West

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Catching the Wind in a Net? Prospects for Russia’s Democratisation

The question of whether and on what conditions Russia could someday find its place among free and democratic western states has been under close scrutiny ever since the end of the Cold War. In 1992, President Richard Nixon warned the West that instead of transitioning to a fully-fledged liberal democracy, Russia would be seeking a third way to reconcile Soviet stability and enforced security with capitalist prosperity. By 2024, the Russia that he warned us about has fully materialised and is actively challenging global peace and security. Is this aggressive, inherently undemocratic direction solely the fault of the repressive state apparatus, or could bottom-up dynamics play a role in blocking Russia’s so-called normalisation?

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AP / Scanpix

Georgia’s Quiet Withdrawal From the West

In the same way that it is difficult to say whether a single event in the last few decades marks Russia’s decisive breaking away from democratic path of development, it is difficult to say the same about the events of the last decade in Georgia. Nevertheless, this breaking away has taken place, although Estonia, the European Union, the United States, all Georgia’s Western friends have made powerless attempts to keep Georgia on track.

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10 Briefs on Russia’s War in Ukraine

Russia’s war in Ukraine has undoubtedly been game-changing for Europe’s security, challenging the long-held beliefs and assumptions of many Western nations and prompting dramatic shifts in policy, for example, in Germany, Finland, and Sweden. The war’s conduct has also produced significant surprises, not least the unexpectedly poor performance of Russia’s supposedly reformed military.

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With the Hybrid War, Russia and the West Both Played a Losing Hand

Eight years ago, Russo-Western relations took a pivotal turn for the worse when Russia resumed its gaze on Ukraine and set out on a quest to subordinate its independence to Russia’s. That quest, capitalising on the promotion of regional separatism and internal insurgency through information weapons, cyberattacks and proxy militias, found initial success with the bloodless annexation of Crimea. Implications for the place and nature of hybrid war in Russian strategy were misdrawn by Russia and the West alike.

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Scanpix / AFP

The First Line of Defence

Russia’s war in Ukraine, Germany’s Zeitenwende, Finland and Sweden’s likely accession to NATO, and Denmark’s opting into the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy have produced fundamental shifts in the Baltic region.

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The Deepening Abyss Between Russia and the West

Most readers will have been shocked by President Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch wage large-scale war on 24 February. They will also have been shocked to learn about the crimes that Russian troops have committed in the so-called ‘special military operation’ zone. And they will have been shocked for a third time upon reading the results of the surveys conducted by the Levada Centre and others showing 80% approval levels among Russians for Putin’s and the military’s actions.

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