EPOS Insights

With the Trump presidency, relations between Russia and the US have become a great unknown for Europe and the world, but a huge opportunity too. Europe and the world await the results of the Trump-Putin meeting that is supposed to take place in the months to come. There are plenty of challenges on the table, and perhaps Trump’s hyper-realist attitude will contribute to making some sort of settlement between the United States and Russia possible, resulting in a substantial improvement in relations between the two countries and of international relations in Europe and in the world as a whole. In the following exclusive article for EPOS, Gregorio Baggiani points out and discusses the actual possibilities of finding a difficult compromise between the parties and the obstacles that could come in the way of a possible agreement. The article focuses on the various regional scenarios that characterize bilateral relations between the US and Russia.

EPOS Insights

Since the outbreak of the severe crisis in Ukraine at the end of 2013, Romania and Bulgaria have played a role of great importance as far as the control of the Western Black Sea in NATO is concerned. Romania is afraid of the destabilization of Moldova, due to the possible incorporation of Transnistria, Moldova's separatist republic with a majority of Russian or Slavic population into the Russian sphere of influence. In the following article, Gregorio Baggiani analyses all the political involvements and interests of the South-East European countries in the Ukrainian crisis, focusing on the relations among Russia, Europe and NATO, and highlighting the qualitative difference of the strategies compared to the past, until the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis

EPOS Insights

Relations between Russia and Iran date back at least to the 18th century, and since then the southern Caucasus has represented a common area of interest between the two countries. To this days, good relations with Iran mean for Russia playing a central role in maintaining the balance in the region. In the following article, Gregorio Baggiani analyses all the relations between Russia and the Islamic Republic, focusing on the issue of Iranian nuclear capacity, and the issue of the legal status of the Caspian Sea and the Russia-Iran Alliance. The author discusses Russia-Iran relations and the international context in the light of the Ukrainian crisis, tracing all the elements of convergence and divergence in the relations between the two countries

by Bohdan Ferens

Epos converses with Mykola Ryabchuk

Ryabchuk is one of the Ukraine’s most important intellectuals.He is the author of numerous articles and books on contemporary Ukrainian politics and culture and he is also a well-known literary scholar, having participated to lectures and seminars in various universities as the universities of Alberta and Toronto in Canada, the Kennan Institute in Washington, the University of California and the Columbia University in the US and in various European universities.Ryabchuk is also the co-founder and served for four years as the executive director of the Ukrainian intellectual monthly journal, Krytyka.

Epos converses with Roman Chayka

In this interview Roman Chayka, TV presenter and journalist at the Ukrainian channel PiathKanal, gives some anticipations regarding the next Ukrainian Presidential Elections, that will took place the 17 January 2010. Chayka has been one of the first Ukrainian journalist to create and develop radio and TV talk-shows of political discussion in Ukraine, as Novji Cias and Piath Kopjiki.