Emerging Europe Weekly, 2023.1.28
By FMN Team Welcome to the first edition of Emerging Europe Weekly, an extended roundup of key news and insight...
Europe
Azerbaijan tests Russia’s resolve in the Caucasus, highlighting Moscow’s waning influence on its periphery
Azerbaijan is blocking Armenian access to its contested Nagorno-Karabakh enclave and testing Russia’s resolve in the process, reports the NYTimes’ Anton Troianovski....
Fall in Hungary’s overheated property market exposes finance-sector vulnerabilities
Hungary’s housing market, the fastest growing in the EU for the past decade, is finally seeing lower prices, Bloomberg reports. Recent...
Russia moves to bolster economy as the costs of war and sanctions become clearer
Strained by the rising costs of its war on Ukraine, the Russian government said that it had a $47 billion budget deficit for...
Russian military-recruitment centers attacked amid mobilization pushback
Resistance against Russia’s mobilization for its war in Ukraine took an increasingly violent turn as two recruitment centers came under attack and...
EU squeezes Hungary funding while seeking its backing against Russia
The EU ramped up financial pressure on Hungary’s nationalist prime minister just as it needs his support to extend sanctions on Russia...
Ukrainian grain sails to Ethiopia as tenuous shipping deal between Kiev and Moscow holds
A vessel carrying 23,000 metric tons of wheat set sail toward Djibouti last week as part of the first Ukrainian...
Poland veers towards recession as Eastern Europe’s growth prospects darken
Poland, Eastern Europe’s largest economy, has flashed a warning to investors after GDP fell 2.3% in the third quarter. The...
Russian aggression brings high anxiety to strategic sliver of Europe
The bucolic region around the Polish-Lithuanian border has long been known for its rolling farmlands, serene lakes and historic cities....
Albania breaks relations with Iran over cyberattack
Albania became the first country to break diplomatic relations after it expelled Iran’s diplomatic staff and formally broke relations with Tehran over...
Russian financier could turn to crypto to sidestep sanctions
Experts believe Russia could use cryptocurrencies to bypass US- and European-imposed sanctions targeting Russian banks, technology companies and aerospace operators—a...
Armenian currency appreciates with inflow of Russians leading to mass layoffs
Armenia’s workers are facing wage cuts and widespread layoffs amid rapid currency appreciation, Radio Free Europe’s Tony Wesolowsky reports. After weakening as Russia...
