This is a legacy website featuring a collection of work by the Carnegie Endowment’s global network of scholars on topics including Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia, and the post-Soviet states. This site is a product of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace based in Washington, D.C. For more recent work by Carnegie scholars in this field, please visit Carnegie Politika.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s article on Ukraine demonstrates that the Russian regime is simultaneously making conflicting statements and moving in opposite directions.
Russia’s Eurasian Union project aims at integrating much of ex-Soviet Eurasia into an economic, political, and security unit. Before that can happen, however, Russia needs to better manage what it already has.
To keep Ukraine in one piece, and at peace with itself, the Ukrainians evidently need to reform their political system. The West and Russia should help the Ukrainian parties reach an agreement on the parameters of a federal parliamentary republic.
The 50th Munich Security Conference marked the charting of a course toward Berlin’s more robust engagement in the world, including with military means. At the same time, the conference was overshadowed by the unfolding crisis in Ukraine.
Ukrainian opposition leader Vitali Klitschko makes a powerful case for a European future for his country, and calls for meaningful political and economic reforms.
The ongoing turmoil in Ukraine is shifting European and American attitudes toward Moscow. The West is perceiving the Ukrainian crisis through the prism of Russia.
Dealing with Ukraine is a test for Russia, as well as for Europe and the United States. Moscow and the Western capitals need to stay out of Ukraine as much as possible, allowing the Ukrainian people to define the country’s national identity.
The European Union has proven powerless to prevent a tragic spiral of lethal violence in Kyiv. In addition, its image amongst protestors has suffered. Now the key challenge for the EU is to begin shaping the conditions that will facilitate deeper democratic reform in Ukraine.
Ukrainians on the Maidan and in a growing number of cities across the country are standing in opposition to backsliding into autocracy, in defense of fundamental democratic values, and in defiance of a corrupt post-Soviet system.
Ukraine is in for a long ordeal that has just begun. The previously dormant segments of Ukrainian society are getting involved in the protests. Meanwhile, the regime is ready to defend itself by any available means.