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What did late January 2018 signal for Europe?
Summary
A retrospective on two reports from 27 January 2018, a Czech election result and a US-Polish stance on Nord Stream 2, that framed regional debates over Russia.
What did the final days of January 2018 reveal about Europe's argument over Russia? On 31 January 2018, two reports from the preceding days were still shaping that debate.
On 27 January 2018, Miloš Zeman, the incumbent, was elected to a second term as President of the Czech Republic. He took 51.8 percent of the vote in the run-off against Jiří Drahoš, a pro-EU challenger. Zeman opposes immigration and objects to EU sanctions against Russia.
The same day, United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the U.S. and Poland oppose the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. In the account given at the time, both countries saw the project as undermining Europe's overall energy security and stability.
The two items are separate: one is a domestic election result, the other a statement on energy policy. Read together, they show that Russia-related questions, from sanctions to pipelines, were being aired in public across the region in the last week of January 2018.
