Baltic Black Sea Research Articles

The Concept of the Intermarium and the Confessional Issue: Geopolitical Challenges to Belarusian Orthodoxy in ХХ – early ХХI century

The article discusses the problems of merging geopolitics and religion. Using the example of Belarusian Orthodoxy, the author shows how religious institutions can become instruments for the implementation of geopolitical strategies, in particular the Polish foreign policy doctrine of the Intermarium. The influence of this doctrine on the position of the Orthodox Church in the Baltic-Black Sea region, including on the territory of Belarus, is analyzed. The author examines the specific historical conditions of the periodic actualization of Polish geopolitical projects in relation to Belarus. Using some examples, he shows the technologies of the United States working with the Belarusian anti-Soviet emigration and the technologies of using religious institutions to implement geopolitical strategies. It is concluded that modern interpretations of the Intermarium doctrine are directly related to the policy of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in relation to the East Slavic territories associated with the Kiev Metropolis of the XV–XVII centuries. The assessment of the activities of the primate of the Orthodox Church in Poland on the Ukrainian-Belarusian lands in the first half of the 1940s is new for domestic and foreign historiography as an attempt to build a “church Intermarium”. The article contains unique materials about the anti-Soviet activities of the Belarusian emigration, its contradictions and splits. The findings actualize the issue of developing mechanisms to counteract manipulative influence against the Orthodox Church, carried out in order to achieve political benefits. Based on the results of the consideration of the problem, a recommendation is proposed regarding the need for planned systematic work to strengthen church immunity against external manipulative influence, fraught with disruption of social and confessional balance in the Republic of Belarus.

UKRAINE’S GEOSTRATEGY IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

The article examines the essential features of Ukraine's regional geostrategy in Central and Eastern Europe, reveals the main problems, and defines the prospects of Ukrainian geostrategy. In the conditions of war, Ukraine’s geostrategy regarding the RF should be offensive in nature and envisage the return of the entire geopolitical space of the state through the use, first of all, of military force. Ukraine's geostrategy in Central and Eastern Europe should be developed on the basis of its national interests, first of all, ensuring its own national security and achieving a sufficiently high level of integral potential development. When developing and implementing its regional geostrategy, Ukraine must take into account the interests of the US, other leading Western countries, and neighboring EU and NATO member states, since it needs their help. Ukraine's geostrategy in Central and Eastern Europe should be largely aimed at the formation of the Baltic-Black Sea regional security system, which will consist of two subsystems: the Baltic (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland) and the Black Sea (Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, in cooperation with Turkey). In the formation of the Baltic subsystem, Poland can play a particularly significant role, whose military potential is strengthened thanks to the help from the US and the UK. The development of militarypolitical cooperation between Ukraine and the Baltic states, as well as Finland, is of great importance for the realization of its geostrategic interests. Regarding Belarus, Ukraine's contemporary geostrategy should be “confrontational”, aimed at the maximum weakening of this state as a geopolitical satellite of Russia. The Black Sea subsystem can be formed as a result of joint active efforts of Ukraine and Turkey in the field of military security. The involvement of Romania and, to a lesser extent, Moldova in subregional militarypolitical cooperation should also be important. The potential reintegration of Transnistria by the Republic of Moldova corresponds to the geostrategic interests of Ukraine, as it will eliminate the Russian geopolitical bridgehead. As a result of the implementation of its regional geostrategy, Ukraine is potentially able to become a leading “player” in the new security system in Central and Eastern Europe.

Yurii Lypa’s Black Sea Doctrine and Intermarium According to Bohdan Osadczuk

The paper deals with the historical and typological analysis of integration projects in the journalism of Yurii Lypa (1900– 1944) – a public figure, physician, writer, ideologist of Ukrainian nationalism, and founder of the Ukrainian Chornomorskyi (Black Sea) Institute in Warsaw – and Bohdan Osadczuk (1920– 2011), an émigré, publicist, researcher of the modern history of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), regular contributor to the Parisian monthly Kultura, and supporter of Polish–Ukrainian reconciliation. These activists help us to trace the different geopolitical accents of, respectively, nationalist and liberal Ukrainian political thought. In addition, their journalistic activities took place either in the interwar/war period (Lypa) or after the war (Osadczuk). The debate in the Ukrainian–Polish press in 1947–1948 within the camps for displaced persons in Germany can be considered a conditional distinction between different stages in the understanding of regional integration projects. The current security threats caused by Russia’s aggression have revived discussions in CEE about regional integration, projects of which have both supporters and critics. From a discursive approach to the reactualization of the idea of the Baltic-Black Sea Union and Intermarium, we analyze the conceptualization of ideas relevant to the period of Lypa’s and Osadczuk’s life and work.

THE BALTIC-BLACK SEA UNION AS AN AXIS OF UKRAINE’S SECURITY: REALITIES AND DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS

The article analyzes the stages of formation of the Baltic-Black Sea community as a geopolitical, economic and security area, the historical and theoretical basis for the emergence of such a community and the changes that took place in the Baltic-Black Sea region after the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine in 2022. In addition, the issue of security cooperation is considered states of the region. The main priorities for the development of cooperation between states in the future have been identified. The main questions regarding the issues of cooperation between the states of the region and the structures of the EU and NATO in conditions of tension and open aggression of the Russian Federation after 2022 have been developed. Today, it is obvious that when specialists and politicians of the region discuss the project of the Baltic-Black Sea Alliance, it is primarily about security aspects and motives. In our opinion, only one security aspect is not enough for a project to be complete and viable. The economic component of project implementation is also extremely important. The West’s delay in accepting Ukraine into the EU and NATO requires Ukraine to find allies to protect its independence and sovereignty from Russian aggression. Such potential allies are primarily Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Moldova, and Georgia, which, like Ukraine, have more than once been victims of the imperial policy of tsarist, Soviet, and Putin’s Russia. Nowdays we can see that Western Europe is no longer ready to offer new guidelines, then the Baltic-Black Sea Corridor should become not only a territory for the generation of joint economic benefits, but also a territory for the generation of new meanings. The Baltic-Black Sea Union creates new challenges and provides an opportunity to respond to them. This is the true idea of Europeanness. Europe is a search for something new. Ukraine must take on the mission of giving new answers to what Europe can be today.

BALTIC BLACK SEA UNION MODELING: FACTORS AND PERSPECTIVES

An important feature of the current stage of world development is the increase in turbulence and tension, the increase in threats and the actualization of security issues. The creation of military-political and economic associations of countries makes it possible to unite efforts in solving security problems and ensuring their development. One of such promising associations can be cooperation between the countries of the Baltic-Black Sea region. The purpose of the article is to assess the prerequisites and possibilities for creating the Baltic-Black Sea union, modeling its various combinations. The subject of the research is the model of the economic and military union of the countries of the Baltic-Black Sea region. The implementation of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method made it possible, using mathematical tools, to assess the conditions and probability of creating a BBS union, based on a multi-criteria analysis of the military, political or economic potential of states, and also to model options for its composition. Results. The idea of creating a BBS has a long history, which is due to a whole range of historical, geographical, political and military prerequisites. Ensuring the security of the BBS countries includes not only a military aspect, but also involves the development of economic cooperation and development. The composition of the BBS can vary considerably: from a basic number of core countries to a broad open participation of the countries of the Baltic, Black and Adriatic Sea regions and all neighboring countries. The Baltic-Black Sea cooperation can become a very powerful economic entity. Focusing on multilateral cooperation of partner countries in various fields will unite both resource-rich countries and fairly developed countries that have formed their specialization in the new conditions of the digital economy. Practical implications. Of particular importance is the creation of unified transport corridors between the northern and southern seas of the European continent. BBS can become part of a multi-stage and multi-level security system in Europe and in the world as a whole. The value/originality of this publication is due to the high relevance of the issue in the context of open military aggression and the need to find new mechanisms for ensuring collective security in Europe.

'Celtoscythians': Ethnical Processes and Cultural Contacts in the Baltic-Black Sea Region (3rd Century BC — 1st Century AD)

The paper deals with the ethnocultural processes that took place in the 3rd century BC – 1st century AD on the territory of Ukraine and neighbouring lands of Central and Eastern Europe. These processes, in particular, have expressed themselves in the emergence of terms ‘Celtoscythians’ and ‘Bastarnae’. The author aims to show that ancient Greeks and Romans used these names to define barbaric population, which, was living on the territory of Scythia according to geographical concepts of those days, but had material culture and customs similar to Celtic and, to some extent, could use Celtic dialects. It is stated that the lands of present-day Ukraine were stretched across the distinct periphery of the ‘Celtic world’.A group of Celtic settlements and burials which occupied the Transcarpathian region was a rather typical sub-group of the La Tene culture, similar to those in nearby regions of Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. There are only traces of the ‘Celtic’ military raids and micro-migrations in the lands eastward of the Carpathian Mountains and they had no significant impact on the cultural situation in the region. At the turn of the eras, in the basins of Dniester and Dnipro, the new Poieneşti-Lukashevka and Zarubyntsi archaeological cultures emerged. Both combined Jastorf and La Tène traditions and local traditions. The Greek and Roman authors used the new ‘umbrella’ ethnic entities ‘Bastarnae’ and ‘Κελτοσκύθαι’. Such mixed groups of the population emerged as a result of intensifying cultural contacts between the Baltic and Pontic areas. One may pay attention to the communication route from Hellespont to the Baltic shores that Plinius the Elder described in his Naturalis Historia (NH. IV. 28). Apparently, the route following Dniester and Vistula played a significant role in exchange of prestigious artefacts, as well as ideas and technologies between various groups of population of the Northern and Eastern fringes of the Celtic world. The contact zone that formed along this route played an important role in the processes of ethnogenesis on the territory of Ukraine over the following centuries.

Economic and social prerequisites for the development of the system of health care institutions of the Ternopil region

The article states that, in accordance with the basic law of Ukraine, the issue of health care is defined as the priority direction of the state, which is entrusted with the functions of shaping policy in the field of health care and monitoring its implementation. It is legislated that everyone has an inviolable right to health protection, society and the state as a whole are responsible to the modern and future generation for the level of health, the preservation of safe conditions for health and the preservation of the gene pool of Ukrainians. Ukraine introduces the principles of the English model, which manifests itself in the forms of private and family medicine, multi-source financing, insurance and high social standards. At the present stage of development, the process of adapting the national health care system to certain standards is taking place. This process is complicated by a number of political, economic, social and demographic factors. The most negative factors that significantly complicate the development of the health care system are the ongoing covid-19 pandemic and full-scale war. According to the results of the study, it was determined that the Ternopil region has a favorable transport and geographical location, the territory of the region is located in the inner part of Europe, with a mild continental climate and sufficient moisture, close to the borders of Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. International transport routes pass through the region: road and rail links Berlin-Odessa and the Baltic-Black Sea. This geographical location creates opportunities for profitable placement of logistics centers, transport companies and wholesale markets. The development of the health care system is ensured not only by the availability of health care institutions, but also by favorable environmental factors, which include: economic, political, social and environmental indicators of the region's development. The analysis of the demographic situation in the region indicates unfavorable trends that are inherent in the entire territory of Ukraine, namely a decrease in the population, a decrease in the birth rate, high mortality rates, gender disparities, a significant aging of the population, which has an adverse effect on the development of the health care system. A significant impact on the health of the population has an environmental situation, which in recent years has tended to improve. In the Ternopil region there is a network of educational institutions that train medical specialists and thereby provide local resources to health care institutions in the region. The article analyzes entrepreneurial activity in the healthcare sector, which is quite high, increases the activity of small businesses, which intensifies competition and acts as one of the macroeconomic prerequisites for promoting the systemic development of the medical sphere. Negative factors influencing the development of the health care system have been identified, which include limited investment and financial resources and insufficient efficiency of management decisions. According to the results of the analysis, it is determined that the vast majority of indicators of infrastructure development are higher than the average in Ukraine.

The Baltic-Black Sea Axis: Historical background and implementation factors

In the context of current geopolitical challenges and reorganisation of the world order, the study of the Baltic-Black Sea axis is of great strategic importance for understanding the processes and interconnections in the region that affect its stability and development. The purpose of this study was to retrospectively analyse the historical development of the Baltic-Black Sea Axis and identify the main factors that will contribute to its implementation. The study uses a set of methods, including the historical method, the method of geopolitical analysis, and the method of forecasting the development of further cooperation between the countries of the Baltic-Black Sea region. The study thoroughly analysed the stages of the emergence and development of the idea of creating a superpower association, considering different historical periods. It was determined that in the initial stages, this idea was mainly economic and cultural, promoting the exchange and development of trade routes. In its further development, specifically during the growing political instability in the region, the project of creating a geopolitical association acquired important military significance, creating a basis for joint defence in the future. An essential element of this study is the analysis of current geopolitical and economic trends that affect the further development of the axis. Furthermore, the study found the potential for further expanding cooperation in the fields of culture, education, and science. In general, this analysis shows the importance and prospects of cooperation between the participants of the Baltic-Black Sea Axis, which can become a crucial factor in the geopolitical and economic development of the region. The practical significance of this study is that its findings will contribute to a better understanding of the historical background and potential of the Baltic-Black Sea axis, which may open new opportunities for cooperation and development in the region, and will also serve as a basis for further research in the field of international relations and geopolitics

СOVID-19 INFLUENCE ON THE BALTIC-BLACK SEA REGION: CASES OF EU’S MEMBERS AND UKRAINE

The aim of the article is to reveal the difference in approaches and possibilities of the countries of the Baltic-Black Sea Region (samples of several EU members and Ukraine) towards the struggle with pandemic. Research based on both postcolonial studies and biopolitics and it is empirical. The methods include case studies, Internet-based research, archival research, interviews, comparative, statistical, graphical methods, and discourse analysis. The following aspects are researched: approaches of the countries to counteract the pandemic, their cooperation with international organisations, and cooperation with ‘donor’-countries, influence of COVID-19 on socio-economic and security spheres of BBSR countries. The authors give prognosis how selected countries of BBSR will overcome the pandemic and develop in the post-pandemic period. The fight against the pandemic continues, and its economic consequences will be felt during next years as well. The situation in Ukraine looks worse in the terms of economic recovery because Ukraine is hit by Russian aggression since 2014. The effectiveness of the individual response to the pandemic depends on the level of trust in society and the commitment of political leaders to learn, collaborate, consult and take principled decisions in times of uncertainty. This commitment to the common good determines the degree of public trust in leaders and institutions, which, in turn, affects citizens’ willingness to comply with the restrictions to their daily lives imposed by the lockdown measures. This explains the difference in the impact of the pandemic within the EU. Bulgaria differs in these parameters from the Baltic countries and closer to Ukraine.

Ostap Kushnir (dir.), The Intermarium as the Polish-Ukrainian Linchpin of Baltic-Black Sea Cooperation , Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Cambridge Publishing Scholar, 2019, 222 p.

Ostap Kushnir (dir.), The Intermarium as the Polish-Ukrainian Linchpin of Baltic-Black Sea Cooperation , Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Cambridge Publishing Scholar, 2019, 222 p.

PREREQUISITES FOR THE FORMATION OF A REGIONAL SECURITY SYSTEM IN THE BALTIC-BLACK SEA UNION

The purpose of the paper is to summarise and present various aspects of forming a security group within BBS. The method allows to reveal features of evolutionary process of formation of security group. Methodology. The study is based on an evolutionary study of the formation of a security group within the Baltic-Black Sea Union. The content of this study, scientific findings, conclusion and recommendations are based on the broad application of the systematic approach to the study of the phenomena. The proposed work is based on a synthesis of existing approaches to understanding the essence of security group BBS. Results research has shown that the idea of forming a regional grouping to form a security system has a long historical retrospective. The idea of forming a regional group that implements the concept of protection of democratic freedoms and rights became relevant in the early 90's and is especially actively implemented with the intensification of hostilities in Ukraine. All this raises the issue of forming the Baltic-Black Sea Union, which could become an outpost of Europe's defense. Practical implications. The formation of a security group is an important task in modern conditions, given the presence of external threats, there is a need for its quality justification and identification of key players and their capabilities. Value/originality. Analysis of the historical retrospective of the formation of regional security education provides a better understanding of the prospects for its operation.

К вопросу о существовании «пути из варяг в греки»

The ‘route from the Varangians to the Greeks’ is widely known and often mentioned in research, popular science and educational literature. Much less often is it mentioned that the existence of the trade route is seriously doubted and needs additional evidence. The discussion about the actuality of a ‘route from the Varangians to the Greeks’ has intensified in the recent decade; it mostly involves historians who draw on chronicles, archive materials and literary sources. Although relevant geographical studies focus on small territories and have a limited scope, only they can give a definitive answer to the question of whether it was possible to sail the rivers of the East European Plain between the Baltic and Black Seas in the 8th-11th centuries AD. Of particular importance are studies on the watersheds marking the principal legs of the route. If the watersheds were traversable, the ‘route from the Varangians to the Greeks’ was navigable, and the impassability of watersheds would preclude navigation along the route. Methodologically, the study employs methods and approaches used in physiographical field studies, which have not been applied earlier to the watershed sections of the ‘route from the Varangians to the Greeks’. The central result of the research is the reconstruction of the hydrological features and hydrographic situation of the watershed between the basins of the Neva (River Lovat) and the Western Dvina (River Usvyacha) during the existence of the ‘route from the Varangians to the Greeks’. This reconstruction and the study of the watershed territories, the system of land communication routes and toponymic features of this territory conclusively demonstrate that the ‘way from the Varangians to the Greeks’, or the Baltic-Black Sea waterway, could actually exist.

Polskie i ukraińskie koncepcje bezpieczeństwa i współpracy w Europie Środkowej i Wschodniej w XXI w.

Central and Eastern Europe is a region located in the context of geopolitical reorganization of the world’s wetlands. The first ideas of creating a security system in this part of the continent arose after the First World War. Among them were the Polish concept of “Międzymorze” (Intermarium, aka “ABC Seas”) and the Ukrainian idea of the Baltic-Black Sea Union. The concept of security and cooperation in the region was reintroduced with the Russian Federation’s accession to the achievement of the influence index from the USSR district. There were also problems in Polish-Ukrainian relations, differences in security strategies, the delineation of the strategic partnership and the formation of the Strategic Culture of the Territories. Countries in the region have announced a number of initiatives to improve regional security (TSI, B9, L3, or Trójkąt Karpacki). The members of the mentioned concepts should be among the geopolitical figures, the position of NATO and the EU and contestations on the part of Russia.

UPR’s Diplomacy at the Conclusion of the National Liberation Struggle: The 1921 Black Sea Union

The article offers an insight into the foreign policy of the Ukrainian People’s Republic at the final stage of the national liberation struggle. Author analyses the UPR’s course towards forging stable political and economic alliances with the peripheral states that have emerged on the post-imperial territory of russia. The most ambitious project of 1919–20 was the creation of the Baltic-Black Sea Union consisting of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Finland, and Ukraine; however, the legal aspects of the organisation of the Black Sea Union became of primary importance in late November 1920. The certain aspirations for its formation were based on the intensification of anti-Bolshevik insurgent movements in the regions on the Don, Kuban, and Terek Rivers, in Dagestan and Chechnya, the existence of the Republic of Mountainous Armenia and the Democratic Republic of Georgia, which were independent from the kremlin. During the spring–autumn of 1921, the governments-in-exile of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, the Georgian Democratic Republic, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, and the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus completed the treaty and legal formalisation of the Black Sea Union. Yet, the project was not implemented de-facto: the then military and political situation in Central and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus was not favourable for the successful struggle for independence of the peripheral states of the former empire. In the late 20th century, Ukraine and the Transcaucasian countries restored their independence, thus creating new political realities in Europe. It became possible to implement effective projects of the Black Sea sub-regional associations, in particular the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organisation and Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development (GUAM), aimed at the development of a network of transport connections and broad economic cooperation. Keywords: Black Sea Union, Ukrainian People’s Republic, Democratic Republic of Georgia, Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of North Caucasus Mountaineers, peripheral states, government-in-exile.

The Black Sea Region in the Contest of Geopolitical Projects of the Great Powers, 1991-2019

The Black Sea region (BSR) is becoming a geopolitical space of clash - a frontline zone for the formation of a new system of international relations. After the Cold War, the region from the peripheral became one of the centers of competition between regional and global powers. It has mostly geopolitical rather than simple geographical character, significantly expanding its borders in at least four variations: the BS as the space of seven coastal states, the BS as the Baltic-Black Sea region, the BS as the Black Sea-Caspian Sea region, and the BS as the nerve center of the Greater Mediterranean. The article analyzes the geopolitical projects of great powers in relation to the Black Sea region in 1991-2019. The aim is to study the evolution and dynamics of these geopolitical projects by comparing the conceptual and doctrinal levels, as well as the level of practical policy of the key actors in relation to the Black Sea region. The scientific novelty lies in the systematic analysis of the geopolitical projects of great powers in the BSR after the Cold War, which becomes one of the critically important regions in the current period of world history. The authors conclude that the United States, the EU and Turkey follow an offensive strategy in the BSR, while Russias strategy is aimed at maintaining the status quo. After 2014, the USA and its allies have embarked on a third attempt to implement the Euro-Atlantic Black Sea project and the Greater Black Sea project, which involve the displacement of the Russian Federation from the Black Sea region. The geopolitical significance of the BSR is determined by its strategic location at the intersection of the interests of key actors. Their competition in the BSR is carried out both at the regional (Russia - Turkey - EU) and global (USA - Russia, Turkey, Iran; EU - Russia, Turkey, USA; China - USA, EU, Russia) levels, determining the content of conceptual approaches to the political structure of the region and specific integration (and infrastructure) projects. The complexity of the current geopolitical situation in the region is determined by a large number of competing powers and changing contours of the international system. The main axis of intra-regional competition in the BSR is focused on achieving a balance of power between Russia and Turkey.

Olena Stepaniv Contribution to the Development of Transport Geography and Geologistics in Ukraine

Peculiarities of life, military, the diplomatic activity of Doctor of Sciences in Geography, O. I. Stepaniv, as well as her scientific achievements as a Ukrainian geographer and geologist, are revealed. Olena Stepanov was the first woman in Ukraine and the world – a military officer in the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (Ukrainski Sichovi Striltsi, USS) and the Ukrainian Galician Army (Ukrainska Halytska Armiia, UHA) during the First World War and the Ukrainian Liberation War of 1917–1921, a diplomatic official of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic and the Ukrainian People’s Republic. Having a doctorate in geography and history, she made a significant contribution to the development of Ukrainian geographical science, including economic and social geography, as well as transport geography and modern understanding of geologistics. The last two areas of geographical science are most fully disclosed in her work “Modern Lviv”, which provides a comprehensive description of the transport infrastructure of Lviv and Lviv region and its importance in the transport system of Ukraine, in particular, emphasizes the central position of Lviv as a transport and logistics hub on the trans-European way connecting the Baltic and Black Seas; identified the main transport routes of Lviv region, important on a national scale; in addition to the main roads, regional and local ones were identified and characterized. The characteristics of transport routes were combined with the indication of the most significant industrial enterprises of Lviv region; tourist and recreational areas and centres which were located on the ways of transport routes were indicated, as well as the tourist specialization of these centres (in textbooks on the geography of transport of the Soviet era, it was not mentioned at all); such transport and logistics indicators as road congestion, traffic intensity on them were used, as well as their historical names were given and their significance in the past was revealed. O. I. Stepaniv’s scientific works remain relevant today. This applies not only to the problems of the geography of transport communication in modern Lviv but also to current issues of international logistics, in particular, Ukraine’s participation in the Baltic-Black Sea transport and logistics integration system. O.I. Stepaniv’s scientific works on transport geography are of direct importance to the most modern EU project in the field of transport and logistics – the Three Seas Initiative (TSI). The recent TSI Summit in Tallinn (October 19–20, 2020) highlighted the impact of the TSI on the entire Baltic-Adriatic Black Sea region. TSI is open to countries – strategic partners of the EU, including Ukraine. Although the latter is not a member of the EU, it was invited to the first TSI summit in 2016 andis currently an active participant in many projects under this Initiative, without having formal membership in the TSI. Ukraine should continue to cooperate with TSI, especially with Poland, in such important infrastructure projects as the Gdansk-Odesa highway, the railway Viking project, the development of gas infrastructure within the North-South corridor (involving Ukrainian underground storage facilities of “blue fuel”), etc.

Strategic assessment of modern security threats by the Baltic-Black Sea region states

Strategic assessment of modern security threats by the Baltic-Black Sea region states

Rogvolod’s polity and formation of an ethnopolitical organization on the territory of the Middle Dvina in the Хth century

The article discusses the first stages in the formation of an ethnopolitical community on the territory of the Belarusian Dvina, known from the annals as «Polochane». Using basic principles developed by the Vienna School of Historical Ethnography, the author identifies significant socio-political changes in the early medieval (9th–10th centuries) history of Eastern Europe due to the emergence of new elites. The formation of stable ethnopolitical communities is associated with the emergence of these elite groups . The absence of particular artifacts of northern European origin in Polotsk and the Polotsk okrug in the 9th – the first half of the 10th century suggests the independent formation of this center on the basis of local social structures. Significant socio-political changes in Eastern Europe arose during the Viking era (9th–10th centuries), and penetration of the North European military-trade groups into the territory of the Middle Dvina was associated with the beginnings of the active functioning of the West-Dvina branch of the Baltic-Black Sea route (the trade route «from the Varangians to the Greeks»). The development of this route became the main reason why Scandinavian leader Rogvolod came to the Polotsk region and formed a territorial and political organization, conditionally referred to as the «Rogvolod Polity». After the middle to the second half of the 10th century, a social transformation took place on the territory of the Middle Dvina, associated with the formation of elite military-trade groups and the formation of a brigade culture. The Rogvolod Polity, as the first stable territorial and political organization in the Dvina basin, created the institutional foundations for the subsequent consolidating ideology (the «core of tradition» according to R. Wenskus), embodied in the 11th century Polotsk princes Rogvolodovichi in the formation of the ethno-political community «Polochane».

Baltic-Black Sea Region as a Resilient Region: Political and Security Aspects

The conceptual bases of resilience in modern political science are analyzed, including the key conceptual approaches that are used in academic studies for understanding the policy of resilience, characterizing the reaction of subjects to stress or threat of any kind and origin. The concept of resilience is applied to analyze the cooperation among the Baltic-Black Sea countries as a regional interaction model which should be formed in order to reduce or avoid security crises.
 The Baltic-Black Sea countries have developed and formed strong ties in different dimen­sions among one another, opening an opportunity for intellectual adventures in the area of the conceptualization of their interaction modes under the regional cooperation frameworks. Based upon the analyzed doctrinal views and available documentary backgrounds on resilience in the UN and the EU, the possible visions and scenarios for the creation of the Baltic-Black Sea region as a resilient one are given. The existing and potential obstacles to cooperation in the region are highlighted. The main threats and challenges for the Baltic-Black Sea region at present are investigated.

Geostrategic Significance of Ukraine in the Region of Central and Eastern Europe in the Works of Dmytro Dontsov and Yurii Lypa

The purpose of this paper is to determine the geostrategic role of Ukraine in Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic-Black Sea region, its geopolitical potential to become a major integration factor for this macro-region, and its ability to withstand the expansive challenges of Russia in extrapolating the views of Ukrainian thinkers D. Dontsov and Y. Lypa. After all, the region of Central and Eastern Europe became the base for a large-scale hybrid war. Undoubtedly, Ukraine remains the main target of Russian military and information aggression. However, in contrast with Russian aggression, countries in Central and Eastern Europe have to develop a common consolidated and coordinated position in order to maintain stability and security in this macro-region. A significant part in the works by Dmytro Dontsov and Yurii Lypa is given to the development of cooperation between the countries of Central-Eastern Europe and the Baltic-Black Sea region to restrain Russia’s aggression. At the same time, Ukrainian thinkers determine the place and the role of the Ukrainian state in the integration of this geopolitical space and its strategic importance in the development of Central and Eastern Europe.