After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, governments in the former Soviet Union were immediately forced to deal with difficult geopolitical realities. In this report for the ELN, YGLN member Daniel Shapiro uses quantitative and qualitative analysis to show there is increased heterogeneity in geopolitical positioning among post-Soviet states and offers key lessons from this for Western policymakers.
This report details the findings of a roundtable organised by the ELN’s Balkans parliamentary project, that discussed regional security challenges and cooperation in Southeast Europe. Held in Belgrade in May 2023, it constituted the first event held in the region by the project.
This week, representatives of the states parties to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe will convene in Vienna to discuss the withdrawal of Russia from the treaty. Pál Dunay writes that the remaining CFE states parties are facing a dilemma: if the state that the arms control regime wants to engage is leaving the regime, what is the meaning of the arms control agreement for those actors that stay?
Hamidreza Azizi examines reactions in Iran to the Wagner groups rebellion. He writes that the wide range of responses to the mutiny, from government statements and state media to independent analysts, illustrates a broader trend of polarisation in Iranian foreign policy that has been increasingly visible in recent years in a multitude of areas, from nuclear negotiations to geopolitical alliances.
Alexandra Filippenko explores the reasons why Russian civil society institutions failed to prevent the war in Ukraine and suggests a number of measures that Western democracies may take together with Russian opposition leaders to end the war and establish a lasting peace.
In September 2022 Russia was expelled from the European Convention on Human Rights due to its invasion of Ukraine. Since then, the remaining member states of the Council of Europe have placed a greater importance on stabilising and safeguarding the European Court of Human Rights system, which currently struggles to implement its judgments and ensure compliance. Nikita Gryazin and Julia Glukhikh explore how to best improve the efficacy of the court in the face of these issues.