Many observers predicted that the coronavirus pandemic might lead Russian President Vladimir Putin to rethink his highly opportunistic, zero-sum approach to foreign policy. Such assessments turned out to be little more than exercises in wishful thinking. If anything, the Kremlin’s policy toward “core Europe”—Germany, France, and the United Kingdom—has followed the same aggressive, in-your-face approach, leading to growing awareness that Moscow is not at all serious about lowering the tensions that followed the annexation of Crimea and war in eastern Ukraine.
OP-ED
Andrew S. Weiss: Russia and Europe, stuck on autopilot
Russian President Vladimir Putin watches a live broadcast of the ceremony to load the liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker Coral Anthelia at the Cryogas LNG plant located in the port of Vysotsk, on April 24, 2019 in Saint Petersburg.
