This article is part of the Ellison Center blog Series on Sochi. Click here to read more as we cover the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Russia!    By Andrew Yarbrough For several months, countries and groups across the world have condemned the Russian anti-gay “propaganda” laws, a set of ill-defined legal jargon with the ignoble goal

This article is part of the Ellison Center blog Series on Sochi. Click here to read more as we cover the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Russia!    By Sarah McPhee The shores of the Black Sea rise to meet the picturesque mountains of the Caucasus in Sochi, and it is universally agreed that this is a

The Ellison Center Blog will be following the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Click on the Series on Sochi logo for special coverage of REECA Olympic history, analysis of the Games and medal updates!

The 2014 Herbert J. Ellison Memorial Lecture with CNN’s Jill Dougherty is now available to watch online from start to finish. Read a brief preview of the event here.  

By Indra Ekmanis As a panel of scholars analyzed Ukraine’s Euromaidan protests Tuesday night at UW, 5,000 miles away in Kyiv, events turned deadly. At least two protestors were killed by gunshots as pro-European/anti-government forces clashed with riot police. These are the first reported fatalities of Euromaidan. The protests began Nov. 21, 2013, when Ukrainian

A wave of demonstrations and civil unrest erupted in Ukraine in November 2013 when the Ukrainian government suddenly suspended preparations for signing an Association Agreement with the European Union. The protest quickly transformed into a social movement called “Euromaidan” calling for stronger democratic institutions, rule of law and independence from Russian dominance. Crowds have reached

By Veronica Muskheli Together with a few other Eastern European nations, Russians have a concept that is strange to Americans, the Old New Year. It is celebrated the night of January 13th to 14th because, according to the Julian-style Eastern Orthodox Church calendar, January 14th is actually January 1st. Russians, Georgians, Macedonians, and so forth, whether

CNN foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty will sit down with Ellison Center Director Scott Radnitz to discuss the role of resurgent Russia and implications for the US on January 14 at UW’s Kane Hall. Dougherty was the CNN Moscow bureau chief from 1997  to 2005, but actively covered events in Russia and the former Soviet

by Volodymyr Lysenko Nine years ago, when the pro-democratic Orange Revolution in Ukraine was victorious, Ukrainians had high hopes for positive change in all areas of their lives and brighter futures for their children. But, unfortunately, the new leaders of the country were unable to effectively coordinate their liberal efforts and failed to fulfill the

by Taylor Zajicek Tucked just west of the Urals, Bashkortostan occupies the easternmost edge of European Russia. Despite being acquired by Ivan IV nearly 500 years ago, the minority republic retains and boasts its Turkic roots. The state-directed history of the region deemphasizes this imperial acquisition in favor of a narrative of diversity and multiethnic