Human Security

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Distance is Not a Shield. Russia’s Transnational Repression in Wartime

The transnational repression toolkit that the Kremlin employs to target its citizens abroad is wide, and the international connections exploited are many. The latent threat of repression even while abroad means that distance is no barrier against the Kremlin. While cases of assassination remain controversial, cases of Russian transnational coercion, delegitimisation, blacklisting, coerced returns, and surveillance are routinely documented by human rights organisations and the press.

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Putin’s Contracting Matrix

Determined to ensure that in retreat, he imposes the maximum pain on others, Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin is making the most of the increasingly unforgiving constraints of his environment.

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First Steps towards the Estonian Media Space

ETV+, the Estonian National Broadcast’s TV-channel targeting Estonia’s Russian minority, was launched in 2015 after the occupation and annexation of Crimea as it became evident that letting Estonia’s Russian minority live solely in the Russian media space would pose a security risk.

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The Closure of Talsinki

In Southern Europe, the EU seems to be getting a lot of attention in the context of the coronavirus crisis. Italy has been decrying the lack of European solidarity and French president Emmanuel Macron has made strong appeals for more of it. Following the debates in the north-eastern corner of Europe, one rather gets the impression that people are forgetting about the EU. In Estonia and Finland—countries that I follow the closest—Brussels is not expected to help countries out of the crisis—national leaders are.

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