Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS)

After the exodus of the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians from their home, international attention has moved on and their fate has received little attention. And yet, the new situation offers some unprecedented opportunities. Whether they can be seized depends very much on Azerbaijan’s next moves.

This report highlights the role of the Russian authorities’ management and governance in dealing with the sanctions and adapting the economy. For this purpose, it scrutinises the adept responses of Russia’s financial leadership to four distinct crises over the past 15 years.

A survey of Ukrainian refugees with school-age children in Sweden shows that they waver between appreciation of their new educational experiences and a fear of falling behind with the Ukrainian curriculum. Because of uncertain future prospects, many try to live in both countries at once.

Poland and Hungary are the EU’s most prominent renegades, infamous for defying the block’s rule-of-law agenda. Has the EU mellowed towards them in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the need for internal solidarity? And has Poland, as a vocal supporter of Ukraine, received ‘differential treatment’?

Transnational commercial surrogacy is a contested practice; the few countries where it is legal include Ukraine and Russia. Social anthropologist Veronika Siegl has explored how surrogate mothers, intended parents, clinics and agencies legitimise their actions to themselves and others.

Beril Ocaklı’s guests share their insights on three specific and telling cases: Nadia Ali on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Valentin Krüsmann on the construction of the E60 highway in Georgia and Tamás Peragovics on the Hungarian government’s handling of the Budapest-Belgrade railway construction.

It has been one year since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Our focus gathers relevant information in the form of videos, podcasts, publications and assessments of our experts in the media.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a war of aggression that we condemn in the strongest possible terms. Against this background, we have decided to suspend all institutional cooperations between ZOiS and Russian state institutions. However, in the spirit of academic freedom, the academic partnerships our researchers have established with individual researchers in Russia will continue, as far as this is possible.