Press
After a fumbled start, Russian forces hit harder in Ukraine
28 February 2022
The New York Times
“A lot depends on how brutal the Russians are prepared to be,” said Ian Bond, foreign policy director for the Centre for European Reform. “They can’t censor everything, so brutalizing Ukrainians for whom many Russians feel a connection may not be politically successful for Putin.’’
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has left a hole in the global energy market
28 February 2022
Grist
Elisabetta Cornago, a senior research fellow at the CER in Brussels, Belgium, argues that for Europe, the crisis may ultimately accelerate the transition to clean energy. The EU and the UK have been heavily reliant on Russian gas for decades, making them politically vulnerable to interference from President Vladimir Putin. “It’s kind of a wake-up call for Europe,” Cornago said.
Germany's Scholz announces 100bn euros for German army
27 February 2022
RTL Today
The significance of this move was highlighted by Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform. He wrote that "Scholz just dismantled almost every SPD policy towards Russia over the past 3 decades in one speech". Scholz represents the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
BBC World News: Russian invasion of Ukraine
27 February 2022
Ian Bond spoke to BBC World News on EU sanctions and the big step of paying for lethal equipment to Ukraine and sanctions on Russian banks via SWIFT.
How two big new EU laws will try to rein in Big Tech
26 February 2022
The Journal
“It’s not really directly relevant what the court decides because few consumers use comparison shopping services any more”, says Zach Meyers of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank.
BBC World News: Russia vetoes UN resolution deploring invasion of Ukraine
26 February 2022
Zach Meyers spoke to BBC World News and explained that UK/US were prepared to cut off Russian banks from USD/GBP clearing, devastating Russia's ability to trade internationally - but EU sanctions still allow much trade with Russia.
Putin and the West: From curiosity to cataclysm
26 February 2022
France 24
"Cut off from West, Russia has no choice but to become junior partner of China," argued Charles Grant, director of the London-based Centre for European Reform."Beijing is ambivalent on invasion - it won't criticise Russia in public and blames the US - but values stability and territorial integrity."
Newstalk: Reaction on the Russian invasion of Ukraine
25 February 2022
Sobering analysis from Ian Bond on why we have to be honest about the prospects for a Ukrainian insurgency. "The Russians have a record of extraordinary brutality in suppressing insurgencies in Chechnya & Syria - bombing everything that moves and intimidating."
iNews 24: EU agrees to freeze assets linked to Putin
25 February 2022
Camino Mortera-Martinez says the EU is preparing to welcome an influx of refugees from Ukraine. She emphasises that Poland not asking for COVID passports or even ID cards shows this crisis is truly unprecedented
La guerra de Putin: lo idiotas que fuimos
24 February 2022
El Periodico
Lo mejor que nos puede pasar es que los ucranios se defiendan y haya los menores muertos posibles, pero la toma de Kiev y la derrota del gobierno pro-europeo de Zelensky es inevitable.
Sky News: President of Ukraine says the country will remove sanctions from all citizens who are "ready to defend our state with weapons in their hands"
24 February 2022
Ian Bond says the layout of Russian forces and attacks across Ukraine show Putin's plan to control the whole country.
India Today: Russia invades Ukraine
24 February 2022
Ian Bond says that anyone who has watched Putin's speeches this week can see he's acting on a lot of emotion: both on hatred towards the West and delusion about what kind of country Ukraine is.
With the Ukraine invasion, NATO is suddenly vulnerable
24 February 2022
The New York Times
“This changes everything for NATO,’’ said Ian Bond, a former British diplomat who heads foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform. “Russia’s aim is to extinguish Ukraine as a sovereign country in Europe. Now we need to worry about everything, and we need to get serious again.’’
Newstalk: The latest on what’s been happening with the crisis in Ukraine
23 February 2022
The breaking news overnight as The White House says President Biden will no longer be holding a summit with Vladimir Putin The summit had been mooted last weekend in an attempt to deescalate tensions in the region. Ian Bond is director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform and spoke to Shane this morning with more on this breaking story. Listen here.
The Point: Digital platforms and unfair practices
23 February 2022
Zach Meyers spoke to The Point about how the world is preparing to regulate big tech giants amid the expansion of the digital market.
The west knows the cost of appeasement. We can’t rule out any option for stopping Putin
22 February 2022
The Guardian
The Russian leader has shown he cares enough about Ukraine to shed blood over it. He needs to know the gain won’t be worth the pain.
LBC: Ex-Diplomat warns of danger of Russian false flag operations
22 February 2022
Ex-Diplomat Ian Bond warns ordering troops into rebel-held regions of Ukraine is 'the latest and another dangerous step' from Putin. Watch here.
Readers' letters: Rees-Mogg is living in a Brexit alternative universe
21 February 2022
The Scotsman
It [the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)] pointed to research from the Centre for European Reform, which concluded that in October 2021 the UK's trade in goods with the EU had been 15.7 per cent, or £12.6bn lower, than it would have been without Brexit.
Putin may launch invasion of Ukraine in Donbas, analysts say
19 February 2022
Yahoo News
Ian Bond, a former British diplomat in Russia and current foreign policy director of the think-tank the Centre for European Reform, told Yahoo News that if Putin’s goal is to seize Donetsk and Luhansk, it “would significantly damage Ukraine’s economy because they’ve got a lot of heavy industry there.”
FT Podcast: How Russia's Ukraine threat galvanised western alliances
17 February 2022
After a week of frenetic diplomacy, the Ukraine crisis has yet to be resolved. But it has had a significant impact on reshaping western alliances. Gideon Rachman talks to Charles Grant, director of the CER about the impact of the Russian threat on US ties with Europe, and on Nato and the EU.