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US sailors conduct routine maintenance on a jet blast deflector on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz on July 9, 2025. (US Navy)
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
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The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, took part in the unveiling of a memorial stone on May 18, 2024. (Photo via Flickr)
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(What Really Matters logo)
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Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states leaders' summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, on July 3, 2024. (Photo by Sergei Guneyev/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
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US Army infantry soldiers wait for further instruction during a force on force exercise near Tapa, Estonia, on April 14, 2024. (US Army photo by Spc. Trey Gonzales)
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Smoke rises over hypermarket ‘Epicentr’ after Russian air attack on May 25, 2024, in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
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Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina welcomes Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas in Riga, Latvia, on May 6, 2024. (Photo by GINTS IVUSKANS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Bosnian soldiers take a part in military exercise on November 30, 2021, near Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Getty Images)
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A small boat transfers a Romanian boarding team from Standing NATO Maritime Group Two (SNMG2) ship ROS Regele Ferdinand to SNMG2 flagship HMS Duncan on February 7, 2018. (NATO photo by GBRN LPhot Paul Hall)
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Russian President Vladimir Putin watches a naval exercise from the Marshal Ustinov missile cruiser in the Black Sea on January 9, 2020. (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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US Soldiers participate in closing ceremonies for Iron Sword 2014 in Pabrade, Lithuania, on November 13, 2014. (DVIDS)
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A Swedish CB90-class fast assault craft approaches the well deck of the Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship USS Gunston Hall during exercise Steadfast Defender 24 on March 6, 2024, in the Norwegian Sea. (US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Danielle Serocki)
Experts
Daniel Kochis
Senior Fellow, Center on Europe and Eurasia
Tomáš Pojar
Senior Fellow (Nonresident), Center on Europe and Eurasia
