Robert Coalson worked as a correspondent for RFE/RL from 2002 to 2024.
Russia is seeking to extend its no-NATO zone beyond the former Soviet Union and its former Warsaw Pact satellites. The next target: tiny Montenegro.
The German public staunchly opposes harsher sanctions against Russia and expresses sympathy for Russia's claims in the former Soviet Union. These views are shaped partly by the turbulence of World War II and the nerve-wracking tensions of the Cold War.
Using a combination of subsidies and coercion, Moscow is solidifying its Eurasian integration dream, making it both deeper and broader. But some prosepctive members are having doubts.
Now that he has been inaugurated as Ukraine's new president, Petro Poroshenko will have to hit the ground running as he takes on some daunting tasks to stabilize a country in the grips of economic, political, and geopolitical crises.
Confectionery tycoon Petro Poroshenko has declared victory in Ukraine's presidential election. We take a closer look at the man set to lead Ukraine for the next five years.
In the last few months, Russia's Ukraine policies seem to have brought one gain after another to the Kremlin at almost no cost. But over the next few years, it may be a different story.
As Crimea's Tatars continue to resist Moscow's annexation of the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula, the Kremlin is relying on officials from the Republic of Tatarstan to convince them that life in Russia isn't so bad.
The de facto public prosecutor of Crimea has threatened to dissolve the Crimean Tatar Mejlis if it advocates or engages in "extremist" activities. What is the Mejlis and why is it at the center of ethnic tensions on the Black Sea peninsula?
Moldova's European-integration policies are beginning to show results. But the closer the tiny country gets to the European Union, the harder pro-Russian forces try to pull it back into Moscow's orbit.
Moldova’s Deputy Prime Minister Eugen Carpov has denounced a "propaganda" campaign aimed at creating "tensions" in the breakaway region of Transdniester.
The authorities in Kyiv are pushing ahead to meet Maidan protesters' demands for a sweeping purge of the old elite. But the process known as lustration could explode the country's deep divisions.
Millions of Russians -- particularly in former Soviet countries -- could come under the umbrella of the Putin Doctrine now that the Russian president has pledged to protect ethnic Russians anywhere in the world. But how did these Russians get there to begin with?
Russia's state-controlled television has been accused of "zombifying" the Russian population with pro-government nationalism and a decidedly Kremlin-friendly take on history and global affairs. RFE/RL spent a whole day watching state Rossia-1 television to get an impression of how Russians see the world.
Do billionaire chocolatier Petro Poroshenko and his track record of political opportunism have what it takes to guide Ukraine through its current economic and political crisis -- and the standoff with Russia?
With Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region, the peninsula's Crimean Tatar minority faces a harsh new de facto legal environment. There are fears that activists and ordinary Muslims could suddenly be branded "extremists."
Serbia has traditionally been Russia's staunchest ally in the Balkans, but in recent years Belgrade has pursued a European-integration policy. RFE/RL takes a look at how tensions between Moscow and Brussels are playing out in the Balkans as Serbia gets ready to install a new government.
The United States and the European Union are imposing targeted economic sanctions -- and threatening even broader measures -- against Russia for its incursion into Ukraine. RFE/RL takes a look at some basics of the art of sanctioning.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin says Moldova's breakaway Transdniester region is under "economic blockade" and has summoned a Russian government meeting to discuss how to provide aid to the region's 200,000 Russian-speakers.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made a triumphal speech on the annexation of Crimea before a glittering joint session of the Russian legislature. Shortly afterward, U.S. President Joe Biden made brief comments in Warsaw following his meetings with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
One day after Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula held a disputed referendum on joining the Russian Federation, both the European Union and the United States have moved to apply targeted sanctions against Russian and Crimean officials.
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