Features
Russian currency chaos boosts crypto
After the Central Bank of Russia limited withdrawals of foreign currencies, Russians turned to crypto as a way of hedging and liquidising their assets.
Board members quit Russian companies en masse
The flow of board directors leaving Russian companies has increased in recent days, with Steel giant Evraz and supermarket chain Lenta losing swathes of directors.
Grain-hungry nations look to second-tier emerging Europe producers
The war between two of the world’s top grain exporters, Russia and Ukraine, has sent prices to record levels and forced importers to urgently seek out alternative sources.
Is Russia facing a 1998-like default?
International rating agency Fitch has downgraded Russia's sovereign rating to “imminent default” on March 8 and said that a default is “inevitable.” Is Russia going to repeat its default of 1998?
EXPLAINER: The Moldovan separatist republic of Transnistria
What to expect from the Russia-backed separatist republic on Ukraine's western flank.
EXPLAINER: The Moldovan separatist republic of Transnistria
What to expect from the Russia-backed separatist republic on Ukraine's western flank.
Ukraine’s gas pipelines and storage tanks are safe for now, but not for long
The price of gas on the Dutch TTH spot market soared to a new all-time high of over $3,000 per thousand cubic metres on March 7 as energy traders fear Ukraine's gas pipelines and storage tanks are in danger from the war.
Rising Georgian backlash to Russian influx
More than 20,000 Russians have already fled to Georgia in the days since their country launched the invasion of Ukraine. Many Georgians say they are not welcome.
Russia's Chechen speartip in Ukraine
The Kremlin has need of soldiers that will not baulk from a fight, and whose deaths are likely to provoke little opprobrium. Enter Ramzan Kadyrov, the brutal, mercurial ruler of Chechnya, and his personal army.
Explainer | What about the EEU? Why Russia’s trade bloc is not a sanctions backdoor
The idea that the Eurasian Economic Union can help Moscow violate sanctions is exaggerated.
Women take up arms to defend Ukraine
Pensioners, an MP and a former beauty queen are among the women who have taken up arms and vowed to fight to defend Ukraine.
CEE's arms industry seeks to profit from new Cold War
Central and Eastern Europe’s arms industry should also benefit from the shift of defence up the list of political priorities.
Women in emerging Europe have 86% of the economic rights given to men
With the exception of Latvia, women in countries across the region are among the almost 2.4bn worldwide that don’t enjoy the same economic rights as men.
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Poland struggles to cope with biggest refugee wave since WWII
NGOs question government strategy of paying Poles to put up Ukrainians in their homes.
Collapse of Orban's Kremlin policy leaves him precariously balanced between East and West
Hungary's strongman now tries to portray himself as the leader who can keep Hungary out of the Ukraine conflict.
Analysts ask if Turkey’s policy of maintaining warm ties with both Ukraine and Russia will come under impossible strain
For now, “balancing act has implicit OK from US-European coalition against Putin’s war”, says academic Louis Fishman. Ankara important for coalition as interlocutor with Russia, he adds.
Lukashenko's war economy
Sanctions are hitting Belarus hard and the regime is running out of tools to handle it. How will this affect Belarusian society?
Kazakhstan braces for impact of Russia sanctions regime
The economies are closely linked – and the trouble could not have come at a worse time.
Turkey’s official inflation hits 54%, highest level in 20 years
Research group calculates 124%. Country braces for impacts from Ukraine war. Black Sea trade has simply stopped.
Investors nervously watching Russia’s interbank interest rates for signs of a banking crisis
Bankers and investors are nervously watching Russia’s interbank interest rates for a spike that would foreshadow the start of a banking crisis. While rates have risen in the last days, they are not yet at the levels that would ring alarm bells.
