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4 weeks ago | 
cepa.org | Alison Mutler |Ben R. Hodges |Dan Rice |Mykyta Vorobiov
Calin Georgescu wasn’t a household name when he unexpectedly won the first round of Romania’s presidential elections in November. But at the peak of his campaign, he was massively famous on social media, and trending in the top nine globally on TikTok. This huge, worldwide presence, which led to the “TikTok Messiah” moniker, goes some way to explaining how Russian interference helped him go from single digits in the polls to winning 23% of the vote.
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2 months ago | 
cepa.org | Francis Harris |Edward Lucas |Mykyta Vorobiov |Michael Peck
Since the October parliamentary elections, Georgia has been seeing near-permanent protests against what the opposition describes as a “stolen election.” It is demanding a rerun. The ruling Georgian Dream Party, which has been in power for 12 years with the support of traditionalist elements of the population, says the results are unchangeable. International criticism has not subsided either.
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Jan 24, 2025 | 
cepa.org | Mykyta Vorobiov |Elina Beketova |Kseniya Kirillova |Aliide Naylor
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians of reproductive age have been killed and wounded on the frontline, and thousands, including children, have been deported from the occupied territories. The birth rate has fallen due to the uncertainties of wartime, and the death rate is growing. In 2024, Ukraine became the country with the lowest birth rate and the highest death rate in the world.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
cepa.org | Elena Davlikanova |Mykyta Vorobiov |Edward Lucas
There was a time, only weeks ago, when the mantra of “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” appeared to have some meaning. No longer. Putin and soon-to-be President Trump are preparing to meet and there is no invitation for third parties. It’s clear that a meeting of this sort, during an all-out war, is as consequential for Ukraine’s existence as (for example) the Munich meeting was for Czechoslovakia’s in 1938. So, what is needed to avoid a bad outcome?
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Jan 13, 2025 | 
cepa.org | Mykyta Vorobiov |Edward Lucas |Andrei Soldatov |Irina Borogan
From his 2021 claim that Lenin created Ukraine as a state, to his assertion in September that Crimea was merely gifted to Kyiv by Khrushchev, the Russian president has repeatedly used distorted accounts of history to justify his imperialist agenda. The Kremlin’s use of the Soviet legacy has been increasing since the full-scale invasion and is still on the rise.
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Dec 2, 2024 | 
cepa.org | Mykyta Vorobiov |Rob McGillis |Mitzi Perdue |Edward Lucas
In 1991, Ukraine was left with tens of thousands of streets named after Soviet party officials and Russian colonists. But it took until the 2014 Revolution of Dignity to accelerate the process as part of the country’s “de-communization” campaign. And yet while the effect has been enormous, there are problems.
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Nov 3, 2024 | 
jurist.org | Mykyta Vorobiov |James Joseph
In this article the author, Mykyta Vorobiov a Senior Editor for Long Form Content and student at Bard College in Berlin, explores the significant changes made to Russia’s Constitution following the controversial 2020 referendum that allowed President Vladimir Putin to extend his rule. The amendments faced claims of illegitimacy and violations, with experts arguing that they undermined the foundational legal order.
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
cepa.org | Olga Lautman |Anda Bologa |Kseniya Kirillova |Mykyta Vorobiov
Russia has worked tirelessly and systematically over several years to undermine Moldova’s pro-western President Maia Sandu. This campaign reaches its zenith on November 3 when the country holds its run-off vote for the head of state’s post. Moscow’s mouthpieces have expressed disappointment that the country voted (albeit narrowly) to enshrine European Union (EU) membership in the constitution on October 20. The Kremlin said the vote was rigged.
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Oct 29, 2024 | 
cepa.org | Kseniya Kirillova |Mykyta Vorobiov |Irina Borogan |Andrei Soldatov
The West is ceding ground to the Kremlin in the battle for influence, even in countries such as Georgia and Moldova, which had appeared well on the way to European integration. The crisis in relations between Tbilisi’s ruling Georgian Dream party and the European Union began in 2023 — a year after the full-scale invasion — when it made its first attempt to adopt a Russian-style bill on so-called foreign agents.
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Oct 29, 2024 | 
cepa.org | Mykyta Vorobiov |Kseniya Kirillova |Irina Borogan |Andrei Soldatov
After Kyiv exited peace negotiations with Russia in Istanbul in the spring of 2022, talk about ending the war through diplomacy almost vanished, and those in Ukraine proposing it as a way forward risked denunciation. Ukrainian officials argued history showed that Moscow could not be trusted, and Zelenskyy ruled out the very idea of peace talks with the Russian government on an official level, cementing the approach of “victory through strength” adopted in May 2022.
