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Updated Resources - May 8, 2024
March in Tbilisi celebrating Georgia's official EU candidacy status. 15 December 2023. (Alexkom000, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
Kyiv Independent: Newsfeed
Novaya Gazeta Europe: Newsfeed
The Insider: Newsfeed
The Telegraph via Apple Podcasts - Ukraine: The Latest
Military recruitment sign in Tiraspol, the capital of the breakaway region of Transnistria (Moldova). 1 January 2017. Red text reads: "Military service under contract
- the work of real men!" (William John Gauthier, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
WHAT'S ON OUR MIND
In addition to our weekly resource update, today we also offer an updated collection of pieces on the Israeli-Hamas war.
Following the resolution of US aid for Ukraine, we journey back across the Atlantic to take the temperature in the post-Soviet sphere and in Europe. The intervening years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union has seen undulating dynamics among its former republics, as some states have sought to distance themselves from the Russian Federation’s gravitational pull and others orbit increasingly closer. The potential for Russian entanglement remains strong now more than ever as the war in Ukraine sows renewed concerns across the region. In today’s collection, we offer insights into the war's intersection with post-Soviet dynamics and how European nations grow increasingly wary of confrontation with Russia.
Our exploration of the present begins with an eye to the past. Historical ties - and strains - are enunciated through The Insider’s examination of ‘brotherly nations’ and the Kremlin’s use of these proclaimed fraternal bonds to justify interference in neighboring countries. Beneath Russia’s Southern border, Meduza details Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan’s efforts to revive their national languages since attaining independence, seeking cultural delineation from their larger neighbor.
Foreign Policy looks to the recent unrest in Georgia, where parliament debates the Georgia Dream party’s controversial ‘Transparency of Foreign Influence’ bill that opponents have deemed the ‘Russian Law,’ for its parallels with Russian legislation designed to stifle political opposition. The public response to this bill is outlined in Al Jazeera. In The Kyiv Independent, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili escalates her criticism of the Georgia Dream party, accusing the government of ‘being prone to make concessions to Russia,’ and contributing to sentiments that in addition to the bill, the mass protests rebuke the government at large.
Across the Black Sea from Georgia, the war poses existential consequences for Ukraine’s neighbor, Moldova. Foreign Policy examines the stakes for the abutting nation’s multiethnic and multi-ideologic population in the shadow of Putin’s aspirations, bared plainly after polling stations for March’s Russian presidential elections appeared in the breakaway region of Transnistria. Experts discuss the viability of a Russian invasion and highlight Moldova’s important geographical location on the borders of NATO and the EU in Responsible Statecraft. In the Moldovan Orthodox Church, an autonomous metropolitanate under the Russian Orthodox Church, Meduza chronicles the recent clergy effort to break with Moscow in favor of the Romanian Patriarchate that further reveals the shifting landscape of the small former Soviet state.
The Conversation crosses into Serbia, detailing the latter’s history to explain its current close ties with Moscow. In the Baltics, The Insider travels to Ukraine’s front with Estonian officials - whose own small nation has contributed to Ukraine the greatest share of support based on GDP, revealing the imperative felt by Russia’s neighbors to adequately arm Ukraine for the sake of a secure European Union.
In Europe, a piece from The Financial Times covers European intelligence warnings that Russia is plotting increasingly aggressive and coordinated violent sabotage throughout the continent. The Kremlin, via RT, dismisses these claims. Two further resources from RT reveal growing strife between European and Russian diplomatic apparatuses. Al Jazeera reports that Polish farmers have ended their months-long blockade at the Ukrainian border over cheap agricultural imports. Finally, we conclude with an interrogation of military conscription as several NATO countries reintroduce the practice under the threat of conflict with Russia.
In the Overview, an examination of Gaza, Ukraine and the breakdown of international law, as well as an analysis of Russian imperial aspirations and Ukrainian survival. In videos, experts weigh the viability of peace in Ukraine, Russian citizens on the street react to renewed US aid for Ukraine, and a one-on-one interview with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. In the arts, the 46th Moscow International Film Festival goes up against a new cultural reality, internationally acclaimed Ukrainian artist Mikhail Reva unveils a powerful new sculpture in Odesa, and Ukraine’s ongoing efforts to decouple its culture from that of Russia.
Find these topics of interest - and so many more - included in our newest Russia-Ukraine Resources . Visit our blog for the latest on the Israel-Hamas War, including the risk of famine and sweeping student demonstrations across the US.
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