The “Russian issue” will not budge unless the slogans of the European Union are converted into detailed “road maps” and concrete proposals
In March 2016, after the initial shock of ... ... matters is barely audible.
As far as we can tell, the tentative steps taken by Paris and Berlin to open a dialogue with Moscow on Syria have not led to any practical actions. Also, it would seem that the “selective engagement” between Europe and Russia ...
... emphasis on gradual technological modernization — including a continued buildup of forces stationed along the border with Ukraine in order to give Moscow more instruments for intervening in the course of the Ukrainian conflict. At the same time, Moscow ... ... and expensive aerospace and naval weapons programs have effectively been pushed back to the mid-2020s or even beyond 2027.
In Syria, Putin will keep trying to convert the military success of the Russian intervention into political and diplomatic gains,...
... Estonia-Latvia-Lithuania – Kaliningrad – Stockholm. The participation of Danes, Poles, and Germans is welcome, but not required.
Ukraine
Minsk agreements are fine, but one of the reasons they have not worked in practice is, that there has been no solution ... ... hear about that). And the Skripal case. All these are secondary and solvable, issues, once the above hard-points are solved.
Syria
Andrey Kortunov:
Russia: the Power Broker in the Middle East?
If it is at all possible to speak of any “winner” in ...
... through Brussels
Relations between Germany and Russia are in a state of severe crisis. At latest since the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict, but also even before, the relationship was under stress. The new federal government will have to face the challenge ... ... “compartmentalization” — i.e. to separate areas of agreement from those of disagreement — has reached its limits for instance in Syria. The new volatile and confusing strategic context in which both Germany and Russia operate is wider, bigger and fraught ...
... reduce political-military tensions in both the Baltic and the Black Sea regions?
11
What is the best means to advance the social, economic and political development of eastern Ukraine and Crimea?
What should be done about refugee crisis from eastern Ukraine to Russia and from Syria and other countries to the European Union countries? How should Russia and the European Union respond?
Impact of rise of China
China is the elephant in the room, or as Mao might say, the monkey watching two tigers fight. Is Beijing benefiting from U.S.-European-Russian rivalries?...
... Affairs magazine Fyodor Lukyanov, Chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, visited the Embassy of France to meet with Head of Continental Europe Department at French Foreign Ministry Florence Mangin for the discussion of Ukraine settlement, implementation progress of Minsk accords, Syria and initial results of the Vienna process on Syria, Moldova, and opportunities for interaction between the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union.
Moderated by French Ambassador to Moscow Jean-Maurice Ripert, the event was also attended by Head of Department ...
