Last week, a summit of CSTO member states took place. Following the event, one may conclude that russia failed to get the allies on board in the war on Ukraine. The meeting also showed that the member countries do not have any shared vision for the organization's development which undermines its effectiveness. Another important track from last week was the change of russian public position on prospective NATO membership for Sweden and France. Now, russia claims they do not see any problem abo...

On the evening of May 18, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bill adopted by parliament №7269, which regulates the work of local authorities during martial law. To what extent does the law regulate the positions of territorial communities in various situations - occupation, front line, rear? Do local governments feel threatened by limiting their powers in favor of military administrations? OPORA experts and guests spoke about this during the traditional weekly stream OPORA LIVE.

Expectations for putin's sharp statements during the May 9 parade fell short – Russian authorities avoided any public stake-raising in the war on Ukraine. Statements of russian officials showed that the aggressor state still hoped for the new global agreement and searched for leverage for bargaining. In particular, last week, “discussions" started between russian officials and their proxies in the temporarily occupied territories about the future of the Kherson region. Volodymyr Zelensky reje...

The “rising cost of services” of government media has not been random since today government-controlled media make the dominant source of information in the russian federation. In the context of the reinforced positions of government-supported media companies, independent media virtually suffer the destruction. Some of them have been blocked before the war in Ukraine, others were banned shortly after the onset of the purported “special operation.” In March, the roskomnadzor also blocked acces...

Many consider putin's speech on May 9 gray and toothless, but it is somewhat cautious not to take responsibility because military achievements are not as significant as expected. However, Putin is not going to admit defeat by agreeing to talks. Especially when other countries try to persuade Ukraine to leave the "golden bridge" to save putin's face. OPORA analysts Oleksandr Kliuzhev and Oleksandr Neberykut spoke about this during Friday's live broadcast of War Speeches on May 13. The guest wa...

What does Russia mean when it demands the "denazification of Ukraine," and how different is it from the historical interpretation of the concept of "denazification" in Nazi Germany? Experts agree that denazification means de-Ukrainization, including harsh methods that contain war crimes. They also believe that this concept is a product more for the domestic consumer and has not been well developed by ideologues. That was the main topic of the online discussion "Denazification: the propaganda ...

Last week, the Russian leadership provoked a clamorous diplomatic scandal over the anti-Semitic remarks of russian Foreign Minister, sergei lavrov. Leaders of russia, as evidenced by their statements, had to refute the information disseminated by Western media that on May 9, President vladimir putin would declare general mobilization and the war on Ukraine. Russian politicians and diplomats have systematically threatened Western countries with a decisive response to "external" intervention in...

This week, russian narratives revolved around several topics: scandalous anti-Semitic statements by Russian foreign ministers, reassuring the public that official mass mobilization would not begin on May 9, and the traditional shift of blame for the war to the collective West. There are the main topics on May 5 during the OPORA's broadcast "War Speeches".