Monkey Cage Topic Guide:
Russia and Eurasia
Created: January 18, 2022
Last Updated: December 22, 2022
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You can find the most up-to-date coverage on the War in Ukraine in our War in Ukraine guide.
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Note: Below you will find articles on various geopolitical and security matters involving Russia and its eastern European neighbors. Coverage includes the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and its repercussions.
Table of Contents
2022 Ukraine War
Ukraine 2014 Crisis and Aftermath
Russia
Kazakhstan
Belarus
Central Asia
Poland
Finland
- Jessica Trisko Darden, “Ukraine’s military policy puts women in headlines, but not front lines,” December 21, 2022.
- Jan Stockbruegger, “Russia’s using ‘dark’ tankers to evade Western oil sanctions,” December 8, 2022.
- Ivan Gomza and Graeme Robertson, “Can Putin survive Russia’s losses in Ukraine?” November 18, 2022
- Scott Radnitz, “Why Russian propaganda isn’t as persuasive as you might think,” October 21, 2022.
- Jan Stockbruegger, “The West wants to cut off Russia’s oil revenues. Who will that hurt?” October 21, 2022.
- Evgenia Olimpieva, Irina Olimpieva and Masha Galenko, “Russia’s antiwar movement goes far beyond street protests,” October 18, 2022.
- Sam Greene, “Putin just called up young men to the war. He’s taking a big risk,” September 21, 2022.
- Karina V. Korostelina and Gerard Toal, “Do Ukrainians want a ceasefire?” August 30, 2022.
- Mikhail Alexseev and Serhii Dembitskyi, “Ukrainians believe they’ll win the war, a survey finds,” August 15, 2022.
- Andrew Bell and Katherine Kramer, “Thousands of nontraditional fighters have joined the Ukraine war,” January 27, 2022.
- Laura A. Dean, “How many Ukrainian refugees have been trafficked? We won’t know for years,” July 22, 2022.
- Frank Schimmelfennig, “Ukraine is an E.U. candidate. Full membership is an obstacle course,” June 30, 2022.
- Christoph Valentin Steinert, “Why do Russia and Ukraine exchange their prisoners?” May 28, 2022.
- Svitlana Chernykh and Francesca Lessa, “Why Russia may be taking Ukrainian children,” June 14, 2022.
- Tiina Hyyppä and Aaron Pilkington, “How the Ukraine crisis could make the Syrian civil war worse,” May 24, 2022.
- Tymofii Brik, Aaron Erlich, and Jordan Gans-Morse, “Is Russia’s wartime propaganda more powerful than family bonds?” June 20, 2022.
- Maria Popova and Nikolay Marinov, “The Ukraine crisis may reinvigorate Eastern European democracies,” May 23, 2022.
- Lauren Gilbert, “Ukraine’s Eurovision victory was political. So is Eurovision itself,” May 16, 2022.
- Michael John Williams, “What are the rules of war and how do they apply in Ukraine?” May 9, 2022.
- Claire Adida, Adeline Lo, Melina Platas, Lauren Prather and Scott Williamson, “Americans see Afghan and Ukrainian refugees very differently. Why?” April 29, 2022.
- Stephen Biddle, “Is there a difference between ‘defensive’ and ‘offensive’ weapons?” April 28, 2022.
- Kristina Stoekl and Dmitry Uzlaner, “Russia believed the West was weak and decadent. So it invaded,” April 15, 2022.
- John O’Loughlin, Gerard Toal and Gwendolyn Sasse, “Do people in Donbas want to be ‘liberated’ by Russia?” April 15, 2022.
- Dina Smeltz and Lily Wojtowicz, “Russians think they’re engaged in a heroic struggle with the West,” April 14, 2022.
- Noah Buckley, Kyle L. Marquardt, Ora John Reuter, and Katerina Tertytchnaya, “How popular is Putin, really?” April 13, 2022.
- Zoha Siddiqui and Kelebogile Zvobgo, “The Council of Europe expelled Russia. That hurts people, not Putin.,” April 12, 2022.
- Marc Lynch and Shibley Telhami, “Ukraine war has side effects on Middle East geopolitics,” April 11, 2022.
- Caress Schenk, “The Kremlin has another weapon in its arsenal: Migration policy,” April 11, 2022.
- Layna Mosley, “Will Russia really care if U.S. actions make it default on its debt?” April 7, 2022.
- Chonlawit Sirikupt, “What’s so funny about a Russian invasion?” April 7, 2022.
- Silviya Nitsova, “Ukraine’s oligarchs are united against Russia,” April 5, 2022.
- Dan Reiter and Allan C. Stam, “Why democracies win more wars than autocracies,” March 31, 2022.
- Samuel Helfont, “Condemning Putin will make it harder to end the conflict with Russia,” March 31, 2022.
- Louis-Alexandre Berg and Andrew Radin, “Ukraine updated its defense institutions — and is defying expectations,” March 29, 2022.
- Tony McMurdo, “Ukraine has been winning the messaging wars. It’s been preparing for years,” March 28, 2022.
- Daniel Posthumus and Kelebogile Zvobgo, “The ICJ ordered Russia to halt military operations in Ukraine. What comes next?” March 25, 2022.
- Martin Binder and Autumn Lockwood Payton, “Russia’s allies have been pretty quiet on Ukraine,” March 25, 2022.
- Alexander Downes and Daniel Krcmaric, “Biden called Putin a ‘war criminal.’ That’s risky,” March 24, 2022.
- Jen Schradie, “Ukrainians are rallying global support via social media. But don’t call it a TikTok war,” March 24, 2022.
- Esther Hallsdottir, “Are Russian troops using sexual violence as a weapon? Here’s what we know,” March 24, 2022.
- Lamis Abdelaaty, “European countries are welcoming Ukrainian refugees. It was a different story in 2015,” March 23, 2022.
- Elif Kalaycioglu, Lina Benabdallah and Oumar Ba, “Calling Ukrainian refugees more ‘civilized’ than Syrians requires willful amnesia,” March 22, 2022.
- Igor Logvinenko, “Hundreds of Western companies quickly exited Russia. Why didn’t Putin see that coming?” March 22, 2022.
- Courtney Hillebrecht, “An international court is investigating possible war crimes in Ukraine. What does that mean, exactly?” March 21, 2022.
- Julia Gray, “Zelensky isn’t the first leader to feel frustrated by the E.U.,” March 17, 2022.
- Nicholas R. Micinski, “The E.U. granted Ukrainian refugees temporary protection. Why the different response from past migrant crises?” March 16, 2022.
- Michael Alexeev and William Pyle, “Will Russians continue to support Putin’s war in Ukraine?” March 14, 2022.
- Erica Chenoweth, “People around the world are protesting the Russian invasion. Will their protests work?” March 14, 2022.
- Elizabeth Wishnick and Andrew Taffer, “Ukraine invasion tests the relationship between Russia and China,” March 14, 2022.
- Cinzia Bianco, ”The Ukraine conflict has Persian Gulf monarchies hedging their bets,” March 14, 2022.
- Jessica Trisko Darden, “In Ukraine and other conflicts, measuring the human cost is important. It’s also very difficult,” March 11, 2022.
- Natasha Hall and Till Todman, “Russia wages a cheap war in Syria. Here’s what those tactics might look like in Ukraine,” March 11, 2022.
- Joshua C. Fjelstul, “Ukraine wants a fast pass to E.U. membership. It’s not that easy,” March 9, 2022.
- Michal Bilewicz, “Even Russian-speaking Ukrainians don’t want to be evacuated to Russia or Belarus,” March 7, 2022.
- Erica D. Lonergan, Shawn W. Lonergan, Brandon Valeriano and Benjamin Jensen, “Putin’s invasion of Ukraine didn’t rely on cyberwarfare. Here’s why,” March 7, 2022.
- Carla Norrlöf, “Banning Russia from SWIFT is a big deal. But the real pain comes from sanctions,” March 7, 2022.
- Roseanne W. McManus, “Perhaps Putin thinks acting crazy is a good strategy. My research says otherwise,” March 6, 2022.
- Paul Hensel, Sara Mitchell, Andrew Owsiak, and Krista Wiegand, “Russia’s land grabs in Ukraine could break the international order,” March 4, 2022.
- Anton Shirkov, “Russian journalists report the facts about Ukraine. Why do Russians ignore them?” March 3, 2022,
- Roland Paris, “Putin has been redefining ‘sovereignty’ in dangerous ways,” March 3, 2022.
- Cullen Hendrix, “Russia and Ukraine are key exporters of food and energy. Will global prices spike?” March 2, 2022.
- Jason Lyall, “It’s hard for Russia to invade Ukraine when its soldiers don’t want to be there,” March 1, 2022.
- Hannah S. Chapman, “Thousands of Russians are protesting against the war with Ukraine. Putin’s not likely to listen.,” March 1, 2022.
- Sharon Werning Rivera, “Can Putin keep the oligarchs and Russian elites on his side?” March 1, 2022.
- Howard Eissenstat,“Turkey announced it would regulate warship access to the Black Sea. Does that change Russia’s strategy?” March 1, 2022.
- James J. Cameron, “Here’s what ‘high combat alert’ for Russia’s nuclear forces means,” February 28, 2022.
- Kathleen R. McNamara and R. Daniel Kelemen, “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is remaking Europe,” February 28, 2022.
- Sara Bjerg Moller, “NATO can’t send troops to Ukraine. Here is what it will probably do instead.,” February 28, 2022.
- Ryan Baker, “The Russian invasion has some logistical problems. That doesn’t mean it’s doomed.,” February 28, 2022.
- Caitlin Talmadge, “The Ukraine crisis is now a nuclear crisis,” February 27, 2022.
- Polina Beliakova, “Volunteer troops can be a curse, not a blessing. But Ukraine may be figuring it out,” February 27, 2022.
- Jessica L.P. Weeks and Jeff D. Colgan, “There’s a reason Putin can be so aggressive. Oil,” February 27, 2022.
- Anjali Dayal, “Russia believes tanks trump international law. Smaller countries like Kenya are using the U.N. to push back,” February 26, 2022.
- Tanisha M. Fazal, “Putin is breaking 70 years of norms by invading Ukraine. What comes next?” February 25, 2022.
- Daniel Treisman, “In words and deeds, Putin shows he’s rejecting even Soviet-era borders,” February 25, 2022.
- Andrew H. Kydd, “The U.S. and Europe didn’t get what they wanted from Putin. But Putin didn’t get what he wanted from them.,” February 22, 2022.
- Scott Gehlbach and Zhaotian Luo, “Putin is gambling his future — and Russia’s,” February 19, 2022.
- Christopher Federico, “Blondie, ‘Will Anything Happen’: The Week In One Song,” February 18, 2022.
- Bruce W. Jentleson, “Biden hopes sanctions will deter Putin. It may not be so easy.,” February 18, 2022.
- Marina E. Henke, “The German economy depends on Russian gas. There’s a long history behind that.,” February 18, 2022.
- John O’Loughlin, Gwendolyn Sasse and Gerard Toal“Will Russia recognize the independence of two eastern Ukraine republics? Here’s what people there think.,” February 17, 2022.
- Henry E. Hale, Ora John Reuter, Bryn Rosenfeld, David Szakonyi and Katerina Tertytchnaya, “Russia may be about to invade Ukraine. Russians don’t want it to,” February 11, 2022.
- Alexander B. Downes, “Does Putin really want regime change in Ukraine?” February 10, 2022.
- Jeffrey Mankoff, “Putin likes to talk about Russians and Ukrainians as ‘one people.’ Here’s the deeper history,” February 10, 2022.
- Susan Hannah Allen and Amy Yuen, “There’s a reason that America and Russia are slinging mud at each other at the Security Council,” February 7, 2022.
- Olga Onuch and Javier Pérez Sandoval, “A majority of Ukrainians support joining NATO. Does this matter?” February 4, 2022.
- Bear F. Braumoeller, “The conflict over Ukraine is a conflict over international order. That makes it nearly impossible to resolve,” February 1, 2022.
- Volodymyr Kulyk, Nadiia Koval, Mykola Riabchuk, Kateryna Zarembo and Marianna Fakhurdinova, “Experts from NATO countries disagree on how to approach Ukraine,” January 26, 2022.
- David A. Lake, “If Russia invades Ukraine, what happens next?” January 22, 2022.
- Gerard Toal and John O’Loughlin, “Ukrainians in our survey weren’t enthusiastic about NATO exercises close to Russia,” January 19, 2022.
- Abigail S. Post, “Biden’s rhetoric on Ukraine has been quite moderate. Here’s what that means,” January 18, 2022.
- Aleksandar Matovski, “Why would Putin invade Ukraine?” January 16, 2022.
- Dmitry Gorenburg and Michael Kofman, “Here’s what we know about Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine,” January 15, 2022.
- Maria Shagina, “The U.S. seems ready for tougher sanctions against Russia. But is Europe?” January 14, 2022.
- Erica D. Lonergan and Shawn W. Lonergan, “What do Russia’s cyber moves mean for the Ukraine crisis?” January 12, 2022.
Ukraine 2014 Crisis and Aftermath
- Lamis Abdelaaty, “European countries are welcoming Ukrainian refugees. It was a different story in 2015,” March 23, 2022.
- Polina Beliakova, “Volunteer troops can be a curse, not a blessing. But Ukraine may be figuring it out,” February 27, 2022.
- Keith Darden and Lucan Ahmed Way, “Why did Ukraine impose martial law?” November 29, 2018.
- Dmitry Gorenburg and Michael Kofman, “Russia and Ukraine had a short naval battle. Here’s what you need to know,” November 28, 2018.
- Anna Ohanyan, “Why Russia starts so many conflicts on its own borders,” September 12, 2018.
- Gerard Toal and John O’Loughlin, “How popular are Putin and Obama in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine?” January 22, 2015.
- Thomas Sherlock, “The Kremlin doesn’t have a blank check from Russians for its Ukraine policy,” September 26, 2014.
- Mark Schrad, “Ukraine and ISIS are not justifications of a ‘clash of civilizations’,” September 22, 2014.
- Ralph Clem, “Two important facts about Ukraine,” August 15, 2014.
- Joshua Rovner, “What Ukraine means for how we study war,” August 4, 2014.
- Erica Borghard, “Proxy war can have dangerous consequences,” July 25, 2014.
- Heidi Hardt, “Is there a role for NATO in Ukraine?” July 23, 2014.
- Yelena Biberman, “Are there lessons from Pakistan for future of fighting in Ukraine?” May 27, 2014.
- Kyle Dropp, Joshua D. Kertzer and Thomas Zeitzoff, “The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want U.S. to intervene,” April 7, 2014.
- Rachel Wellhausen, “If Ukraine expropriates Russian firms, other multinationals probably won’t care,” March 27, 2014.
- John Sides, “Mentioning Hitler makes Americans more willing to intervene in Ukraine,” March 14, 2014.
- Richard Maass, “Why Washington and Moscow keep talking past each other,” March 12, 2014.
- Joshua Tucker, “Ukraine update: A quick guide to our recent scholarly commentary,” March 10, 2014.
- Ralph Clem, “Why Eastern Ukraine is an integral part of Ukraine,” March 7, 2014.
- Joshua Tucker, “How Putin’s worldview may be shaping his response in Crimea,” March 2, 2014.
- Joshua Tucker, “What does Ukraine’s #Euromaidan teach us about protest?” February 27, 2014.
- Keith Darden and Lucan Way, “Who are the protesters in Ukraine?” February 12, 2014.
Russia
- Henry Farrell, “America and Europe are targeting Russia’s oil profits,” December 22, 2022.
- Danielle Gilbert, “Britney Griner Is Free. Here Are 5 Takeaways,” December 12, 2022.
- Jan Stockbruegger, “Russia’s using ‘dark’ tankers to evade Western oil sanctions,” December 8, 2022.
- Stacie E. Goddard, “After the explosion in Poland, will NATO go to war with Russia? Probably not,” November 16, 2022.
- Scott Radnitz, “Why Russian propaganda isn’t as persuasive as you might think,” October 21, 2022.
- Jan Stockbruegger, “The West wants to cut off Russia’s oil revenues. Who will that hurt?” October 21, 2022.
- Evgenia Olimpieva, Irina Olimpieva and Masha Galenko, “Russia’s antiwar movement goes far beyond street protests,” October 18, 2022.
- Kathryn Stoner, “Is Putin vulnerable? One autocracy in Russia may lead to another,” September 27, 2022.
- Sam Greene, “Putin just called up young men to the war. He’s taking a big risk,” September 21, 2022.
- Daniel Treisman, “Gorbachev didn’t set out to open the door to democracy,” September 2, 2022.
- Jesse Marks, “Russia wants to put Syria back in control of humanitarian aid,” August 30, 2022.
- Tobias Bunde and Tom Lubbock, “How united is the West on Russia?” July 5, 2022.
- Tomila Lankina, “Putin’s iron grip on Russia is a legacy of empire,” June 15, 2022.
- Tiina Hyyppä and Aaron Pilkington, “How the Ukraine crisis could make the Syrian civil war worse,” May 24, 2022.
- Ralph Clem and Erik Herron, “The Baltic states are also worried about Russia,” May 17, 2022.
- Sidney Tarrow, “Is Russia headed for a return to Stalinism?” May 16, 2022.
- Caitlin Talmadge, “Putin just tested a new long-range missile. What does that mean?” April 23, 2022.
- Dina Smeltz and Lily Wojtowicz, “Russians think they’re engaged in a heroic struggle with the West,” April 14, 2022.
- Jura Liaukonyte, “Foreign companies continue to prop up the Kremlin,” April 8, 2022.
- Lauren A. McCarthy, “Why Putin uses Russian law to crack down on dissent,” April 7, 2022.
- Layna Mosley, “Will Russia really care if U.S. actions make it default on its debt?” April 7, 2022.
- Silviya Nitsova, “Ukraine’s oligarchs are united against Russia,” April 5, 2022.
- Alexander Baturo, “What the new ‘Kremlinology’ reveals about Putin’s motives and power,” April 1, 2022.
- Dan Reiter and Allan C. Stam, “Why democracies win more wars than autocracies,” March 31, 2022.
- Samuel Helfont, “Condemning Putin will make it harder to end the conflict with Russia,” March 31, 2022.
- Laura A. Henry and Elizabeth Plantan, “Putin called fleeing Russians ‘traitors.’ Who’s actually leaving?” March 31, 2022.
- Scott Radnitz and Harris Mylonas, “Putin’s warning about Russian ‘fifth columns’ has a long, sordid lineage,” March 30, 2022.
- Todd S. Sechser, “Putin is discovering that overwhelming military power can be a curse,” March 29, 2022.
- Robert Person, “Russia’s been hit by a financial Cold War,” March 28, 2022.
- Daniel Posthumus and Kelebogile Zvobgo, “The ICJ ordered Russia to halt military operations in Ukraine. What comes next?” March 25, 2022.
- Martin Binder and Autumn Lockwood Payton, “Russia’s allies have been pretty quiet on Ukraine,” March 25, 2022.
- Courtney Hillebrecht, “An international court is investigating possible war crimes in Ukraine. What does that mean, exactly?” March 21, 2022.
- Michael Alexeev and William Pyle, “Will Russians continue to support Putin’s war in Ukraine?” March 14, 2022.
- Erica Chenoweth, “People around the world are protesting the Russian invasion. Will their protests work?” March 14, 2022.
- Elizabeth Wishnick and Andrew Taffer, “Ukraine invasion tests the relationship between Russia and China,” March 14, 2022.
- Timothy Meyer and Todd N. Tucker, “There are two ways to kick Russia out of the world trade system. One is more likely to work,” March 11, 2022.
- Erica D. Lonergan, Shawn W. Lonergan, Brandon Valeriano and Benjamin Jensen, “Putin’s invasion of Ukraine didn’t rely on cyberwarfare. Here’s why,” March 7, 2022.
- Carla Norrlöf, “Banning Russia from SWIFT is a big deal. But the real pain comes from sanctions,” March 7, 2022.
- Roseanne W. McManus, “Perhaps Putin thinks acting crazy is a good strategy. My research says otherwise,” March 6, 2022.
- Daniel McDowell, “The West has hit Russia with tough sanctions. They could be tougher still,” March 2, 2022.
- Erica Frantz, “It’s not just a Putin problem. ‘Personalists’ like him are behind much of the world’s bad behavior,” March 2, 2022.
- Tom Pepinsky, “Russia is about to plunge into financial crisis. How will citizens react?” February 27, 2022.
- Daniel Treisman, “In words and deeds, Putin shows he’s rejecting even Soviet-era borders,” February 25, 2022.
- Marina E. Henke, “The German economy depends on Russian gas. There’s a long history behind that.,” February 18, 2022.
- Dawid Walentek, Clara Portela, Paulina Pospieszna and Joanna Skrzypczyńska, “The E.U. renewed its Russia sanctions last week. Not all Europeans are in favor,” December 23, 2021.
- Emily Holland, “Biden is threatening Putin with European energy sanctions. That may be difficult to pull off,” December 15, 2021.
- Henry Farrell, “Putin’s fight with Ukraine reflects his deep distrust of the West. There’s a long history behind that,” December 1, 2021.
- James J. Cameron, “Russia proved it can shoot down a satellite. Does this make space less secure?” November 23, 2021.
Kazakhstan
- Margaret Hanson, “Kazakhstan’s protesters weren’t happy about government corruption. Will anything change?” January 20, 2022.
- Alexander Cooley, “Kazakhstan called for assistance. Why did Russia dispatch troops so quickly?.” January 9, 2022.
- Pauline Jones and Regina Smyth, “The Kazakhstan protests escalated quickly. Here’s why,” January 8, 2022.
- Edward Schatz, “Kazakhstan’s leaders promised middle-class comfort. Then they raised prices,” January 7, 2022.
Belarus
- Tatsiana Kulakevich, “Four reasons Belarus isn’t likely to send troops to Ukraine,” September 14, 2022.
- Felix Krawatzek and Gwendolyn Sasse, “The E.U. continues to sanction Belarus. Some Belarusians approve,” January 6, 2022.
- Sigrid Lupieri, “The Belarus border crisis shows it’s getting easier to ‘weaponize’ refugees,” November 22, 2021.
- Olga Onuch, Aliaksandr Herasimenka and Sofie Bedford, “Belarus’s hijacking isn’t a show of strength. It’s a sign of weakness,” May 27, 2021.
- Alexander Cooley, “How can the world hold Belarus accountable?” May 25, 2021.
- Alexander Lanoszka, “The E.U. can’t stick to its Belarus sanctions. Will this time be different?” May 25, 2021.
- Ashley Nunes, “If Belarus believed the Ryanair flight was a threat, it had authority to make it land. That’s a big if,” May 23, 2021.
- Yubal Weber, “When Belarus forced down a plane, it may have committed state-sponsored hijacking,” May 23, 2021.
- Aliaksandr Herasimenka, Tetyana Lokot, Olga Onuch and Mariëlle Wijermars, “There’s more to Belarus’s ‘Telegram Revolution’ than a cellphone app,” September 11, 2020.
- Sam R. Bell and Svitlana Chernykh, “The Belarus protests erupted because of these 4 things,” August 25, 2020.
- Gerard Toal, John O’Loughlin and Kristin M. Bakke, “What’s driving the Belarus protests?” August 21, 2020.
- Tatsiana Kulakevich, “Belarus’s president looks for his sixth election victory on Sunday. He has a well-used playbook to win,” August 8, 2020.
- Félix Krawatzek, “Belarus votes on Sunday. Our new survey shows what young voters are thinking,” August 7, 2020.
- Tatsiana Kulakevich, “Why is Belarus cracking down on independent journalists — and the Internet?” August 15, 2018.
- Charles Crabtree, Christopher Fariss, Paul Schuler, “In Belarus, Europe’s “last dictator” is actually allowing protest. Here’s why,” March 24, 2017.
- Matthew Frear, “Surprise! Belarus’s Lukashenko wins a fifth term in a landslide! (Okay, no surprise. Here’s what happened),” October 22, 2015.
- E.J. Griff, “Belarus's president has scheduled the next election. Has he already won his fifth term?” July 15, 2015.
- Joshua Tucker, “2012 Belarus Parliamentary Elections Post-Election Report: Same as It Ever Was,” October 12, 2012.
- Joshua Tucker, “No Change in Belarus? The Belarusian 2010 Presidential Election,” December 21, 2010.
Central Asia
Poland
Finland