Promising findings in Serbia, Ukraine and Turkey show what can be achieved with a bit of information.
An Orthodox priest takes part in a rally in protest against an official visit of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople to Kyiv in August 2021.
Anna Marchenko\TASS via Getty Images
The current split in Ukrainian Orthodoxy reflects a fundamental question: Are Ukrainians and Russians one people or two separate nations?
Russian President Vladimir Putin walks through a hall in the building housing Russia’s GRU military intelligence service.
Dmitry Astakhov, Sputnik, Government Pool Photo via AP
Maggie Smith, United States Military Academy West Point
Troop buildups and diplomatic negotiations highlight the threat of a major land war in Europe. In cyberspace, Russia has been attacking Ukrainian infrastructure and government operations for years.
Ukraine has been subjected to Russian interference and hybrid warfare since its independence in 1991. The current troop build-up on its borders is just the latest example.
The U.S. army conducts a military training exercise for emergencies in Germany on Jan. 27, 2022.
Armin Weigel/picture alliance via Getty Images
President Joe Biden is deploying 3,000 troops to support NATO in Eastern Europe. By doing so, Biden enters both a regional conflict and tangled legal territory.
A US soldier at a training area in Germany.
Christof Stache/AFP via Getty Images
What’s the significance of the US beefing up its military presence in Europe? The Conversation provides a roundup of articles addressing the crisis in Ukraine.
A Ukrainian serviceman, seen through a camouflage mesh, stands at a frontline position in the Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, in January 2022.
(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
The risk to Ukraine’s democracy currently lies with the politicians who have offshore assets that can be massaged and altered from Moscow or elsewhere. Preventing this is essential.
Niccolò Pisani, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)
With the markets turning and the Russia-China axis looking ever more worrying, Rome could not risk destabilising the government.
The empty seat for Ukraine’s foreign minister is shown before a NATO foreign ministers meeting on Dec. 1, 2021, in Riga, Latvia.
Gints Ivuskans/AFP via Getty Images
One of Putin’s demands for de-escalating conflict with Ukraine is NATO blocking Ukrainian membership. Understanding what NATO is, and why Ukraine wants to join, clarifies why Putin wants this.
A statue commemorating the Ukrainian famine, in which millions died.
Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Ukraine was once known as the breadbasket of Europe, yet it suffered a devastating famine as a result of collectivist plans. That and other Soviet-era grievances have bred resentment toward Russia.
The Department of Justice indicted six officers of Russia’s GRU military intelligence service in October 2020 on charges of hacking and deploying malware.
Andrew Harnik - Pool/Getty Images
Russia probably has the means to attack US electrical grids and otherwise create havoc but probably won’t go that far. Instead, watch for disinformation aimed at undermining the US and NATO.
Russian tanks take part in drills at the Kadamovskiy firing range in the Rostov region in southern Russia in January 2022. Tens of thousands of Russian troops are positioned near Ukraine.
(AP Photo)
Pro-democracy uprisings in Slavic states were unsuccessful, but there’s festering discontent in the region. Russia attributes it to western interference, and intends to reverse the trend in Ukraine.
All is calm: Christmas in St Petersburg.
Alexander Titov
Most Russians blame Nato and the US for the increase in tensions.
A live broadcast of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking is shown on Dec. 23, 2021, from a media control room in Russia.
Eric Romanenko/TASS via Getty Images
America is being ‘hysterical’ about Russian troop buildups near the Ukrainian border. That’s the official news in Russia, where citizens are getting government’s preferred view of the Ukraine crisis.
A Ukrainian military serviceman walks along a snow-covered trench in the eastern Lugansk region on Jan. 21, 2022.
Photo by Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images
Liam Collins, United States Military Academy West Point
Since its independence 30 years ago, Ukraine has tried to balance its Western aspirations with its Russian past. Vladimir Putin is not ready to let go of the past without a possible invasion.
Unity is strength: NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg after a meeting of alliance foreign ministers, January 2022.
EPA-EFE/Olivier Hoslet/Pool
The Pentagon has announced that as many as 8,500 troops have been put on standby to be deployed in Europe as a counter to the threat of the Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s eastern border.
A Ukrainian soldier sit in the trench on the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine in January 2022.
(AP Photo/Andriy Dubchak)
It is worthwhile trying to see current Ukraine-Russia tensions from a Russian perspective. Moscow has hardly gone out of its way to look for compromise and good will, but neither has Kyiv.
A Ukrainian soldier uses a periscope to view the positions of Russian-led forces on Dec. 12, 2021, in Zolote, Ukraine.
Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images
As Russia threatens to invade Ukraine, Ukrainians wonder about the worth of a 1994 agreement signed by Russia, the US and the UK, who promised to protect the newly independent state’s sovereignty.