Author Archives: Hamish Cruickshank
Hamish Cruickshank has an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Edinburgh and recently completed a master’s degree with distinction at the University of Amsterdam where he specialised in Russian and Eastern European Affairs. He produced his master’s thesis on Russia’s Arctic turn and examined the transforming security dynamics of the High North. Hamish has a strong interest in international relations and security studies and has conducted considerable research on Russian foreign policy, Eurasian geopolitics and Arctic security.
Hamish Cruickshank
January 12, 2021
Latest Articles, Russia and Eurasia, Security and Defence, Uncategorized
The warming of relations between Russia and China in the Arctic has driven some Western policymakers to declare that an ‘Arctic Alliance’ has formed between the two powers. However, a deeper examination of the evidence indicates that a destabilising partnership between the two powers is far from apparent.
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Hamish Cruickshank
November 20, 2020
Europe, Latest Articles, Security and Defence, Uncategorized
While Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania have sought to pull themselves out of Russia’s orbit and entrench themselves as Western, European states, Moscow has sought to influence and destabilise this process.
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Hamish Cruickshank
October 3, 2020
Europe, Latest Articles, Russia and Eurasia
Anti-corruption campaigner and leading Russian political oppositionist Alexei Navalny has been poisoned with the nerve agent ‘Novichok’. With the international community now demanding a full and transparent enquiry into the incident, it appears that this is yet another sign that the Kremlin’s grisly method of dealing with dissidents has indeed become an intrinsic facet of state policy in Russia.
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Hamish Cruickshank
August 28, 2020
Europe, Latest Articles, Opinion, Russia and Eurasia, Security and Defence, Uncategorized
The Government’s tepid response to the Russia Report is unlikely to have made any in the Kremlin lose much sleep. A stronger effort is therefore imperative to deter any future attempts to undermine UK democracy.
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Hamish Cruickshank
June 22, 2020
Europe, Latest Articles, Russia and Eurasia, Security and Defence
While the plot may have turned out to be a complete fabrication, the fear and panic inspired by the initial reports serve as a reminder that mokroye delo - wet affairs or “wetwork” in the West - has seen a resurgence under Vladimir Putin.
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Hamish Cruickshank
May 8, 2020
Latest Articles, Russia and Eurasia, Security and Defence
Any hopes of an alternate course for Russia have surely been dashed by the constitutional overhaul and it appears that the future will hold significantly more continuity than change for the country both internally and externally.
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Hamish Cruickshank
March 3, 2020
Europe, Latest Articles, Security and Defence
The Belarus-Russia integration process has been put on hold indefinitely and with relations between the two states entering a more pragmatic phase, Lukashenko will likely enhance his efforts to build further bridges between Belarus and the West.
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Hamish Cruickshank
December 31, 2019
Europe, Latest Articles, Security and Defence
While it is unlikely that Zelenskiy or Putin will have softened on their positions regarding the Ukrainian border and the election timeline, the Paris summit has re-opened the peace dialogue and de-escalated tensions between the two states.
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Hamish Cruickshank
November 12, 2019
Latest Articles, Russia and Eurasia, Security and Defence, Uncategorized
The Arctic has long been a space of stability and of healthy inter-governmental collaboration. It is vital that this stability endures and the status quo persists to preserve the region and ensure its stable development.
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