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Testimony before Europe and Eurasia Subcommittee, Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate
Today, there may be a chance to break this ancient dynamic by signing the Association Agreement (AA) and DCFTA between the Eastern Partnership members and the EU. The U.S. has national interests in the region, as it supports integration of the EuP members into the greater Euro- Atlantic area.
By Dr. Ariel Cohen
On October 25, it will be ten years since a Russian SWAT team arrested oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky in a Siberian airport. It was a watershed moment for Russia, defining the Putin era as one in which the Russian oligarchs were subjugated to the Kremlin.Prior to Khodorkovsky’s arrest, the Kremlin had limited itself to deposing media oligarchs.
By Dr. Ariel Cohen
The National Interest
October 25, 2013
Recently, several of Russia’s “younger siblings,” such as Ukraine and Moldova, finally got a chance to partially break from the Russian bear hug and opt for a closer integration with the West.They are members of the Eastern Partnership with the European Union, a close cooperation program with the EU, and are planning to sign an Association Agreement and a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement.
By Ivan Benovic and Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation
October 24, 2013
Russia is pressuring Ukraine to join Belarus and Kazakhstan in a Eurasian Customs Union led by Moscow. Acquiescing to Russia’s wishes would anchor Ukraine in a Moscow-dominated economic zone and impose higher tariffs on Ukrainian trade with the European Union. Russia also wants Ukraine to join the Joint Economic Space, the Eurasian Union, and the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
By Dr. Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation
October 21, 2013
Next week at the quiet Swiss lakeside resort of Glion, officials from the UN, Russia, US and the UK will gather, ostensibly to prepare for December’s Non-Proliferation Treaty conference in Helsinki.The December meeting was originally slated for 2010. The purpose: to assemble the permanent members of the UN Security Council—aka, the world’s nuclear club—to work out a plan for making the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
By Ariel Coheni
24 NEWS
October 17, 2013
Dr. Ariel Cohen comments on the 68th session of the UN General Assembly (21:30 min).Channel 9 Russian TV, Israel (Russian language news station)
September 27, 2013
Dr. Ariel Cohen was a guest on Vladimir Solovyov’s weekly news commentary programme “Sunday Evening” on NTV.He spoke about the 2013 Valdai Forum.NTV (Russian TV station)
September 22, 2013
President Obama has accepted an exit strategy from the Syria crisis proposed by Vladimir Putin. Obama surmised that if the plan works, it might lead to a breakthrough. In his Tuesday speech to the nation last week, Obama indefinitely postponed a crucial Congressional vote on whether to strike the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. No wonder: Obama most probably would have lost that vote.
By Ariel Cohen
The National Interest
September 17, 2013
Since the end of the Cold War, Sino–Russian relations have expanded and deepened, resulting in arms deals and increasing economic ties. Russia has the potential to become a major energy supplier to the growing Chinese economy, which is demanding ever-increasing amounts of energy.
By Dean Cheng and Ariel Cohen, Ph.D.
The Heritage Foundation
September 12, 2013
Vladimir Putin’s op-ed in The New York Times is an attempt to talk to the American people over the heads of its elected representatives. For a Russian foreign policy practitioner, it is also an act of information warfare. After all, Russia views the United States as a strategic competitor, if not an outright foe, in the battle of geopolitical influence in the Middle East, Europe, and elsewhere.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation
September 12, 2013
"When we keep an eye on Syria we need to keep an eye on the security of shipping, especially the shipping of oil in the straits," Cohen said.
By UPIUnited Press International
August 29, 2013
Iran, a Shiite Muslim theocracy, could spur uprisings among Shiite populations in Sunni-led Gulf countries, especially Bahrain, which has a Shiite majority, and Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, which have considerable Shiite minorities, Cohen said.
By Oren Dorell
USA Today
August 28, 2013
Dr. Cohen commenting on the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
August 22, 2013
CTV News Channel, Canada
The Kremlin delivered a diplomatic blow to U.S.–Russian relations when Moscow granted former NSA analyst Edward Snowden a temporary political asylum. Now, the White House may cancel a U.S.–Russia summit that was scheduled for early September, and Obama’s Russian reset policy will require significant re-examination.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation
August 5, 2013
Ariel Cohen, a Russia scholar at the Heritage Foundation, another Washington policy research organization, called the Snowden decision a “slap in the face to the U.S. and President Obama” and a further sign that “under Putin, the vector of Russian foreign policy is away from the West and away from the United States.”
By Terry Atlas & Nicole Gaouette
Bloomberg
August 2, 2013
CNBC's Eamon Javers reports on what NSA chief Keith Alexander said about the potential of Edward Snowden coming back to the U.S. to face charges; and Ariel Cohen, Heritage Foundation, shares his opinions about Snowden's asylum in Russia.
August 1, 2013
CNBC
Lithuania is building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at the port of Klaipeda. The project, which is expected to be operational by 2014, will give the Baltic nation access to the world’s LNG market. Today, the nation’s existing natural gas infrastructure consists of a single pipeline owned by the Russian-government-controlled energy giant Gazprom.
By Ariel Cohen and Daniel Kochis
The Heritage Foundation
July 18, 2013
Ariel Cohen, a Russia expert at the Heritage Foundation, said that the threat level posed by Umarov and other terrorists is “very high,” particularly for U.S. and Israeli Olympians.“But it’s a threat level for everybody,” he said, noting that Russian security services are frequently ineffective when it comes to stopping terrorists.“The track record of the Russian services is not stellar,” Cohen said.
By Adam Kredo
The Washington Free Beacon
July 3, 2013
Last Sunday, a Russian consular official confirmed that former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden asked for political asylum in Russia. Snowden’s defection, announced after a week in Moscow, may be not an impulsive act but a thoroughly pre-planned operation.
By Ariel Cohen
July 1, 2013
Recently, Russia launched its largest military maneuvers since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The exercise involved redeploying one hundred and sixty thousand soldiers and officers, along with one hundred and thirty aircraft and helicopters of various types, to the Eastern Military District. Seventy ships from the Russian Pacific Fleet also took part, on the heels of a large-scale naval exercise with the People’s Liberation Army Navy.
By Ariel Cohen
The National Interest
July 25, 2013
In a well-reasoned broadside, The Washington Post’s editorial board blasted President Obama’s Russian policy and his Berlin speech this past Thursday.The editorial justly criticized the naiveté with which Obama reached out to Russian president Vladimir Putin with a badly thought out proposal to cut a third of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, while ignoring Russia’s pointed lack of cooperation on a number of other key issues.
By Ariel Cohen
June 21, 2013
The formation of a Eurasian Union (EAU) is the next in a series of Russian initiatives to reassert control over the former Soviet space. The Eurasian Union of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus, if it follows the course that Russia will set, could threaten regional stability and undermine economic and political freedom in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
By Ariel Cohen
June 14, 2013
Testimony in front of the Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy, and Global Women's Issues/Subcommittee on European Affairs
By Ariel Cohen
June 13, 2013
In a scene reminiscent of the spy thriller TV series “The Americans,” Russian FSB secret police Monday night detained and then released an alleged CIA operative, Ryan Christopher Fogle, who is a Third Secretary at U.S. Embassy Moscow. The Russian government later declared him “Persona Non Grata” (PNG) and expelled him from the country.
By Ariel Cohen
May 15, 2013
This past Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met President Vladimir Putin of Russia in the Kremlin.Kerry was seeking to repair frayed ties with Russia and obtain Moscow’s assistance with a settlement in Syria. The U.S. and its allies hope to put an end to the civil war, and the Obama Administration wants Russia to help.
By Ariel Cohen
May 9, 2013
