Institute of Central Europe/IES Commentaries

IES Commentaries

Baltic Team

IEŚ Commentaries 653
Marlena Gołębiowska - Baltic Team

Unicorns at the Baltic Sea: Estonia is the forge of start-ups

Estonia is harvesting the crops were sowed over a quarter of a century ago as the Tiger Leap (est. Tiigrihüpe). It was an initiative aimed to expand infrastructure and develop citizens' skills in the field of digitization, with a focus on the education of the youngest. The generation of Estonians educated in such an environment is already on the labour market and are successfully...

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Eastern Team

IEŚ Commentaries 646
Jakub Olchowski - Eastern Team

Russian propaganda attacks Polish-Ukrainian relations

In recent weeks, Russia has been conducting an intensive propaganda and disinformation campaign aimed at deteriorating relations between Poland and Ukraine. Warsaw is accused of, inter alia, striving to seize and subjugate the western part of Ukraine in the name of the idea of the “great Republic”. Poland is also presented as an irresponsible and Russophobic state, striving to...

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Balkan Team, Baltic Team

IEŚ Commentaries 642
Michał Paszkowski - Balkan Team, Baltic Team

EU sanctions against Russia and potential problems with Serbia crude oil supplies

The sixth package of sanctions against Russia introduced by the European Union in connection with the attack on Ukraine will have consequences for Serbian Pančevo refinery, owned by Russian companies. Deliveries to the plant are taking place via the Adria pipeline and the Omišalj oil terminal in Croatia, and the new sanctions prevent the unloading of Russian crude oil in EU...

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Baltic Team

IEŚ Commentaries 639
Łukasz Lewkowicz | Marlena Gołębiowska - Baltic Team

The Three Seas Initiative after the Riga summit: a new status of cooperation with Ukraine and the support of the United States

On June 20-21, 2022, Latvia organized the 7th summit of The Three Seas Initiative (3SI). Riga emphasized the intra-EU and transatlantic dimension of the format. The first of them was reflected in the decision not to include Ukraine in the Three Seas Initiative, but to grant it a special status of a participating partner. The second is the declaration of the American support for...

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Eastern Team

IEŚ Commentaries 630
Hanna Bazhenova - Eastern Team

The War in Ukraine and Food Security in Regional and Global Perspective (part 1)

Overall 22 million tons of grain were blocked in Ukrainian ports as a result of Russia’s aggression and the suspension of Ukrainian agricultural exports by sea. This significantly reduced the ability of Ukrainian farmers to sell the 2021 grain harvest, while increasing the threat of global hunger, since almost half of all UN World Food Program deliveries come from Ukraine. The...

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Eastern Team

IEŚ Commentaries 615
Jakub Olchowski - Eastern Team

Russian war crimes and their international context

Russia continues its policy of terror in Ukraine, which has been applied many times in other conflicts, committing murders, rapes, looting, deportations, and shelling civilian objects. International reactions are varied, which results, inter alia, from an opinion, supported by Russian propaganda, that the West has also committed war crimes. The punishment of Russian crimes will be...

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Baltic Team

IEŚ Commentaries 616
Damian Szacawa - Baltic Team

A decisive year for regional cooperation within the Council of the Baltic Sea States

Ministers of foreign affairs and other high-level representatives of the members of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) met on May 25, 2022, in Kristiansand, Norway, for the first CBSS Ministerial Session in nine years. A summary of Norway’s Presidency (July 2021-June 2022) and an assessment of the impact that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is having on the Baltic...

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Baltic Team, Visegrad Team

IEŚ Commentaries 613
Łukasz Lewkowicz | Michał Paszkowski - Baltic Team, Visegrad Team

Slovakia: the game about crude oil supplies from Russia

In Slovakia, a debate has been going on for a long time about the possible imposition on crude oil supply embargo from Russia by the European Union countries. The Slovak government hopes to obtain an appropriate derogation period from these provisions. Technological and infrastructural reasons are indicated as the problem. The project of introducing a special tax on crude oil...

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Eastern Team

IEŚ Commentaries 605
Hanna Bazhenova - Eastern Team

The War in Ukraine: Crimes against the Environment (part 1) 

During the three months of the war, 245 eco-crimes committed by the Russian army in the territory of Ukraine, the Black Sea, and the Sea of Azov were documented. Rocket attacks caused large-scale fires in critical infrastructure, especially oil depots and chemical plants. This led to significant damage to ecosystems and pollutes the environment, reducing the populations of many...

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Baltic Team

IEŚ Commentaries 597
Aleksandra Kuczyńska-Zonik - Baltic Team

May 9: The Baltic states oppose the symbols of aggression

On May 9, which is celebrated by the Russian-speaking inhabitants of the Baltic states as the day of the Soviet Army’s victory over Nazism, no serious incidents or provocations occurred. Due to the ongoing Russian military operations in Ukraine, the Baltic authorities have introduced a ban on displaying symbols of war inciting aggression and significantly limited the possibility...

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