Front and Center

RUSSIA THREATENS TO STATION TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN BELARUS The Kremlin issued yet another nuclear threat last month by announcing it plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. This follows the transfer of deployment vehicles including Iskander missile systems. The strategic value of such a move is questionable though. One senior administration official reportedly said that […]

ONE YEAR INTO UKRAINE INVASION, RUSSIA GETS MORE DESPERATE Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to have policy implications beyond the destruction and suffering being caused in the conflict, which hit the one-year mark on Friday. Western leaders have pledged more aid to Ukraine, but a new Russian offensive is also underway. Senior Policy Director John […]

RUSSIA, UKRAINE DISPUTE CONTROLLED TERRITORY Russia announced that it controls the small salt-mining town of Soledar, but Ukrainian officials deny this conquest. The town is symbolically important to both sides of the war as it would be the first Russian success after months of attrition on the central Donbas front. British intelligence officials have contested Russian claims and countered […]

RUSSIA CONTINUES NUCLEAR THREATS, POSTPONES U.S. TALKS Russian president Vladimir Putin continues to demonstrate why nuclear weapons in his hands, or anyone’s, are a danger to the world. No one has dropped a nuclear bomb on another country since 1945, but Putin can’t resist implied or direct threats to use nuclear weapons in his failing […]

RUSSIAN RETREAT AND A TRAGEDY IN POLAND Russian troops withdrew from the city of Kherson and territory along the Dnipro River, demonstrating that they could not withstand the strong defenses put up by Ukrainian forces. Senior Policy Director John Erath argues in a new op-ed in The National Interest that Russia’s failed invasion is proof that nuclear weapons […]