Eastern Europe / Opinion

Washington has “surrendered” in the Central Asia battle for influence, says ex-ambassador

bne IntelliNews September 18, 2025

Russia and China now dominate narrative across region, Daniel N. Rosenblum tells students at Yale. If US cuts itself off from the world, “we will ultimately be less secure and less prosperous,” he warns.

Europe faces harsh realities in Ukraine as long war looms - Ash

bne IntelliNews September 18, 2025

Timothy Ash, senior sovereign strategist at BlueBay Asset Management in London, says European policymakers are belatedly waking up to the fact that the war in Ukraine is set to be prolonged — and that they alone may have to foot the bill.

COMMENT: US-brokered Armenia-Azerbaijan peace deal exposes Russia’s strategic failures

bne IntelliNews September 17, 2025

The recent peace breakthrough between Armenia and Azerbaijan is a major diplomatic win for the United States and a setback for Russia, according to a new report published by the Atlantic Council.

COMMENT: Ukraine’s coming financial storm

Ben Aris in Berlin September 16, 2025

“A crisis is drawing ever closer. It will break in Ukraine, but it won’t begin on the frontlines, where the country’s battle-weary brigades continue to impose a brutal cost on the Russian invader," writes Timothy Ash of BlueBay Asset Management.

INTERVIEW: The rags-to-riches rise of Freedom Holding Corp's Timur Turlov

Ben Aris in Dusseldorf September 15, 2025

As he rang the Nasdaq exchange bell to start trading in his company’s shares, the childhood dream of this Wall Street movie fan from a poor Moscow suburb had come true.

McFaul: Putin Is Making Trump Look Weak

Micheal McFaul in Stamford September 14, 2025

It’s time for a new, effective, and credible response. Nearly two dozen Russian drones crossed into Polish airspace. Nato forces promptly shot them down - the first direct military confrontation between Russia and Nato since the Ukraine war started

Ukraine facing a financial cliff as IMF warns Ukraine may need an extra $20bn of external funding in 2025

Ben Aris in Berlin September 12, 2025

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has concluded that Ukraine’s financing needs for 2026 and 2027 could be as much as $20bn higher than the government in Kyiv’s own estimates, as negotiations begin on securing a new aid package.

COMMENT: What were Russian drones doing in Poland?

Ben Aris in Berlin September 11, 2025

With no clear explanation from Moscow, theories have proliferated over how and why more than a dozen Russian drones crossed into Poland on September 10—and what this means for European security.

COMMENT: Need and loathing in Russia – unpacking the labour migration paradox

Katherine Spencer September 10, 2025

Central Asian guest workers face growing hardship.

COMMENT: France’s instability risks weakening Europe at a critical moment

Ben Aris in Berlin September 10, 2025

The French government fell on September 8, facing a 5.8% of GDP budget deficit it can neither fund nor reduce, plunging the Fifth Republic into yet another crisis at a critical time for Europe.

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