Latvia's path to becoming Europe's drone powerhouse
Yesterday's (un)forgotten co-existence Subscribe to NEE
The consequences of Russia's invasion are visible not only in Ukraine. The Kremlin has set off or exploited a series of crises that face most European countries. Subscribe to NEE
New thinking is needed in policies towards Russia, in whatever form it will take after the war. Subscribe to NEE
Ukraine's suffering goes well beyond the front line. Subscribe to NEE
With Russia's invasion of Ukraine we now see our western values under siege, whether we consciously recognise it or not. Subscribe to NEE
The invasion by Russian forces of Ukraine from the north, south and east – with the initial aim to take the capital Kyiv – has changed our region, and indeed our world, forever. Subscribe to NEE
The situation with Russian threats towards Ukraine once again illustrates the high level of instability in our region. Subscribe to NEE
Only a year ago we witnessed the second Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. It took at least 5,000 lives and significantly shifted the geopolitics in the South Caucuses. Subscribe to NEE
This special issue aims to honour the plight of Belarusians whose democratic choice made in August 2020 was shamelessly snubbed by Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Subscribe to NEE
From the social, economic and political points of view, a lot of work still remains for this country. And this is why Ukraine's story is incomplete. Subscribe to NEE
30 years after the fall of the Soviet Union Subscribe to NEE
And what lies ahead for our region... Subscribe to NEE
Our societies are more polarised than ever before, which makes them more susceptible to disinformation, untruth and conspiracy theories. Subscribe to NEE
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed limitations and weaknesses in nearly all countries around the world. Subscribe to NEE
The case of Georgia Subscribe to NEE
Its costs, challenges and the commitment to peace. Subscribe to NEE
Uncertainty, volatility and the relationship between Russia and the West. Subscribe to NEE
A true makeover or cosmetic change? Subscribe to NEE
The Black Sea region is quickly becoming a geopolitical battleground which is gaining the interest of major powers, regional players and smaller countries – and the stakes are only getting higher. Subscribe to NEE
This issue is dedicated to the 10 year anniversary of the European Union's Eastern Partnership as well as the 30 years since the 1989 revolutions in Central Europe. Subscribe to NEE
The consequences of the emerging multipolar world. Subscribe to NEE
This issue takes a special look at the role and responsibility of the public intellectual in Central and Eastern Europe today. Subscribe to NEE
In the eastern parts of the European continent, 1918 is remembered not only as the end of the First World War, but also saw the emergence of newly-independent states and the rise of geopolitical struggles which are felt until this day. Subscribe to NEE
It often seems, at least from the outside, that Belarus remains isolated from the West and very static in its transformation. Yet, despite its relative isolation, Belarus is indeed changing. Subscribe to NEE
The Summer 2018 issue of New Eastern Europe tackles the complexity of para-states in the post-Soviet space. Subscribe to NEE
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Novaya Gazeta Europe
7 hours ago
- Novaya Gazeta Europe
Strategic realignment. Armenia and Azerbaijan are inching towards a long-sought peace deal. What does this mean for Russia? — Novaya Gazeta Europe
At a time when Vladimir Putin needs friends in his neighbourhood, he appears instead to be losing them in the South Caucasus. After two centuries of Russian involvement in the region, balancing the historical rivalry and at times acting as mediator between Armenia and Azerbaijan, there is growing speculation that the two countries are preparing a major reset in relations. Anna Matveeva Visiting Senior Research Fellow, King's Russia Institute, King's College London When Armenia's prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, met the Azerbaijani president, Ilham Aliyev, in Abu Dhabi on 10 July, they reportedly came close to agreeing a peace treaty. The big question is whether, if these two countries can iron out mistrust and violence born of the territorial conflict, there will still be a role for Russia in the South Caucasus. To understand the complex geopolitics of the region, you need to go back to the early 19th century, when Azerbaijan and Armenia were ceded to Russia following the Russo-Persian wars. After the Russian revolution, the two countries achieved brief independence between 1918 and 1920 (though not in their present borders) before being invaded and annexed by Russia. During the Soviet era, the union republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan both felt that Moscow favoured the other. Armenia was unhappy that the Soviet leadership allocated Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority-Armenian exclave surrounded by Azerbaijani-populated lands, to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan was dissatisfied that its borders denied it a land connection to its population in Nakhchivan, an exclave of ethnic Azerbaijanis that could only be reached via southern Armenia. In the final years of the Soviet Union, as Armenian nationalism began to assert itself during the reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika era, Nagorno-Karabakh's legislature declared its intention to join Armenia. This move eventually led to armed clashes in the region. The first Karabakh war, which raged between 1988 and 1994, began before the Soviet break-up but continued after the two countries gained their independence. In 1994, after more than 30,000 casualties, Russia brokered a ceasefire. The settlement favoured Armenia, leaving it in control of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as another six Azerbaijani districts surrounding it. Things began to change when Putin took power in Russia in 2000. Russia's relations with Azerbaijan improved, partly due to his personal rapport with the then-president, Heydar Aliyev, and his son Ilham, who would succeed him in 2003. After 9/11, when combating international terrorism became a global priority, Azerbaijan put measures in place to prevent the transfer of fighters and weapons through its territory to the war in Chechnya, which further improved relations with Moscow. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan speaks to Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, 24 October 2024. Photo: EPA/ MAXIM SHEMETOV At this stage, Azerbaijan was pursuing what it described as a 'multi-vector' foreign policy, which allowed it to develop ties with a variety of countries, including the US, Russia and others to whom it sold oil. While remaining in the Commonwealth of Independent States, it did not sign up to the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO). Armenia, by contrast, was a fully participating member of the CSTO. Having signed an Eternal Friendship Treaty with Russia in 1997, this was a clear strategic choice for Armenia and one that was partly motivated by long-standing historical ties. Indeed, it was Nagorno-Karabakh which really soured relations between Armenia and Moscow. Russia was traditionally seen as a defender of Christianity in the days of the Ottoman empire. Many people had fled massacres in Western Armenia (in modern-day Turkey) in 1915 to come under the protection of the Russian tsar. But Armenia also saw Moscow as a vital security guarantor against an increasingly militarised Azerbaijan, which was determined to recover control of Nagorno-Karabakh and other areas occupied by Armenia. Indeed, it was Nagorno-Karabakh which really soured relations between Armenia and Moscow. In 2020, when — aided by Turkey — Azerbaijan launched its offensive to retake the territory, Russia failed to come to the aid of its CSTO ally. This was expected, given that relations had begun to deteriorate in 2018 when Pashinyan came to power in Armenia. In hindsight, most commentators believe Russia had become tired of Armenia's intransigence over the plan, agreed in Madrid in 2007, for it to cede back the six districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan. Instead, Moscow brokered a ceasefire agreement and deployed 2,000 peacekeepers along the Lachin corridor, a strip of land connecting Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. But these troops also failed to intervene when an Azerbaijani offensive retook the whole of Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023, forcing the population of about 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee. An Armenian church in the town of Shushi, Nagorno-Karabakh, overlooks a crater caused by Azerbaijani shelling, 29 October 2020. Photo: EPA / HAYK BAGHDASARYAN /PHOTOLURE Relations between Russia and Azerbaijan, meanwhile, have gone downhill rapidly. In December 2024, an Azerbaijani civilian airliner was shot down in Russian airspace. Putin apologised, but Azerbaijan insisted on Moscow disclosing the results of the investigation and paying compensation to the victims. Things got worse at the end of June, when the Russian authorities arrested a group of ethnic Azerbaijanis on suspicion of their involvement in a decades-old murder case, two of whom were killed while being detained. Azerbaijan retaliated by raiding the Baku offices of Russia's Sputnik news agency and detaining its staff as well as a group of Russian IT workers. When they appeared in court, some of the men appeared to have been beaten in custody. Azerbaijan's state media denounced Russia and Russia House, the state-funded Russian cultural agency in Baku, was closed down, with several cultural events cancelled. Security agencies began to enforce documentation checks on all Russian nationals in the country. A complete shutout of Russia in the South Caucasus is unlikely. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan depend on remittance income from their nationals in Russia. At the same time, Azerbaijan and Armenia were already talking about concluding a peace treaty independently, without intermediaries. All this has prompted speculation of a serious loss of influence in the region for Moscow. However, a complete shutout of Russia in the South Caucasus is unlikely. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan depend on remittance income from their nationals in Russia. Both countries also remain close trading partners with Russia, and while Armenia suspended its membership in CSTO, it has not quit the organisation altogether. Far more likely is that the two countries, mindful of the growing influence of Turkey in the region and the shifts created by Donald Trump in world affairs, are maneuvering while weighing their options. Geography matters, as neighbouring Georgia demonstrates — efforts to cut ties with Russia by its former president, Mikheil Saakashvili, have been partially reversed by the current government, which increasingly leans towards Moscow. In the cases of Armenia and Azerbaijan, economic ties, transport links and human connections still favour a relationship with Russia. So, a temporary breakdown in political relations can be mended if all three leaders demonstrate enough statesmanship to sail through the troubled waters. This article was first published by The Conversation. Views expressed in opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the position of Novaya Gazeta Europe
Novaya Gazeta Europe
7 hours ago
- Novaya Gazeta Europe
US made no progress on Ukraine peace in secret talks with Russia this week, Rubio says — Novaya Gazeta Europe
Rescuers work at the site of a Russian strike on a nine-storey residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 31 July 2025. Photo: EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO US officials held secret talks with 'Putin's top people' earlier this week in a bid to end the war in Ukraine but failed to make any progress on a peace deal, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed on Thursday. Speaking to Fox News Radio, Rubio said the previously unreported negotiations took place on Monday or Tuesday, with the US holding 'hopes of arriving at some understanding on a path forward that would lead to peace'. The talks came after US President Donald Trump shortened his deadline for Vladimir Putin to end the war or face sanctions from an initial 50 days to just '10 or 12' earlier this week. 'What bothers the president the most is he has these great phone calls where everyone sort of claims yeah, we'd like to see this end […] then he turns on the news and another city has been bombed,' Rubio said, adding that Russia had not shown a 'sincere interest' in ending the conflict. Rubio offered no further details on where the talks took place or who participated in them, but said Washington could impose secondary sanctions on Russian oil exports and sectoral sanctions against Russia's banking system if no progress was made towards a ceasefire. Earlier on Thursday, senior US diplomat John Kelley told the UN Security Council that Trump had given both Russia and Ukraine until 8 August to 'negotiate a ceasefire and durable peace', with the US prepared to impose 'additional measures to secure peace' if the deadline was not met. Trump has increasingly expressed his frustration with Putin amid Russia's continued attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks, saying on Monday that 'every time I think [the war] is going to end, he kills people'. After a fresh missile and drone attack on Kyiv that killed 28 people and injured 159 more on Thursday, the US president called Russia's actions 'disgusting' and reiterated his threat of sanctions against Moscow should Putin not agree to end the war in the coming days. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has repeatedly expressed Ukraine's readiness for a full, unconditional ceasefire, described the strikes on Kyiv as 'Russia's responses to everyone around the world who called for an end to the war' and called for 'powerful and synchronised pressure' on Moscow.
Novaya Gazeta Europe
7 hours ago
- Novaya Gazeta Europe
Former political prisoner denied German humanitarian visa amid wider freeze affecting anti-war Russians — Novaya Gazeta Europe
Alexey Moskalyov with his daughter Maria on his release from prison on 15 October 2024. Photo: SOTAvision A prominent former Russian political prisoner and his daughter have been denied a humanitarian visa to Germany, amid a wider freeze on humanitarian visa applications currently impacting hundreds of other anti-war Russians, independent Russian radio station Ekho FM reported on Thursday, citing several individuals and organisations who have been denied entry to the country. According to Ekho FM, the German government has not granted humanitarian visas to Alexey Moskalyov and his teenage daughter, Masha Moskalyova, for over six months, despite him formerly serving a one-year prison sentence in Russia for anti-war social media posts, a case that gained international prominence in 2023 when several major Russian human rights organisations petitioned European authorities to come to his aid. Moskalyov was first investigated by Russian authorities in April 2022 after his daughter drew an anti-war picture during an art class at school. Subsequently, several of Moskalyov's social media posts in which he had condemned the war in Ukraine came to light. He was charged with 'discrediting the army' in December 2022 and was initially placed under house arrest, pending trial. In March 2023, Moskalyov fled house arrest and was detained in Belarus while attempting to leave Russia. He was extradited to Russia and imprisoned there for two years, before being released in October 2024. According to Ekho FM, he and his daughter are currently outside of Russia, continuing to seek asylum in Germany. On 23 July, the German Interior Ministry suspended its humanitarian visa admission programme, an initiative that had previously helped individuals at risk of persecution due to human rights activism in authoritarian states, such as Belarus, Russia, and Iran, to receive entry to the country. Since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, the programme had helped over 2,600 anti-war Russian activists, politicians, organisations, and journalists safely relocate to Germany, according to The Ark, an initiative helping anti-war Russians in emigration. 'Germany was a leader in protecting those who resist Putin's regime. Now that such individuals are no longer having their cases accepted, it feels like people are being left alone in the face of repression,' one coordinator for the InTransit human rights initiative told EkhoFM anonymously. According to Ekho FM, in addition to the Moskalyovs, some 300 other anti-war Russians were awaiting the issuing of humanitarian visas prior to the programme's cancellation, including many under active threat of criminal prosecution. Human rights activists and lawyers are now preparing an appeal to the German Interior Ministry to preserve the visa programme, Ekho FM reported. The German government has not yet commented publicly on the case of Moskalyov and his daughter, nor on the denial of humanitarian visas to anti-war Russian dissidents.
