RFE
23 Sep 2025, 17:35 GMT+10
Welcome to Wider Europe, RFE/RL's newsletter focusing on the key issues concerning the European Union, NATO, and other institutions and their relationships with the Western Balkans and Europe's Eastern neighborhoods.
I'm RFE/RL Europe Editor Rikard Jozwiak, and this week I am drilling down on two major issues: NATO's new eastern flank operation and the likely winner of this year's Sakharov Prize.
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Wider Europe Briefing: What's NATO new Eastern Sentry?
byRFE/RL
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What You Need To Know:Two days afteran unprecedented drone incursionby Russia on Polish territory on September 10, NATO unveiled its response: Operation Eastern Sentry. The mission kicked off immediately on September 12 but will be fleshed out further in the coming weeks.
The whole idea, according to the military alliance, is to strengthen its posture, connectivity, and flexibility along NATO's entire eastern flank. While the focus right now is on Russia drones and geographically on Poland, it is multidomain -- meaning land, sea, and air forces are involved -- and is meant to plug gaps from the North Sea to the Black Sea.
It was made clear, however, that it will only be in NATO territory, meaning there are no plans to enter western Ukraine to protect the skies. While Kyiv would very much welcome such a move, and there is an argument for targeting Russian drones much earlier, many NATO allies are fearful this could bring them closer to a direct conflict with the Kremlin.
Deep Background:The key goal now is to move toward an integrated system. Previously, individual NATO allies conducted air policing in different locations, with NATO providing supplementary support on a case-by-case basis, depending on the threat assessment.
The idea now is to have more resources linked to each other across the entire eastern flank, be it missiles or anti-drone technology. It is inspired by a similar operation,Baltic Sentry, which was launched earlier this year as a response to a number of alleged undersea sabotage activities by Moscow in the Baltic Sea.
NATO officials RFE/RL has been in touch with on condition of anonymity view that operation as a success, pointing out there have been no recent attempts to sever cables or other infrastructure in the region. And while it will be trickier to prevent all drones from getting into NATO territory, the thinking here is a beefed-up presence will make "Russia think twice before testing again."
Eight countries have already joined Eastern Sentry and placed assets at the disposal of NATO's supreme allied commander (SACEUR) Alexus Grynkewich. More are expected to follow suit.
France was the first to come forward -- with three Rafale fighter jets, which are to be stationed in Poland, as well as an Airbus A400M military transport aircraft. Britain will have some of its Typhoon jets fly defense missions in Polish skies, and Germany has moved four of its Eurofighters closer to its eastern neighbor, ready to conduct sorties at any moment.
Italy and Denmark have both also signaled they will provide jets. Additionally, Copenhagen has deployed a military ship in the eastern Baltic Sea. Spain and Sweden will also contribute, while the Czech Republic is actually placing some special forces troops in Poland and sending three helicopters, as well.
Drilling Down:
What You Need To Know:The awards season is upon us -- at least when it comes to prizes of strong political resonance. All eyes will, of course, be on the Norwegian Nobel Committee when it announces the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize on October 10, especially as some countries have nominated US President Donald Trump. But there is another prestigious honor that will be announced this fall -- the annual Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the European Union's top human rights award.
While the American president has not been proposed for this 50,000 euro ($59,000) prize, many individuals and organizations from RFE/RL's coverage area were nominated, including Serbian student protesters, the Budapest Pride event, Polish-Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut, and Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli together with her country's pro-democracy movement. They are up against other nominees such as Palestinian journalists and development workers, and, rather controversially, the recently assassinated American conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.
Deep Background:The award is run entirely by the European Parliament. Created in 1988 in honor of the Russian scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, it has become one of the chamber's key public relations tools, with repressive regimes often lashing out at European lawmakers over some nominations and winners.
It is not uncommon for Sakharov Prize winners to go on to win the Nobel Peace Prize down the line, with examples including the Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai and the Congolese humanitarian Denis Mukwege.
The nominations -- which this year will be officially presented on September 23 at a joint session of the European Parliament's foreign affairs, development and human rights committees -- are usually put forward by the parliament's various political groups or at least 40 its members (MEPs). The deadline for these nominations passed last week, and the groups have already publicly communicated who their respective nominees are.
The September 23 event is essentially an occasion to make the public case for your nominee because the political jockeying about which three will be shortlisted -- and who the eventual winner will be -- starts now.
Drilling Down:
On September 26-27 the chiefs of defense of NATO's 32 member states meet in Riga, Latvia for their annual autumn gathering. The meeting will be closely watched by media considering both the recent incursion of Russian drones in Polish and Romanian airspace and the violation of Estonian airspace by a Russian fighter jet a few days later. The military alliance has beefed up the presence on its eastern flank, but expect a lot of questions about what more NATO can do to protect its citizens.
That's all for this week!
Feel free to reach out to me on any of these issues on X @RikardJozwiak, or on e-mail [email protected].
Until next time,
Rikard Jozwiak
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