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In this episode we welcome the newest co-host of Talk Eastern Europe Alexandra Karppi! Alexandra is a research analyst at Freedom House covering the Western Balkans and Central and Eastern Europe for Nations in Transit. She has also held research and editorial positions at the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb, Central European University’s Center for European Neighborhood Studies, and the Post-Conflict Research Center. Welcome Alexandra!

In the round of news, Adam and Alexandra discuss the recent Slovak elections, the Azerbaijani offensive to retake the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and the upcoming Polish parliamentary elections.

Later they are joined by Grigol Julukhidze, the director of the Foreign Policy Council, a think tank in Tbilisi who specialises in security studies and propaganda research. They discuss the growing role of Russian influence in Georgia and what it means for Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic agenda. They also look at how the recent moves in Nagorno-Karabakh and how it reflects a decreasing role of Russia in that part of the region.

For further reading: “In the shadow of impeachment”, by: Giorgi Beroshvili, New Eastern Europe 5 October 2023: https://neweasterneurope.eu/2023/10/05/in-the-shadow-of-impeachment/

“Putin’s hidden war. How the Kremlin is bombing us on the internet” by: Grigol Julukhidze, New Eastern Europe Issue 1 2023, https://neweasterneurope.eu/2023/02/15/putins-hidden-kremlin-internet/

Follow Alexandra on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/AlexandraKarppi/