July 15, 2019

by Daria Platonova 15 July 2019 Introduction Incumbent authoritarian regimes[1] can use a variety of tools to protect the status quo and their hold on power. Among those tools is the deployment of groups of armed civilians to disperse political protest that threatens to dislodge the regime and disrupt that status quo. A comparison can … Continue reading “Feature – Shabiha in Syria and Titushki in Ukraine as Elements of Authoritarian Control”

June 5, 2019

by Daria Platonova 5 June 2019 Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s[1] election to the presidency in Ukraine[2] has taken everyone by surprise. A former comedy actor and producer, Zelenskiy is widely seen as someone “outside the system,” despite having connections to the Ukrainian oligarchs. In the few interviews that he granted prior to the election, he acknowledged that the … Continue reading “Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the Donbas Conflict in Ukraine”

May 30, 2019

by Daria Platonova 31 May 2019 The conflict between the Ukrainian government and Russia-backed separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk[1] in the east of Ukraine (known as “the Donbas” or “Donbass” in Russian) has been raging since 2014. It started locally, when numerous anti-government protests in the Donbas were sparked by the radical changes of … Continue reading “Peacekeepers in the Donbas: Pro et Contra”

March 9, 2018

By Daria Platonova   The low-scale conflict in Ukraine, now in its fourth year, threatens to become a hot war as Ukraine passes a new law titled “Donbas reintegration law”. The law vests the President with new unprecedented rights, widens the prerogatives of the army in the non-government controlled areas of Ukraine and, crucially, calls … Continue reading “Donbas Reintegration Law: What Impact on the Minsk Agreements?”

August 21, 2017

By William Moray The 2014 Ukrainian Revolution – or Revolution of Dignity – and the subsequent Donbass War (Donbas, in Ukrainian) severely impacted the relations Russia held not only with Ukraine but also the international community. Moscow’s involvement in this conflict holds few secrets. Russian annexation of Crimea and its support provided to secessionist rebels in Donbas … Continue reading “Strife Feature | Contemporary Russian foreign policy – Examining the Ukraine crisis”

April 5, 2016

This is the second of a series of articles we will be featuring on Strife in the coming week looking at the role of Proxy Warfare in the 21st century by Series Editor Cheng Lai Ki. Previous articles in the series can be found here. By: Gregory Wilson On the eve of the Russo-Georgian War of 2008, … Continue reading “PROXY Capabilities – The History and Future of Russian Private Military Companies”

June 30, 2015

By Leyla Aliyeva: Russia’s President Putin statement a fortnight ago made on a conference with Finland’s President Sauli Niiniste sent a signal that Moscow is aware of NATO’s recent activities near Russia’s borders in Eastern Europe, and in the case of an attack Russia will strike back at the source of the attack. Eastern European … Continue reading “Teasing the bear: NATO, Russia and the Baltic States”

May 19, 2015

By Sebastian Åsberg: Following the annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine, an old debate has grown increasingly more heated in Sweden and Finland: should countries join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Having been non-aligned since the 19th century, Sweden – after intense debate – chose not to join NATO following World War … Continue reading “After Ukraine, Part IV – NATO in Scandinavia: Will Sweden and Finland join up?”

May 12, 2015

By Andrzej Kozłowski: A history of difficult relations Polish-Russian history is one of the most complex and difficult among all nations in the world. Polish troops were some of the only troops to have captured and occupied Moscow – in 1610 – and the day of ousting them from the Kremlin is celebrated as a national … Continue reading “After Ukraine, Part III – Polish security & Russian aggression: the return of old fears?”

May 6, 2015

By Conradin Weindl: Since the start of the Ukrainian conflict, Russia’s determination to maintain a sphere of influence within the former Soviet Union has been the subject of an intense debate. Russia’s need for regional predominance is frequently attributed to the country’s great power identity. However, Russian domination of its ‘near abroad’ is not primarily … Continue reading “After Ukraine, Part II – Russian great power vs. EU normative hegemony: What is at stake in Eastern Europe?”