Russia Can Use Both Hard and Soft Power to Prop Up Lukashenko
Russia is supporting Alexander Lukashenko behind the scenes. But Lukashenko is also working hard preparing the ground for inviting Russian troops into Belarus if necessary.
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Belarus
The EU Should Be Prepared to Defend the Independence of Belarus
With Belarus rapidly moving towards a post-Lukashenko era, the EU has no credible option but to support Belarusians’ bottom-up demands for democracy. This has geopolitical implications that the EU needs to be prepared to address. Russia is determined to maintain control over Belarus and likely to perceive the EU’s engagement as undesirable if not threatening.
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How Do You Solve a Problem Like Belarus?
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko may remain in power, but the election and its aftermath leave no doubt that he is ruling by force and fraud. The West will need to adjust its approach to Minsk accordingly.
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Will Lukashenko Survive the Fraudulent Presidential Elections?
No one, including the growing internal opposition in Belarus, doubted that the country’s long-lived dictator Alexander Lukashenko would formally win a sixth presidential term in the 9 August 2020 elections. Many people in Belarus want change, but he himself is not ready to go.
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Belarus. At a Crossroads Again?
On 1 February 2020, President Alexander Lukashenka, President of Belarus for 25+ years and the longest-serving president in Europe, met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Minsk. This occasion marked the first time since 1994 that the US Secretary of State has visited Belarus.
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Going Past Monopoly: Developing a Balanced Baltic Sea Regional Gas Market
In the last half-decade, the three Baltic states have made dramatic progress towards diversifying their energy supplies, especially of natural gas. This progress—brought about thanks to remarkable political will as well as improved regional cooperation—has resulted in considerable economic benefit while decreasing the three countries’ vulnerability to outside pressure. Yet, much remains to be done in order to complete the three countries’ internal markets.
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International Autumn Seminar Resilience League in Kyiv
International autumn seminar Resilience League, entitled “National resilience: communication and security” and held in Kyiv on 28-30 October 2018, gathered around 30 young professionals and experts from Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus as well as speakers and trainers from the Baltic states, Georgia, Ukraine and United Kingdom.
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Russia’s “allies” Report Presentation
ICDS presented on 14 February 2018 the report Russia’s “allies”, which was written by fellow researcher Kalev Stoicescu.
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Russia’s “Allies”
Those very few countries who align themselves with Russia are almost habitually written off by Western observers as hopeless cases when it comes to cooperation.
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Russia Kicks Off War Games as West Watches
Wall Street Journal interviewed Sven Sakkov for a story about Russia’s Zapad 2017 exercise and NATO’s precautionary measures.
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