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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
Russia is planning to supply Syria game-changing weapons which will shift the balance of power in the eastern Mediterranean in favor of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and may make any future operations against the Assad forces considerably more difficult.
By Ariel Cohen
May 29, 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
Dr. Cohen’s speech at the National Security Group lunch at the Center for Security Policy.Center for Security Policy
May 9, 2013
Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently released a scathing new report focused on the crackdown on Russia’s civil society. Since December 2011, the Kremlin has committed to squashing nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that promote democracy and are alleged conduits of Western influence, HRW says.
By Ariel Cohen and Benjamin Tigay
May 8, 2013
Boston Marathon bombers have brought greater attention to Russia’s volatile North Caucasus, their ancestral home. As painful their heinous acts are, however, the bombers’ actions are just a footnote to the history of insurgency and connections to global Islamist networks in the North Caucasus.
By Ariel Cohen
April 26, 2013
THE Boston Marathon attack by two young Chechen men demonstrates the global nature and deep historic roots of contemporary Islamist terrorism.It also indicates that major sports competitions, concerts and other events are targets for terrorists and sends the warning to the organisers of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia: “You are next”.
By Ariel Cohen
April 21, 2013
When the Russian Foreign Ministry released its updated Foreign Policy Concept in February, codifying Russia’s global strategies, Washington yawned. Yet this document reveals much about the emerging “Putin Doctrine.” It further separates Russia from Western Europe and is especially critical of the United States.
By Ariel Cohen
April 5, 2013
Russia’s objections to U.S. missile defense development and deployment have been on the agenda of consecutive American Administrations starting with Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. For President Obama, it became a high priority as Moscow turned missile defense disagreement into a principal bone of contention.
By Ariel Cohen
April 1, 2013
China’s new president Xi Jinping will make his first official foreign visit later this month. He will visit Russia, in a trip Chinese sources say “will improve relations and cement strategic partnership.”
By Ariel Cohen
March 14, 2013
London mayor Boris Johnson published an op-ed Monday in which he decried the posthumous trial of whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky.Johnson called Magnitsky “a martyr trampled by a corrupt system” and called on the United Kingdom and the European Union to pass a Magnitsky Act—which levies financial sanctions and visa restrictions on the Russian officials involved in Magnitsky’s death—of its own.
By Ariel Cohen
March 13, 2013
Testimony before the Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia, Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives
By Ariel Cohen December 5, 2012
Today, the lame-duck Senate is considering the Russia and Moldova Jackson–Vanik Repeal Act of 2012. The bill’s language contains the language known as the Magnitsky Act, which for the first time punishes Russian officials implicated in serious human rights abuses.
The Heritage Foundation, December 5, 2012
Following his reelection, U.S. President Barack Obama now faces the task of revitalizing U.S.-Russian relations. Ties between Washington and Moscow have seemed to stagnate somewhat following the reset of 2009-2010 and the return to the Kremlin of Vladimir Putin.
By Dr. Ariel Cohen
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
November 25, 2012
As members of the Russian punk-rock band Pussy Riot appeal their two-year prison sentence for a political protest in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, a pale of repression is settling over their country. This crackdown is wrapped in legislative garb, but the iron grip of authoritarianism is unmistakable.
By Dr. Ariel Cohen
The New York Times, November 19, 2012
If last week’s corruption scandal involving the former Russian defense minister was not embarrassing enough for Moscow, the plot now thickens. A police investigation is targeting one of the Russian high-tech modernization projects, a type of GPS called GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System).
By Dr. Ariel Cohen
The National Interest
November 15, 2012
On November 6, Russian President Vladimir Putin sacked Defense Minister Anatoly E. Serdyukov, who has held the post since 2007.Serdyukov had overseen the largest and most radical military reform of the Russian armed forces since the creation of the Red Army in 1918.Under Serdyukov, a former furniture businessman and senior tax collection official.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation
November 6, 2012
As election eve in the United States approaches, Moscow is hoping for a return of the incumbent.During a recent meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, a forum for exchanging views on Russia, at least three senior Russian officials announced that the U.S. president’s reelection would be good for Russia. This is hardly surprising. Russians respect and get along with power.
By Ariel Cohen
The National Interest
November 5, 2012
On October 16–28, the world is marking the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a standoff between the United States and the former Soviet Union that nearly ended in a nuclear war between the two superpowers.
The confrontation of the Cold War still affects the relationship between the U.S. and Russia to this day and is a cautionary tale in a world where nuclear proliferation is rampant.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation, October 18, 2012
On October 3, the FBI reported [1] it had charged 11 people with running a military technology procurement network based in the United States and Russia that was allegedly illegally procuring [2] and exporting high-tech microelectronics to the Russian military and intelligence services. Alexander Fishenko, the owner of the Houston-based Arc Electronics Inc., was charged with operating as an unregistered foreign agent.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation, October 5, 2012
