How a Kyiv state organ is undermining Ukraine’s European integration

Historical remembrance and national reconciliation are touchy issues – especially when they concern large wars, mass murder and suffering of millions in the recent rather than far-away past. Ukraine’s memory of the nation’s Soviet history is primarily concerned with the enormous number of victims of Bolshevik and Nazi rule over, and wars in, Ukraine. Millions of Ukrainians – along with millions of other victims – living in the “bloodlands” (Timothy Snyder) were killed and terrorized by Europe’s two most murderous totalitarian regimes. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians collaborated to one degree or another with both of the killing machines – a considerable challenge for Ukrainian memory policies.

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The Case for Kyiv’s Ratification of the Rome Statute

Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the idea of enlisting the help of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to punish those responsible for Moscow’s seizure of Crimea and the Donbas region has become popular in Ukrainian political discourse. This aspiration is but one expression of the willingness of many Ukrainians to let international organizations take a prominent role in their state’s domestic issues. That approach is in stark contrast to Moscow’s increasingly dualistic approach to foreign organizations and treaties, according to which international and domestic law spheres are treated as two separate areas... 

The Case for Smarter Sanctions against an Increasingly Bellicose Russia

What should be done about an increasingly aggressive Russia? The past few weeks have brought more evidence of Moscow’s move away from international norms and law. From continued denials of complicity in the MH17 tragedy and the bombing of a humanitarian convoy in Syria, to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent exit from the Nuclear Security Pact with the US, Russia’s behaviour is diverging further from the rules-based consensus of the post-Cold War world. This is in spite of Western sanctions that were introduced against Moscow in 2014.

Sixty countries, trillions of dollars of investments, 4.4 billion people, and 40 percent of the world’s economy – that’s the platform of the largest economyproject in world’s history, undertaken by China. President Xi Jinping personally oversees the implementation of this idea.

While maintaining secrecy might be a way to get the agreement off the ground, convincing the parties to implement its terms, fight terrorism, and end the war will require much more transparency, particularly regarding Assad's future.

Moscow’s efforts to strengthen its influence in Eurasia continue to cause anxiety in the states along Russia’s periphery, in Europe, and in the United States. Russia’s capacity to engage Russian compatriots is widely perceived as one of the main instruments of Moscow’s influence in the region and a tool to recreate Russia’s great power status. A closer investigation of Russia’s policy reveals, however, that short-term tactical gains are offset by serious, damaging long-term costs, not the least of which is a diminishment of the efficacy of the compatriots’ policy as a foreign policy tool. Yet the narrative of a Russian World has become a major factor in the development of Russia’s post-Soviet national identity and its engagement with the Eurasian geopolitical landscape.

For effective complex defence of Latvia, the establishment of a permanent division of the National Armed Forces has started in Latgale, reported the official website of the Ministry of Defence.

On 13 January a concert "Together to the victory" was held in Lithuania, where the audience decided to support Ukraine's defence and donated 110 thousand Euros.

Alexander Lukashenko on 9 January signed a decree № 8 "On the establishment of visa-free entry and exit of foreign nationals." The document establishes visa-free entry to Belarus for a period not exceeding 5 days at the entrance through the checkpoint "National Airport Minsk" for citizens of 80 countries, - reported the press service of the President of Belarus.