The "Zeitenwende" in international politics implies a need to improve strategic thinking and better prepare for future challenges. Germany is already doing so by drafting strategic documents on national security and relations with China. With respect to Russia, a similar approach suggests...

Rebuilding Ukraine starts now - even if it is being undertaken against a backdrop of conflict, violence and destruction, with Russia continuing to wage its war of aggression. In granting Ukraine European Union (EU) candidate status, the EU has also made the country's recovery one of its own...

Climate policy in the European Union (EU) and Germany changed significantly with the adoption of net-zero emissions targets. A key new development is the growing importance of carbon management. The umbrella term includes not only the capture and storage of CO2 (carbon capture and storage, CCS),...

This study examines behavioural patterns of the top echelons of Russia's elite within four fundamental spheres (law, truth, public welfare and violence) since 2008 and discovers certain continuities. It reveals the elite's fundamental attitudes in the four areas as evinced by its actions -...

On 7 May the Eastern Partnership initiative will be launched at a summit held in Prague under the auspices of the Czech EU Council Presidency. In addition to the twenty-seven EU heads of state and government, political leaders from Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan have...

The opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych obtained a clear if narrow victory (49 percent versus 45.5 percent for then Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko) and has been sworn in as Ukraine's president for the next five years. He first faces the challenge of acquiring a majority in parliament and...

When Viktor Yanukovych won the Ukrainian presidential election in February 2010, there was consensus among most analysts on his probable foreign policy course. It was believed that he would reduce the emphasis on the West and return to a more balanced »multi-vectoral« policy which would...

The EU's current policy towards Russia assumes that the Kremlin is interested in a comprehensive national modernisation programme and has the power to put this into practice. But what if this assumption turns out to be incorrect? Numerous structural obstacles give grounds for scepticism that...