwell Churches and other faith-based communities have taken the lead in the human rights sector in Russia. At a time when many secular activists have been harassed, imprisoned, forced into exile, and even murdered, interfaith partnerships working on civil rights for minorities...

...Svetlana Borodina Despite Russia’s history of state surveillance of activists and civil society, both in the Soviet era and after, people with disabilities have found ways to challenge their living conditions and push for change. Through a variety of grassroots tactics, they have historically been...