• Working paper by Tomas Valasek, 06 November 2009

    Countries in Europe's east and north worry that Moscow is blundering into a confrontation with NATO. They have begun demanding that the alliance start preparing for a possible conflict. But are they right to be concerned?

  • Opinion piece by Tomas Valasek
    Yale Global Online, 21 September 2009

    Washington rankled some of its European allies and delighted Moscow on September 17 when president Obama cancelled plans to build missile defense bases in the Czech Republic and Poland.

  • Opinion piece by Tomas Valasek
    The Guardian, 18 September 2009

    Tabloids make a poor guide to understanding a country's policy. While the newspaper headlines in Poland and the Czech Republic scream of the US "betraying" eastern Europe by cancelling missile defence bases there, the official reaction in Warsaw and Prague has been muted.

  • Opinion piece by Tomas Valasek
    Financial Times, 09 September 2009

    There are mounting indications that Barack Obama will soon abandon plans to put missile defence bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. These have become one of the main bones of contention between Russia and the west.

  • Opinion piece by Tomas Valasek
    The Wall Street Journal, 24 August 2009

    The European Union just helped put together a consortium of international banks to offer Kiev up to $3.6 billion in loans to buy Russian gas.

  • Opinion piece by Katinka Barysch
    Time Europe, 13 July 2009

    Russia's economy - until recently one of the fastest growing in Europe - is in dire straits. In the first three months of this year, output fell by 10% compared with a year earlier.

  • Insight by Katinka Barysch, 03 July 2009

    Russia’s economy has been hit hard by a triple whammy of capital outflows, collapsing oil prices and falling global demand. In the first three months of the year, output was down by 10 per cent compared with a year earlier. The retail boom that had fuelled growth in recent years has turned into a slump. 

  • Policy brief by Bobo Lo, 01 July 2009

    President Medvedev's call for a new European security architecture is Russia's most active diplomatic initiative in recent times. Yet it lacks substance.