Category: Russia

NATO summit leaves Ukrainians frustrated

As Ukrainians digested the outcome of the NATO summit on July 11, the mood across the country was one of frustration. While the annual gathering of NATO leaders in Vilnius brought a number of tangible gains for Ukraine including confirmation of new weapons deliveries and the creation of a coalition to train Ukrainian pilots to

The NATO Summit’s underwhelming support for Ukraine

JUST IN It’s a fast track with a slow start. NATO leaders meeting in Vilnius today released their summit communiqué, in which they said that Ukraine no longer needs to complete a membership action plan to join the Alliance—but that an invitation would only be extended “when allies agree and conditions are met.” In the

What’s behind Erdogan’s backing of Sweden’s NATO bid?

JUST IN The wait is (nearly) over. After more than a year of ups and downs since Sweden applied to join NATO in May 2022, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has agreed to back Stockholm’s bid to become the Alliance’s thirty-second member. The announcement came on the eve of the NATO Summit in Vilnius after

Moldova must seize opportunity to end energy dependence on Russia

When Moldova acceded to the EU Energy Community Treaty in 2010, it pledged to restructure away from Soviet centralization and reform its natural gas sector to comply with the EU’s anti-trust laws. More than 13 years later, the path ahead toward unbundling remains long and winding. The issue is urgent, however, because without gas sector

Prigozhin was a torpedo to the idea that the West must not humiliate Putin

A version of this article originally appeared in El Mundo. It has been translated from Spanish by the staff of Palacio y Asociados and is reprinted here with the author’s and publisher’s permission. Two weeks have passed, and few clues have emerged from the theatrical failed coup in Russia. It was closely followed by millions of

Why local officials must participate in Ukraine’s reconstruction

It is now beyond question: Putin’s dream of decapitating Ukraine’s central leadership and subjugating the country has turned into a nightmare for Russia. Rather than finding Ukraine’s society divided and malleable, Russia has encountered a confident citizenry animated by commitments to a free and democratic future. While many of Ukraine’s national figures have provided commendable

Dispatch from Vilnius: Will Zelenskyy show at the summit? It depends on whether Biden listens to frontline NATO allies.

VILNIUS—Here’s an easy way to judge the success of NATO’s summit here on Tuesday and Wednesday: Will President Volodymyr Zelenskyy join the traditional “family photo” of the Alliance’s thirty-one leaders? “The summit has only one essential outcome,” Doug Lute, a former US ambassador to NATO and member of the Atlantic Council’s board of directors, told

Russian War Report: Russian conspiracy alleges false flag at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

As Russia continues its assault on Ukraine, the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) is keeping a close eye on Russia’s movements across the military, cyber, and information domains. With more than seven years of experience monitoring the situation in Ukraine—as well as Russia’s use of propaganda and disinformation to undermine the United States, NATO,

The view from Vilnius: NATO needs speed and scale to ensure deterrence 

Preparations are underway here in Vilnius for the upcoming NATO leaders’ summit, but there is difficult and important diplomatic work ahead. If there is one thing the summit needs to accomplish, it’s to confidently demonstrate the scale and the speed of the Alliance’s ability to defend freedom.  The run-up to the July 11-12 summit in Lithuania