Armenia responds to Azerbaijanโs fascism accusation: They want to provoke tensions
Azerbaijan has fought a series of wars against Armenia in recent years.
Soviet Union
There is no such thing as good nuclear proliferation
In a world less constrained by international norms and rules, and increasingly governed by sheer power, the strictures that long constrained nuclear proliferation are in danger of loosening โ if not untangling altogether.
How Charles Michel waded into a minefield in Nagorno-Karabakh
The former Council President wanted to intervene in a bitter conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He ended up mired in problems of his own, excerpts from a new book on the region reveal.
EU to pro-Russian Moldovan separatists: Just take the gas
The gas supply dispute between the Moldovan government and its breakaway region of Transnistria is reigniting political tensions.
Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy hopes Trumpโs โunpredictabilityโ can end war with Russia
Ukrainian leader has sought to build bridges with Trump amid fears the president-elect could slow vital military aid once in office. What we know on day 1,045See all our Ukraine coverageUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed hope that US…
Moldovan region Transnistria shuts down its industries after loss of Russian gas
Breakaway territory of 450,000 people suffers painful and immediate hit as Ukraine ends transit agreementThe shutdown of Russian gas supplies to Moldovaโs breakaway Transnistria region has forced the closure of all industrial companies except food prod…
Ukraine war briefing: New Yearโs Day drone strike kills two in Kyiv
Explosions boomed across the morning sky as Ukraineโs air force warned of incoming drones. What we know on day 1,044See all our Ukraine war coverage Russia launched a New Yearโs Day drone strike on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Wednesday, killing…
Moldova declares state of emergency as Russia-Ukraine gas deal ends
Russia’s gas transit to Europe via Ukraine stopped on Wednesday, Moscow and Kyiv said, ending a decades-long arrangement and marking the latest casualty of the war between the neighbours. Russian gas has been supplied to Europe via pipelines crossing …
Jimmy Carter, former US president and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, dead at 100
Carter’s one-term presidency was marked by the highs of the 1978 Camp David accords between Israel and Egypt, bringing some stability to the Middle East.
The post Jimmy Carter, former US president and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, dead at 100 appeared f…
Estoniaโs city at the โend of the free worldโ stares across a frozen border at Russia
Estonia’s third-largest city is struggling to face off threats from Russia.
The vast spy agency behind Russian generalโs death
Latest strike in shadow war with Moscow led by SBU, which emerged from Soviet Unionโs KGB
World War III is already underway. In Ukraine.
Three years in, Russiaโs invasion has drawn in dozens of countries.
How Trump divided Trudeau and Freeland
As she quit Cabinet, the finance minister sounded the alarm about Canadaโs preparedness for Trump 2.0.
NATOโs Rutte wants a return to Cold War-level military spending
Governments need to make more orders and defense contractors have to take more risks, NATO’s secretary-general said.
Kapr Code review โ operatic retelling of composer Jan Kaprโs turbulent life
Lucie Krรกlovรกโs daring documentary uses a choir and an original libretto to recount the story of the renegade Czech musicianRetelling the complicated life of prolific Czech composer Jan Kapr, Lucie Krรกlovรกโs category-defying documentary harmonises the …
Trump pledges peace through strength. Will he deliver?
Moscowโs wars are the natural product of an empire still clinging to its past. And if Trumpโs promise is to mean anything, it must confront this truth.
Europeโs next top diplomat is ready to be undiplomatic
Will Kaja Kallas be able to make her voice heard?
Peace plans galore: Lots of ideas to end the fighting but the sides remain far apart
More than 3 years of fighting and the arrival of Donald Trump is increasing pressure for a peace deal.
Putin personally ordered Salisbury poisoning, UK believes
โThe Russians donโt really mind if anyone believes it fully, the point is that thereโs doubt,” says top UK official responsible for Russia policy.
Did the Biden administration discuss returning nuclear weapons to Ukraine?
Rumours about the US returning nuclear weapons to Ukraine have been circulating since November 21, when The New York Times published an article citing several unnamed US officials who “suggested that Mr. Biden could return nuclear weapons to Ukraine t…
Even among artists in exile, the myth of Russian cultural supremacy lives on
Many liberal Russians shelter in states once part of the Soviet Union. Itโs time that they learned to respect the cultures and languages their nation has so long suppressedOne day in the 1990s, I was playing with my cousin in a local park in Chiศinฤu, …
Britain hugs oil giant BP while preaching climate action
BP is a global force in fossil fuel drilling โ and a major player with COP29 summit host Azerbaijan.
The end of Pax Americana
When the U.S. inaugurates Donald J. Trump as its 47th president, the country and world will be very different because of it.
Elon Muskโs dad says Britain is fascist hell now
Britain’s on a “stairway to hell” under Keir Starmer, argues mining magnate.
Moldovans head to polls in major test for EU future
Authorities tell POLITICO they are working to fight Russian interference after first-round vote was marred by allegations of bribery and intimidation.
The man who bought a country
Georgiaโs richest man, Bidzina Ivanishvili is tilting his country toward Moscow ahead of an election on Oct. 26.
We must resist Brussels like we resisted the Soviets in 1956, Orbรกn tells Hungarians
PM Viktor Orbรกn rails against the EU on the anniversary of the Hungarian uprising.
How Gรผlenโs feud with Erdoฤan shaped todayโs Turkey
The cleric’s supporters infiltrated the police and judiciary โ but went too far when they challenged Erdoฤan’s allies and family.
Britainโs heading for a nuclear power crunch. Blame the French.
A once proud fleet of power plants is about to be reduced to one last, lonely nuke.
Moldova faces โexistentialโ EU vote in face of Russian interference
Moscow is using cash and fear in an attempt to regain control of the former Soviet Republic, officials warn.
Zelenskyy and Netanyahu are spawn of Hitler and the devil, Nicaraguan leader says
Russian ally Daniel Ortega berated the Ukrainian and Israeli leaders.
Sweden boosts defense spending to handle a โwartime situationโ
Defense Minister Pรฅl Jonsonย told POLITICO that a Russian attack “cannot be excluded.”
Pennsylvaniaโs Polish Americans lean toward Donald Trump despite Ukraine war
Kamala Harris’ invocation of a war 5,000 miles away seems to be missing the target in the key swing state of Pennsylvania.
Controversial Slovak MEP visits Moscow to thank Russia for โliberationโ
“Russia is still beautiful, still wise and still advanced,” said lawmaker ฤฝuboลก Blaha, an ally of Slovak PM Robert Fico.
Back to the future: Russia to unveil new Stalin statue
There was a public demand to commemorate the dictator responsible for millions of deaths, local politician says.
US and Europe to clarify NATOโs future relationship with Russia
Defense ministers will discuss how to map out a new NATO strategy toward Moscow, to reflect the frosty relationship.
Ukraine will never join NATO on my watch, says Slovakia PM Fico
The admission of new countries to NATO requires unanimous agreement by alliance members.
Germanyโs far right loves one migrant group: Russian Germans
Germany’s AfD is targeting Russian-speakers who migrated to Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Plan to fund Ukraine war with Russian assets down to โtechnicalities,โ Canadian lawmaker says
Chrystia Freeland tells POLITICOโs โPower Playโ that sheโs โvery confidentโ money will start to flow in the coming months.
Elon Musk dismisses UK summit snub, says he doesnโt want to go anyway
โI donโt think anyone should go to the UK when theyโre releasing convicted pedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts,โ said tech billionaire.
Walking a fraying nuclear tightrope
At this perilous moment, a recommitment to nuclear arms control is nothing short of a moral imperative. Weโve done this work before; we can do it again.
Balkan plot to dig up Yugoslav leader Titoโs remains hits a wallย
Belgrade mayor wants Titoโs remains moved back to his native Croatia, triggering a debate hotter than a Balkan summer.
Germany fact-checks Russia for defending 1939 invasion of Poland
โSeriously?โ trolls the German foreign ministry.
Tusk jokes that Poles shouldnโt โpanicโ if they see German soldiers helping out after floods
โThey are here to help,โ the Polish PM said.
Russia tried to stage coup in Armenia, prosecutors allege
A traditional Moscow ally, Armenia has pivoted to the West since the Ukraine war began, and its PM now says it could seek EU membership.
Does America want Ukraine to defeat Russia? It doesnโt look that way.
The presidentโs foreign policy legacy will be shaped by a looming decision in Ukraine.
Secretive Draghi is echoing Soviet Union restructuring
Like Gorbachev’s Perestroika, the report from the former ECB chief could herald a change of historic proportions. It’s far less innocuous than it sounds.
What Kamala Harris Should Learn From Richard Nixon
Try not to wreck the economy.
Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv launches drone strike on Moscow and surrounding regions, Russia says
Drone flying towards Russian capital destroyed, Moscow mayor says; Zelenskiy presses US to allow deeper strikes into Russia. What we know on day 921See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverageUkraine launched an overnight drone attack targeting Moscow and s…
Armenia and Azerbaijan tout possible peace deal
The two sides say they are close to an agreement that could end one of the former Soviet Union’s longest-running territorial conflicts.
Starmer pledges UK support to Ukraine amid anniversary of independence
PM sends message of solidarity as Ukrainians celebrate anniversary of exit from USSRKeir Starmer has told Ukrainians that the UK will back them โtoday and alwaysโ as Kyiv marks 33 years since it declared independence from the Soviet Union.The prime min…
Baltic independence hero says West lacks resolve against Putin
35-years after a seminal protest for freedom from the Soviets, an organizer accuses the West โ particularly Germany โ of โsuicidal naivety.โ
Westโs Ukraine policy of incrementalism is appeasement-light โ and itโs failing
Both Europe and the US must acknowledge that our fear of provoking Moscow is what ends up reliably provoking Moscow.
Ukraine can join NATO even if Putin occupies its land, Czech president says
The former NATO general cited West Germany as a historical comparison.
Putin is paralyzed in crisis โ again
As Ukraine awaits a response to its Kursk invasion, the Russian leader is once again demonstrating he has an adversity problem.
What the last of the anti-war Chicago Seven wants todayโs protestors to know
Lee Weiner helped lead the protests in 1968. Now heโs smoking weed in Ron DeSantisโ hometown.
Ukraineโs incursion into Russia could change everything, US senator says
โThis really set Putin back on his heels,โ he said of Russiaโs president.
Ukraineโs raid into Russia has shifted the tactical narrative
Kursk has indeed turned the tables on Russia, but itโs also highly questionable whether it has shifted the grim dynamics of the conflict.
Elon Musk is โaccountable to no one,โ says UK tech minister as riots rage
Dealing with X is like handling diplomacy with a major state, Peter Kyle says.
Todayโs prisoner exchanges are not like the Cold War
With ordinary citizens being picked up simply to be used as exchange fodder, no Westerner is truly safe in hostile countries anymore.
Prisoner exchange between West and Russia is a diplomatic success with a bitter aftertaste
Twenty-four people imprisoned in seven different countries, and two minors accompanying their parents, passed through Turkey’s Ankara airport on Thursday, as part of the largest exchange ever organized since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Prisoner swaps between Russia and west started in 1962 during cold war
Two groups of people gathered on a bridge separating West Berlin and East Germany for exchange of Russian spy and American pilotThe top-secret negotiations, the hushed rumours and the planes converging on Ankara, a third-country location that was kept …
Phil Gordon: Europeโs โallyโ on Kamala Harrisโ team
Kamala Harris’ national security adviser is one of a dying breed of top U.S. officials with deep knowledge of Europe.
Whoโs who among the prisoner exchange between Russia and the west?
Deal includes political prisoners and journalists held in Russia and Belarus being swapped for Russians held in westEvan Gershkovich and others freed in major prisoner swap with Russia โ liveEvan GershkovichA Wall Street Journal reporter, Gershkovich b…
Zut alors! No Olympic Games go off without a hitch, including Paris
The Paris Olympics are already experiencing their first faux pas, ranging from bad food to a mix up of countries.
Georgian shooter Nino Salukvadze becomes first 10-time female Olympian
55-year-old started Olympic career with Soviet UnionSalukvadze finishes outside qualifying spots for finalGeorgian shooter Nino Salukvadze has become the first woman to compete at 10 Olympic Games in a career that began with her representing the Soviet…
Poland warns Europe to prepare for โchangeโ in US ties, regardless of next president
In exclusive comments to POLITICO, Poland’s foreign minister said that Europe had “no other choice” but to get ready for change.
Democracyโs at risk, itโs time politicians stopped fibbing
Politicians and the truth have always been strained acquaintances, but faced with populist fabulists in our current post-truth era, is deception really the way to go?
NATOโs in denial about deterrence by denial
Taking the necessary steps to fully operationalize deterrence by denial is critical โ especially before a possible change in Americaโs relationship with NATO.
Europe has avoided the nuke question for decades. No longer
America has protected Europe with is nuclear umbrella for more than 70 years. In the era of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, the continent is quietly debating a different nuclear future.
Relearning lessons from the past: NATO and economic deterrence
Thereโs a growing need for the West to seamlessly integrate military deterrence with economic warfare once more.
A life in quotes: Ismail Kadare
Ismail Kadare, the Albanian writer who explored Balkan history and culture in poetry and fiction, has died aged 88. Here are some of the most memorable quotes from interviews he gave throughout his lifeIsmail Kadare, giant of Albanian literature, dies …
Sorry Farage, Putin is provoked by Ukrainian independence โ not NATO
By amplifying Putinโs bogus claims of NATOโs responsibility for todayโs war, Western politicians like Trump and Farage risk legitimizing Russian imperialism.
To understand Georgiaโs European identity, look to its past
Itโs important to understand why the Georgian people take to the streets any time their Euro-Atlantic path is put into doubt.
Did Albaniaโs prime minister call the US โone of the three evils in the worldโ?
A video circulating on social media claims to show Prime Minister Edi Rama labelling the US, Soviet Union and Israel as the worldโs three โevilsโ.
Russia accuses France of fomenting war in the Caucasus with arms sale
Paris, meanwhile, believes that providing weapons to Armenia reduces the likelihood of further attacks from Azerbaijan.
The secret arms deal that cost Putin an ally
Leaked files reveal betrayal by Russiaโs proxies in Belarus provoked Armenia to quit a post-Soviet military alliance with Moscow, in a blow to Vladimir Putin.ย
D-day, Rishi Sunak and the eastern front | Letter
D-day commemorations have failed to mention equally important turning points in the war, says Prof Colin Green. Plus a letter from Ben SummerskillThe D-day 80th anniversary events were really moving, especially hearing from the veterans who survived. M…
In the Baltics, the stateless who canโt vote in the EU election
What if you want to vote in the European election, but you canโt?
Russia detains French citizen on accusations of espionage
The arrest comes after French police detained a Russian-Ukrainian citizen suspected of planning a terror attack.
Moldova strips general of rank and medals over Russian spying allegations
The move comes amid warnings Moscow is seeking to destabilize the EU candidate country.
France U-turns on inviting Russia to D-Day memorial ceremony
The prospect of a Russian presence at the Normandy commemorations drew concern from Western allies.
EU keen to deepen ties with a Labour PM but will not offer radical concessions
UK relationship โisnโt taking up as much of our mental space as it was a few years agoโ, says EU diplomatSince 2016, Britainโs Conservatives have compared the European Union to Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, described a senior EU officialโs remarks as…
A (not so) brief โcriminalโ history of the ECBย
From political witch-hunts and nobbling bank mergers to hacking Covid regulations, the ECBโs brushes with the law are varied and plentiful.
โWe have a missionโ: the Odesa artists refusing to abandon their studios
Small group of creatives are choosing to stay working in Ukrainian city despite continuous threat from warBehind a gate presided over by a taciturn doorman, on the shore of the Black Sea in Odesa, is a tumbledown ship repair yard. It is one of many ind…
Lithuanian president announces re-election
(Recasts with Nauseda calling victory) By Andrius Sytas VILNIUS, May 26 (Reuters) – Lithuanian Gitanas Nauseda announced his re-election in a presidential ballot on Sunday, following a campaign dominated by security concerns in the European Union and N…
Zelenskyy planning to join D-Day and G7 events
The Ukrainian president will likely use the events to request more Western help against Russia.
Russia says itโs still waiting for Franceโs D-Day invitation, amid displeasure from allies
Inviting Russia to D-Day commemorations is fast becoming a diplomatic headache for Paris.
France riles allies by inviting Russia to D-Day commemoration
Vladimir Putin is not on the guest list, but Russian representatives have been invited to take part in WWII commemorations.
Trump ally has tough love for Europe
Tipped for a major national security role if Trump is reelected, Elbridge Colby has made clear the transatlantic relationship will only be healthy if Europe pulls its weight.
Antony Blinken plays Rockinโ in the Free World in Kyiv bar โ video
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, performed Neil Young’s 1989 Rockin’ in the Free World at a bar in Kyiv during a visit on Wednesday night. He was called on stage by the frontman of Ukrainian rock group 19.99, before he played guitar. Young’s …
โWe can be on the path to the EU or to Belarusโ: Political thug culture grips Georgia
Intimidation is becoming a feature of daily life, even before a controversial new Kremlin-style law takes effect.
As Rafah hangs in the balance, will Bibi defy Biden?
The history of U.S.-Israeli relations suggests Washingtonโs leverage may not be as great as some progressive Democrats think.
Armenian protesters vow to oust prime minister
Demonstrators issue ultimatum for Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation and pledge to derail his push for a peace deal with Azerbaijan.
For some Russians, Putinโs Victory Day is the darkest of the year
Russia’s autocrat leader kills his opponents and demands absolute loyalty. But he still has critics โ and they feel heโs stolen their history.
Putin watches Russian military parade featuring a solitary, Soviet-era tank
Victory Day event commemorating second world war highlights drain of Ukraine war on Russiaโs militaryA solitary, symbolic tank has featured in Russiaโs annual 9 May military parade for the second year in a row as the country was forced to pare down its…
Russia to withdraw troops from Armeniaโs border
The move comes as the South Caucasus country seeks to normalize ties with historic rival Azerbaijan.
Russia marks Victory Day parade in Moscow’s Red Square โ video
The Russian president has attended the annual Victory Day parade in Moscow’s Red Square, a celebration that marks the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany. Vladimir Putin said at the parade: ‘Russia will do everything to prevent a global conflict. But…
Europeโs banks retreat from Moscow, with the ECB at their heels
A grinding, slow process nears its end.
Britain moves to a war footing โ but where should the extra money go?
Updating our defense posture isnโt just about increasing conventional combat mass. The full spectrum of warfare โ including cyber, space, gray zone, training and the ability to rapidly replenish stockpiles โ must all be factored in.