Staunton, June 25 – In 1940, consistent with the principle that territorial changes achieved by force alone would not be recognized, the US took the lead in articulating a non-recognition policy concerning the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and for the next 50 years, it maintained that policy until the Baltics recovered their […]
Tag: sanctions
Ukraine Liveblog Day 121: Poroshenko Offers Ceasefire
Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. For an overview and analysis of this developing story see our latest podcast. Please help The Interpreter to continue providing this valuable information service by making a donation towards our costs. View Ukraine: April, 2014 in a larger map For links to individual updates click on the timestamps. Below […]
Sanctions Won’t Change Putin, But May Change His Elites’ Support
The evidence that sanctions change a state’s policies is slim. Actually it’s very slim. Economic sanctions taken by themselves have rarely produced the outcomes with which they were designed to produce. The main reason is that the global economy is so diverse, so spread out, that it is almost impossible to create an overarching and […]
Russia This Week: Translator, Human Rights Activist Killed in Slavyansk With Journalist (19-24 May)
Updated Daily. The Chinese-Russian gas deal is getting mixed reviews, depending on what observers think of Putin in the first place. LifeNews reporters are still being held by Ukrainian authorities on charges they helped armed separatists, sparking a debate in the regional journalist community about embedding with insurgents. Russian liberals are concerned that Putin’s aggressive […]
Ukraine Liveblog Day 86: National Guard Warns of House to House Fighting if Army Enters Slavyansk
Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. For an overview and analysis of this developing story see our latest podcast. Please help The Interpreter to continue providing this valuable information service by making a donation towards our costs. An interactive map of the situation: View Ukraine: April, 2014 in a larger map For links to individual […]
Ukraine Liveblog Day 85: The Siege of Slavyansk Continues
Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. For an overview and analysis of this developing story see our latest podcast. Please help The Interpreter to continue providing this valuable information service by making a donation towards our costs. An interactive map of the situation: View Ukraine: April, 2014 in a larger map For links to individual […]
Ukraine Liveblog Day 83: Referendum Day
Polling stations have opened in south-eastern Ukraine for the referendum on declaring independence for the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. The vote has been declared illegal by the Ukrainian, European and US leaders. Despite a public statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin that the vote should be delayed, separatists have gone ahead and begun the process. […]
Ukraine Liveblog Day 82: Mariupol Remains in Chaos the Day Before the Referendum
Following yesterday’s violence, there have been carnivalesque scenes in Mariupol today as looting has broken out, a military base has been ransacked and an abandoned armoured vehicle set ablaze in the street. Meanwhile, preparations are under way for tomorrow’s referendum. Separatist leaders appear determined to go ahead with the poll, despite a public statement from […]
Russia This Week: News and Social Media Coverage of Tragic Deaths in Odessa (28 April-4 May)
Updated Daily. The tragic deaths of 46 people in clashes in Odessa and the fire at the Trade Unions Building have received wide coverage in the Russian media and blogosphere, but from diametrically opposed perspectives, depending on the degree of independence from the state and degree of sympathy with the EuroMaidan movement versus the Kremlin-backed […]
Belarus “Balances” Between EU and Russia and Seeks European Understanding, Foreign Minister Says
Staunton, April 29 – Vladimir Makey, the Belarusian foreign minister, continued to distance Minsk from Moscow by saying that his country seeks a “balance” between Europe and Russia, a statement to a Prague paper that underscores the concerns of Belarus about its own fate in the wake of Moscow’s Crimean Anschluss and Minsk’s new efforts […]