Russian economy is entering a recession caused primarily by domestic political factors. The overall costs of Putin’s Ukrainian adventure may be estimated at not less than 1.5 percent of the country’s GDP and the sanctions aimed on the financial sector will add to this by at least another 1.5–2 percent.

Russian aggression in Ukraine has shown that in Eastern matters Poland takes the same position as Romania, but differs significantly from the Visegrad Group countries. This community of interests should be turned into specific actions particularly concerning Ukraine.

The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have to decide if they want to be a player or just four more tennis balls. If the latter, they will be easily played by both domestic radicals and external actors.

Russia’s actions in Ukraine surprised the West. Although they were based on known strategies, the scale and the simultaneous operationalization of asymmetric methods was something new.

It seems that Vladimir Putin and his associates fell victims to their own propaganda. A simple fact that many members of the Ukrainian government, as well as the volunteers fighting the terrorists in Donbas, still speak Russian as their primary language is carefully omitted in Russian/pro-Russian media.

Over the past two years Russia’s relations with Serbia and Republika Srpska in Bosnia have witnessed a significant turn, the scale of which often remains unnoticed in the West.

Don’t ask what the EU can do for you, ask what you can do for the EU.

China is shakily “authoritarian” while India is a stable democracy—indeed, the world’s largest. So goes the cliché, and it is true, up to a point. However, have we noticed the growing resemblance between the two countries, induced by more than two decades of exposure to global capitalism?

Xi Jinping is establishing a system of checks without balances. Although this intention defies the political science equivalent of the law of gravity, his first two years in power appear to be a success.

Ukraine stands at a crossroad. Russia and its proxies have seized about a third of the eastern Ukrainian industrial region known as the Donbas. Kyiv insists the territory is an indivisible part of Ukraine. Moscow agrees— at least officially, while insisting that the region acquire an autonomous status that would enable it—and Russia—to veto any…

An interview with Andrei Piontkovsky by Filip MemchesTo retain power, the Russian president needs the loyalty of the elites. However, this loyalty is not certain today—says Andrei Piontkovsky in an interview with Filip Memches.

Over the past year, traditional defences against antiliberal populism have been considerably weakened: the case of independent media.

Russian influence in the affairs of the radical fringes is a phenomenon seen all over Europe as a key risk to European stability, security and Euro-Atlantic integration. These forces not only oppose deeper integration in the EU, but also impede stronger ties with the United States, including the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

To break this vicious circle, which threatens both the European project and domestic democracy, Europe needs growth and jobs.

An interview with Ivan Krastev by Maciej NowickiThe project of Orbán and Putin contains a fundamental contradiction, which cannot be overcome. Therefore, their utopia will never become more than a utopia—says Ivan Krastev in an interview with Maciej Nowicki.

Putin and Orbán want to be strong leaders of what are essentially weak countries. Their goal is not an ideological world revolution, but a game of outsmarting the West.

In May 1968 the Prague office of Izvestia gained a new employee. “Although I did not understand what this new colleague was supposed to do, I was not interested in that. It was better to mind your own business,” recalls Vladen Krivosheev, Izvestia’s Prague correspondent at that time. “Then I got a second company car,…

Dear readers, I am delighted to introduce the newest issue of our quarterly! It addresses the persistent phenomenon of illiberalism. In the aftermath of the economic crisis, we have observed a rise of populism and extremism in politics; hence, this Review offers you several in-depth analyses of current undemocratic tendencies in Europe. During the recent…