“Pulaski Policy Papers” is a series of publications that focus on issues of great importance to Poland’s safety and stability, such as: global economy, Poland’s foreign policy and the political situation in Central and Eastern Europe.
The editor-in-chief of the Pulaski Policy Papers is Mr. Tomasz Smura (tsmura@pulaski.pl).
Published: October 14, 2022
The recent ceremony at the Kremlin when V. Putin announced annexation of four Ukrainian regions was as futile as it was emblematic of the current state of affairs in Moscow.
Published: October 14, 2022
Recent expansion of terrorism and the political-military destabilisation indicate a breakdown in the security structure of the Sahel region, even though we can hardly name it a structure.
Published: October 10, 2022
Latest clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan are part of the protracted conflict between these two countries. Though the main reason of it is the status of Artsakh, it also concerns Syunik province and never demarcated border between these two countries.
Published: September 20, 2022
There is no doubt that the information about the invasion of Russian troops on the site of the nuclear power plant (NPP) in Zaporizhia provoked an emotional reaction not only in Europe but in the whole world.
Published: September 13, 2022
One of the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Western sanctions that followed has been deteriorating economic situation in Kaliningrad Oblast. The Russian semi-exclave on the Baltic, already affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, has suffered from disrupted supply deliveries, closure of external markets and peaking transportation costs.
Published: September 5, 2022
On June 23rd, 2022, at the EU summit in Brussels Ukraine has been granted the EU candidate status. The decision was fully supported by the European Parliament, which has approved it with an overwhelming majority that has voted in favour of Kyiv (529:45, with 14 abstentions).
Published: August 17, 2022
The Russo-Ukrainian war, which started on 24 February has been the most significant armed conflict in Europe since the II World War. Alongside the traditional fight with artillery, tanks and ground troops’ fighting, it is also the first time when a cyber component is used on the wider scale by both sides. Many theoretical works have been published predicting how the war in cyberspace may look like but the war in Ukraine delivers actual answers to some questions bothering the experts and also brings important lessons for Poland.
Published: August 11, 2022
Started on 24 February 2022, Russian invasion ended a “hybrid” period of armed aggression against Ukraine’s independence, democracy and policy of integration with EU and NATO.
Published: July 27, 2022
Since the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine in late February 2022, numerous NATO and EU member states – particularly those from Central and Eastern Europe – have started actively support Ukraine with a direct aid – not only humanitarian, but also military one. This assistance gave the Ukrainian military a much – needed lifeline and a capacity first to halt the Russian advance and then to push an aggressor back from Kyiv.
Published: July 14, 2022
The North Atlantic Treaty is like the constitution of an organisation, inviolable and containing more universal and indisputable content.
Published: July 5, 2022
With the current Russian aggression and virtually total blockage of the original fuel supply routes and the destruction of domestic fuel production capabilities, there is a need to reroute Ukrainian fuel supply chains via alternative routes.
Published: June 1, 2022
Poland was also depicted by Russian disinformation as a Russo phobic country, which wants to provoke a war with Russians and tries to pull out the West into it. Unfortunately, some Western experts were vulnerable to these claims and repeated Russian propaganda on this subject.
Published: March 22, 2022
On March 19, the Russian Federation attacked a Ukrainian aerial ammunition depot, located in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, using aeroballistic KINZHAL missiles. Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, Russia has also used ballistic and cruise missile systems. These missiles were mainly used in the initial phase of hostilities against Ukraine’s military infrastructure, although it seems that their sheer scale of use was far from sufficient from a military point of view. It is therefore worth asking what conclusions can be drawn from the use of such systems in the first three weeks of the conflict.
Published: March 10, 2022
Pulaski Policy Paper no 5, 2022, March 10 2022 The "Special Operation" of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Ukraine was to be (according to the original assumptions
Published: March 9, 2022
The Ukrainian authorities, however, clearly indicate that the Russian air superiority is the main problem in their defence campaign, which is well reflected in attacks on defence positions as well as civilian facilities in the defended Ukrainian cities. Hence, the Ukrainian authorities are calling for the establishment of a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
Published: February 28, 2022
On 24 February this year, the Russian Federation, after a phase of increased political-military pressure lasting several months, launched military aggression against Ukraine. After the fourth day of Russian offensive actions there are already clear conclusions as to the probable plans and military objectives of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
Published: February 21, 2022
“Comrades – we have been standing on the edge of a precipice. I am glad to say that we have made a great step forward”. This pun from a sketch performed by the Cracow-based cabaret in 1960s was mocking the absurdity of inept propaganda of the Polish communist rulers at the time.
Published: November 4, 2021
Russia has conducted Zapad-2021, the latest instalment of its quadrennial joint military exercises with the Republic of Belarus. They lasted from the 10th until the 16th of September 2021. A large part of the exercise took place on the territory of Belarus, requiring a significant number of Russian military units to be transported into the former Soviet republic, where they carried out the various manoeuvres that the Zapad-2021 set of operational objectives required from them.
Published: July 1, 2021
Pułaski Policy Paper no 7, July 1, 2021 An unfavourable series of events over the past few years for the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) has left the country once
Published: June 23, 2021
Pulaski Policy Paper no 6, 2021, 23rd of June 2021 In recent months, nuclear energy has been an increasingly debated topic on the Polish political scene. This growing popularity of
Published: May 13, 2021
For years after the Cold War invading one its neighbours had been deemed largely unthinkable. That is, until Moscow’s military rolled across the border of Georgia in August 2008 and seized two provinces which it still occupies today. A similar land grab of Ukrainian territory was fraught with horrendous consequences. In 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded both Crimea and the Eastern Donbas regions. To this day the latter remains a war zone with massive devastation throughout and more than 13,000 persons killed – 25 per cent of those being civilians.
Published: May 5, 2021
Pulaski Policy Paper no 4, 2021, May 5, 2021 In March this year, it was six years since the outbreak of civil war in Yemen. This conflict has until recently
Published: March 24, 2021
Pułaski Policy Paper No 3, March 24, 2021 In the first quarter of 2021, Chinese media reported further successes in modernising the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), such as the
Published: March 11, 2021
The Ukraine defence-industrial complex, usually referred to by the Russian acronym (transliterated) as OPK, was at one time a sprawling and multi-faceted – as well as vital – component of the former Soviet Union’s empire of factories, design bureaux and military R&D centres. Ukraine’s contribution to building Moscow’s massive war machine was considerable and involved several areas of specialisation:
Published: March 8, 2021
Pulaski Policy Paper no 1, 2021, March 8, 2021 According to the arrangements formulated as part of the Strategic Defense Review, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland should
Published: December 8, 2020
Pułaski Policy Paper no. 12, 2020, 8 December 2020 The 2010 Strategic Concept adopted in Lisbon, a sort of signpost defining the directions in which NATO member states should move in
Published: November 26, 2020
Current global energy consumption forecasts indicate that although renewables are set to expand by 50% between 2020 and 2025, they will not fully replace fossil fuels in our lifetimes. However, if recent geopolitical, economical, and sociological factors are taken into account, this prediction becomes obsolete. The world is about to enter a period of rapid energy transformation.
Published: November 16, 2020
Although the legal and political battle over the final outcome of the US presidential elections is not yet over, it is almost certain that it is the Democratic candidate –
Published: August 20, 2020
Pulaski Policy Paper No 7, 2020. August 20, 2020 As far as the first goal is concerned, Donald Trump has been using a business-like approach to foreign affairs and security
Published: May 28, 2020
Pułaski Policy Paper No 5, 2020. 28 May 2020 On February 10, 2020 the US President Donald Trump submitted the 2021 defence budget proposal to the Congress in compliance with
Published: December 24, 2019
Paper No 9, 2019. 24 December 2019 On December 3-4, 2019, the North Atlantic Council held a summit meeting in London to commemorate the 70thanniversary of NATO founding treaty as well
Published: December 11, 2019
The death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – the self-proclaimed Caliph Ibrahim and the leader of the Islamic State (IS) that had been hiding in Idlib province in northwestern Syria – triggered a number of analysts to announce a major breakthrough in war against the caliphate and the Islamic extremism in general.
Published: September 29, 2019
On 8th August, 2019 a mysterious blast rocked Nyonoksa, a small village located on the White Sea coast in the Arkhangelsk Oblast, Northern Russia. State Atomiс Energy Corporation ROSATOM acknowledged that an accident at the military firing range in Severodvinsk claimed the lives of five workers whereas three others were seriously injured.
Published: August 27, 2019
The new “hybrid cold war” is not at an end even though it has never been declared, but instead, dictated by Russia. On the contrary, the conflict is escalating and becoming multidimensional.[i] The new cold war is no longer limited to spectacular phenomena such as hybrid and other threats below the threshold of war (cyber interventions and cyber defence, and information operations in social media). Today, the clash between Russia and the West bears a strong resemblance to the Cold War in the second half of the 20th century with its indirect military confrontation: an arms race, large-scale military exercises, provocative military incidents, proxy wars, nuclear and conventional deterrence, extortion etc. The collapse of the INF Treaty and an increasing risk of another nuclear arms race at strategic and non-strategic levels are the latest examples of the tension between the two sides.[ii].
Published: June 12, 2019
In early 2019, that is eight years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime and five years since the outbreak of the second Libyan civil war, the political situation in Libya aggravated once again. On April 4th, 2019 Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar, Head of the Libyan National Army (LNA) that supports the government in Tobruk, announced an offensive against Tripoli, the capital city of Libya.
Published: April 2, 2019
Published: January 7, 2019
Pulaski Policy Paper No 1, 2019 January 7, 2019 In the aftermath of the political reforms of the late 1980s and the early 1990s, Poland’s policy makers recognised a growing
Published: December 14, 2018
Pulaski Policy Paper No 16, 2018. 14 December 2018 On November 25, 2018, naval vessels and patrol boats of the Federal Border Guard Service of the Russian Federation captured three
Published: November 13, 2018
In October 2018 based on the Bill dated May 10 2018 on The Central Transport Hub the Special Purpose Vehicle responsible for preparing and implementing the Central Transportation Hub program was established
Published: November 9, 2018
Pułaski Policy Paper No. 13, 2018. November 9th, 2018 After seven years of a bloody civil war, Syrian conflict is coming to an end and a new order emerging. Ba’ath
Published: September 20, 2018
Pulaski Policy Paper No 12, 2018. 20 September 2018 The agreement between Macedonia and Greece puts an end to a long-standing dispute, which impeded Skopje's international ambitions. Nonetheless, the Macedonians