July, 2023

• 12 July

  Overcoming EU Accession Challenges in Eastern Europe: Avoiding Purgatory

  

  The EU’s decision to grant Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine membership perspective signals a more strategic approach to enlargement. But an overhaul of the process is needed to enable staged accession and prevent a stalemate. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has placed the EU’s policy toward its eastern neighbors firmly in the …

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• 12 July

  Public Records Map Wagner Group’s Hong Kong Connections – Analysis

  

  The Russian private military company Wagner Group, which made headlines over the weekend by starting to march on Moscow amid an apparent dispute with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has longstanding ties to Hong Kong, records show. Public domain information shows that its predecessor, the Slavonic Corps, was founded in the …

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• 12 July

  The Turmoil In Russia And What It Means For China – Analysis

  

  Amidst the ongoing stalemate in the Ukrainian war, a major internal conflict has erupted within Russia with the mutiny of the mercenary Wagner Group. On June 23, Wagner’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, took to social media to accuse the Russian Ministry of Defense of launching an attack on Wagner’s camp, resulting …

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• 12 July

  After Prigozhin’s Mutiny: Russia’s Elites Wait For The Fallout – Analysis

  

  Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has reportedly entered exile in Belarus following an aborted mutiny that challenged Russia’s military command, and rattled the Kremlin. But, despite the efforts of President Vladimir Putin and his administration to project an air of confidence and stability, the fallout from the Wagner rebellion …

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• 12 July

  Russia Won’t Disintegrate Right After Putin Goes But Could Later If His Successors Mishandle Situation – OpEd

  

  Many analysts and politicians believe the greatest risk to the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation will come immediately after Vladimir Putin leaves the scene, Aleksandr Kynyev says; but that view is wrong: the real danger is likely to arise several years later if the transitional government misplays the situation. …

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• 12 July

  What Does Lukashenka’s Role As Mediator In Russian Crisis Imply? – Analysis

  

  As the entire world watched in disbelief during the rapidly unfolding mutiny in Russia organized by Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group on June 23 and 24, hardly anyone could imagine how its endgame would ultimately play out. In particular, the factor of Belarus seemed nowhere close to the conflict’s …

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• 12 July

  Prigozhin’s Rebellion, Putin’s Fate, and Russia’s Future

  

  A Conversation With Stephen Kotkin Stephen Kotkin is a preeminent historian of Russia, a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and the author of an acclaimed three-volume biography of Joseph Stalin (the third volume is forthcoming). Executive Editor Justin Vogt spoke with him …

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• 12 July

  Normalising Relations with Syria: How Significant?

  

  The League of Arab States welcomed President Bashar al-Assad to its May summit, reinstating Syria’s membership, which it had suspended in 2011. The regime may look to have shrugged off the international opprobrium it earned for its brutality in repressing its opponents. But has it? When Arab countries admitted Syria …

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• 12 July

  Assessing the Wagner Group’s Aborted Run on Moscow: What Comes Next?

  

  On 24 June, President Vladimir Putin faced his biggest challenge in over two decades at Russia’s helm: a mutiny by a mercenary group fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine. In this Q&A, Crisis Group experts explore the implications for Putin’s rule and Russian foreign policy. What happened? On 24 June, …

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• 12 July

  Africa Or Death? Prigozhin Unlikely To Remain In Belarus For Long – Analysis

  

  Yevgeny Prigozhin, the 62-year-old former petty criminal-turned-restauranteur-billionaire warlord, has tackled many difficult assignments over the years as a Kremlin fixer: from propping up kleptocratic, authoritarian African rulers to sacking the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Now, following an aborted mutiny that challenged Russia’s military and handed President Vladimir Putin a major …

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