Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill
Uncategorized

The Pope and the Patriarch: Russia’s search for the right West

The Western political establishment is hostile to Russia. This makes it all the more important to demonstrate that the Western religious establishment is more sympathetic. Regardless of Putin’s aims, the meeting between Pope and Patriarch has become a landmark event in the history of Christianity. […]

Alexei Venediktov
Opinion

Russia wouldn’t open ‘third front’ in Baltics, says Russian journalist

Alexei Venediktov, the editor-in-chief of Echo Moskvy, spoke to Delfi about the threat of escalation in the tensions between Russia and the Baltics. His radio station is considered by many to be the last major independent media outlet in Russia, and has run into trouble with Russian government media regulators in the past. […]

Vladimir Putin and Greek PM Alexis Tsipras
Uncategorized

Putin’s Russia. Kremlin’s plan for Europe, bribe No. 1

In the previous articles of the series ‘Putin’s Russia: Kremlin’s Goals and Tools’, I analysed the theory and practice of Russia’s foreign policy and drew attention to the fact that Russia still uses the ammunition of USSR KGB – disinformation, influence agents, scandals (e.g., Edward Snowden’s story) and criminal activity: corruption, criminal world, drug trafficking and terrorism. So I will now move on to the cases of three countries and their policies – that, I believe, will be a perfect illustration of Kremlin’s capabilities. […]

Defence

Lithuanian military expert: NATO’s purpose is defence, not rearmament

When NATO confirmed last week that it was cutting the Baltic air policing mission in half – eight fighter jets will patrol the skies of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia instead of the current 16 – the reactions were varied. […]

EU's Riga Summit
Opinion

Opinion: The Riga Summit and its outcomes

The fourth Eastern Partnership Summit was held in Riga on 21-22 May 2015. The joint Declaration of the Riga Summit did not reaffirm either the European perspective of the Eastern European Partnership countries consistently demonstrating the best performance or the political support to Georgia and Ukraine in visa liberalization that Tbilisi and Kiev were looking forward to. Quite the opposite, compared to the Vilnius Summit document adopted two years ago, the tone and ambition of the Riga Summit declaration seemed rather weakened. […]

Deividas Šlekys
Defence

A war of civilizations: diverging approaches to warfare and Russia’s military reform

Deividas Šlekys, military expert and lecturer at Vilnius University, discusses the nature of warfare and how it has transformed under liberal democracy. […]