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Latest articles from Vladimir Socor
Russia Considers Annexing Ukrainian Territories Through Referendums (Part Two)
*To read Part One, please click here. Russia gave plenty of early warning of its intentions to keep Ukraine’s Kherson and Zaporyzhzhia regions permanently under occupation and attach them to Russia. Yet, Moscow’s multiple early warnings seemed to pass unnoticed in the West, until The... MORE
Russia Considers Annexing Ukrainian Territories Through Referendums (Part One)
The United States has finally taken notice of Russia’s plans to “attempt the annexation of additional Ukrainian territories,” citing “massive evidence from both intelligence and open sources.” The realization is belated, as displayed in the official briefing’s grand sense of urgency. The White House anticipates... MORE
Summit Shows NATO’s Limited Relevance to Ukraine (Part Three)
*To read Part One, please click here. *To read Part Two, please click here. Four months into the biggest conventional war in Europe since World War II, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Allies did not demonstrate a coherent strategy to deal with this war at... MORE
Summit Shows NATO’s Limited Relevance to Ukraine (Part Two)
*To read Part One, please click here. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had blocked Ukraine’s membership track long before Russia’s 2022 re-invasion of Ukraine. The summit in Madrid (June 28–30) changed nothing in this respect. While the proverbial door remained open to Ukraine in... MORE
Summit Shows NATO’s Limited Relevance to Ukraine (Part One)
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is what the political leaders in the capitals of member countries make it to be. The summit just held confirmed this reality (see EDM, July 6, 7, November 7, 2019, Part One and Part Two). NATO decisions necessitate working... MORE
NATO’s New Strategic Concept Gives Short Shrift to Eastern Neighborhood
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) new Strategic Concept, approved at the summit just held in Madrid, strongly emphasizes Russia’s multidimensional threats to the Alliance. By way of response, the Concept singles out the task of deterrence and defense from among the Alliance’s core tasks... MORE
NATO Summit: New Strategic Concept Brings New Realism About Russia
Heads of state and government of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) convened on June 28–30, in Madrid, in the unprecedented circumstances of Russia’s invasion of NATO’s most important partner country, Ukraine, touching on the Alliance’s own eastern front line. The military-political bloc adopted a... MORE
In Southern Ukraine, Russian Occupation Policy Takes Shape (Part Three)
*To read Part One, please click here. *To read Part Two, please click here. Removing officials loyal to Ukraine from local administrations and replacing them with nominees of the occupation authorities is a high priority of Russia’s occupation policy in southern Ukraine (see Part Two... MORE
In Southern Ukraine, Russian Occupation Policy Takes Shape (Part Two)
*To read Part One, please click here. Russia’s 2022 re-invasion of Ukraine resulted, by mid-March, in the capture of Ukraine’s entire Kherson province, a considerable part of the Zaporyzhzhia province, and the littoral portion of the Donetsk province. Russia has decided to separate this latter... MORE
In Southern Ukraine, Russian Occupation Policy Takes Shape (Part One)
Russian forces invaded southern Ukraine on February 24, 2022, from two convergent directions, Crimea and Donetsk, both already occupied since 2014 (see EDM, April 6). Russia’s second invasion resulted, by mid-March 2022, in the capture of Ukraine’s entire Kherson province, a considerable part of the... MORE