Articles by: "Slawomir Sierakowski"
The Russians who are leaving

In the broader discussion about Russia’s war on Ukraine, an important but overlooked element is the exodus of Russians from their homeland. Though it’s impossible to determine the scale of this phenomenon, we can expect …

The moral bankruptcy of German pacifism

After a prolonged lead-up, Germany finally delivered on its decision to send heavy weaponry to Ukraine. But the Gepard (Cheetah) anti-aircraft tanks that Germany is offering are antiques that lack ammunition. The manufacturer has only …

Putin’s empire of lies

Vladimir Putin’s regime has banned Russian media from referring to his invasion of Ukraine as a ‘war’. Instead, it is to be framed as ‘an operation to liberate Ukraine from neo-Nazis’. The state-run RIA news …

The view from Kyiv

For international observers, Russian President Vladimir Putin either will start a new war in Ukraine or he will not. But for Ukrainians, the war started when Putin annexed Crimea in 2014, and it has continued …

Will the West abandon Ukraine?

After a long, mysterious silence, US President Joe Biden has spoken out about the ever-increasing concentration of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border. He would have been better off keeping quiet, given his astonishing and …

Europe’s new refugee crisis

The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has already deepened conflicts elsewhere, including Europe, where a confrontation is escalating between Belarus and its European Union neighbours: Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. Even before the meltdown in Kabul, Belarusian …

The Tusk effect

In July, Donald Tusk, the former European Council president who served as Poland’s prime minister from 2007 to 2014, returned to Polish politics. Many voters remember him as the politician who raised the country’s retirement …

Belarus hijacks Western complacency

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has once again demonstrated the lengths to which he will go to crack down on his opponents. On 23 May, he deployed a MiG-29 fighter jet to force down a commercial …