Ukrainian officials have condemned a new decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in early 2024 simplifying the process of conferring Russian citizenship on Ukrainian children abducted from wartime Ukraine. Issued on January 4, 2024, the citizenship decree is officially designed to ease the process of granting Russian citizenship to foreign nationals and stateless persons.
In the first days of 2024, the Ukrainian authorities unveiled a vision for the future of the country’s State Customs Service as an emerging eastern customs border for the entire European Union. This ambitious goal aims to build on Ukraine’s traditional status as a gateway nation between the EU, Asia, and the Middle East. It
Hamas hostage-taking is a standing threat to global security. If this crime is left unaddressed and its victims go without redress, international norms will be severely eroded, and the world risks witnessing a rise in hostage-taking and terrorist atrocities. Hamas’ atrocities on October 7, 2023 featured the largest international hostage-taking in modern history. Inhumane acts—including
When Vladimir Putin first embarked on the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he sought to disguise the attack as an act of self-defense while claiming Russia had no interest in occupying Ukrainian territory. “We do not plan to impose ourselves on anyone,” he declared. With the invasion now fast approaching the two-year mark, the Russian dictator
On December 29, 2023, South Africa brought a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague over allegations of genocide against the Palestinian people. Hearings on South Africa’s request for provisional measures are being held on January 11 and 12. The Atlantic Council’s Lisandra Novo, who previously was a judicial
On December 14, 2023, the European Union made history by designating Georgia as an official candidate country. On the same day, the European Council also confirmed its decision to start accession discussions with Ukraine and Moldova. European Council President Charles Michel heralded this as “a clear signal of hope for our continent.” Joseph Borrell, the
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa started the new year with a declaration of “internal armed conflict” against criminal groups, coupled with a sixty-day state of emergency. Earlier this week, two leaders of criminal groups—José Adolfo Macías Salazar, alias “Fito,” of the group Los Choneros, and Fabricio Colón Pico, alias “Capitan Pico,” from Los Lobos—escaped from prison.
As tensions increase with Iran and its proxies in the Red Sea, it’s growing harder for Biden administration officials to avoid an ugly truth: The Iranian regime is pivotal to most of the Middle East’s worst problems, and US inattention will only make those problems worse. Hamas’s terrorist strike on October 7 wouldn’t have happened
Visitors to today’s Ukraine are often surprised to find that away from the front lines, everything looks so normal. Most people in central and western Ukraine have returned home. Shops and restaurants in towns and cities across the country are open and fully stocked. Everything functions, including mobile phone networks, internet, electricity, and public transport.
The European Council’s recent decision to open accession negotiations with Ukraine was a momentous moment both for Kyiv and the European Union. Now the serious work begins. Ukraine’s EU story is a decade in the making. Ukraine’s European aspirations were a driving factor behind the 2013-14 Revolution of Dignity. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in
