Russia's War One Year On: Poland and (Most of) Central Europe Rise to the Challenge

02/27/23 • 40 min

We review what Russia's war on Ukraine has meant for Central Europe with Matt Boyse, who served as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State responsible for coordinating policy toward Central Europe from 2018-2021. Poland has emerged as a clear leader in the wake of the invasion, but we examine how the rest of the region, with the exception of Hungary, has risen to the challenge as well. Putin's aggression has vindicated the warnings Poland and others in Central Europe have been making for decades - often to the chagrin of their Western partners - about the threat of resurgent Russian imperialism. We will discuss how regional fora, such as the Bucharest-9, can enhance coordination and forge a bulwark in Europe's east - from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea - against further Russian encroachments.

Previous Episode

How Trump Enabled Nordstream 2

The Nordstream 2 natural gas pipeline -- Putin's project to make Germany energy dependent on Russia, divide the Euro-Atlantic Community, bypass Ukraine, and make Europe subject to energy blackmail -- went from zero percent completed to 95 percent completed during the Trump Administration. This took place despite bipartisan legislation from Congress in 2017 that called for the US to sanction Russia's energy export pipelines. It happened despite urgent pleas from Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic countries, and others, for the US to implement sanctions against Nordstream 2. And it happened despite Trump's own repeated public denunciations of the pipeline. How? And how today could Trump and Pompeo blame the Biden Administration for the fait accompli Trump left behind? In fact, the Trump Administration only took concrete action to stop Nordstream 2 in December 2019 -- after Congress mandated than they do it and only after the pipeline was 95% complete. We explore all of this in today's episode of the Freewheeling Diplomat podcast.

Next Episode

Russia's Information Warfare: Ukraine Holding Its Own

How is Russia's information war against Ukraine going? What are the main propaganda and disinformation narratives Russia is pushing -- and are they working? What is happening in cyber space? We explore these and other topics with Gavin Wilde, Senior Fellow in the Technology and International Affairs program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Gavin is a noted Russia expert with broad experience in and out of government, including as a Director for Russia at the National Security Council. We spoke on March 16. Gavin had recently returned from a trip to Ukraine.