• Insight by Bobo Lo, 13 March 2008

    As Dmitry Medvedev walked across Red Square to join the concert celebrating his crushing victory in the Russian presidential elections, he could have been forgiven for wondering whether he had reached the pinnacle of achievement or been handed a poisoned chalice.

  • Bulletin article by Charles Grant, 01 February 2008

    For the rest of Europe, the worst thing about Poland’s Law and Justice government, led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, was its foreign policy. His approach towards Russia, Germany and (sometimes) the EU – supported by his twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski – was confrontational.

  • Insight by Katinka Barysch, 01 November 2007

    The CER organised a conference on EU-Russia relations in Brussels on October 30th, together with ‘Russia Profile’ magazine. I have been to dozens of these EU-Russia meetings in the last couple of years.

  • Opinion piece by Charles Grant
    Prospect, 01 November 2007

    "The Soviet Union was easier to deal with than Russia is today," says a senior French diplomat. "Sometimes the Soviets were difficult, but you knew they were being obstructive in order to achieve an objective. Now Russia seeks to block the west systematically on every subject, apparently without a purpose."

  • Insight by Charles Grant, 19 October 2007

    Relations between the Russia and the West have not been so prickly since the break-up of the Soviet Union. Viewed from the US and the EU, Russia is being obstructive across a whole swathe of issues, such as its blockade of trade with Georgia, its refusal to accept independence for Kosovo, and its opposition to further UN sanctions on Iran.

  • Bulletin article by Katinka Barysch, 01 August 2007

    As Moscow growls angrily at the West, Europeans are becoming more worried about their energy supplies. Will Russia be willing to sell us the gas we need to heat our houses and power our industries? Will it be able to?

  • Policy brief by Katinka Barysch, 20 July 2007

    The Litvinenko murder case is only one of a growing number of disputes between the Kremlin and EU countries. But the EU has been slow to reassess its relations with a more autocratic and assertive Russia. Divisions within the EU have not helped.

  • Opinion piece by Katinka Barysch
    Radio Free Europe, 17 July 2007

    Katinka Barysch, the head of the Russia research program at the London-based Centre for European Reform, has written extensively about politics and economics in Eastern Europe and advised Britain's House of Lords and European Commission on foreign policy.