China cannot endorse Russia’s invasion of Ukraine because the maintenance of territorial integrity is “primordial” in Beijing’s foreign policy, but nor can it align itself with a NATO that it… Read more »
A completely unnecessary war has started, born out of one man’s nostalgia, paranoia and fear of losing power, Anne Applebaum tweeted. Like the Russian czars before him—like Stalin, like Lenin—Putin… Read more »
Does Alexei Navalny embody the best chance for democratic change inside Russia since the crumbling of the USSR? Just over a year ago, on 17 January 2021, Navalny was arrested… Read more »
Today many Russian democrats, desperate to get Vladimir Putin out of the Kremlin, find themselves voting for the Communists. They are well aware of the irony, the Economist reports: But,… Read more »
Despite the Kremlin’s international assertiveness, Russia’s principal strategic challenges are domestic, according to a prominent analyst. In the political realm, the looming hurdle will be managing the transition to a… Read more »
Russia’s increasingly globalized campaign on behalf of authoritarian stability has been most visible and ambitious in Syria, but is equally evident in Belarus and further afield, notes a leading analyst…. Read more »
Russia’s leader faces a backlash from the generation that has lost out under his rule, notes analyst Natia Seskuria. Young people are becoming more politically active. After 21 years of Putin’s… Read more »
Like the passing of the seasons, the Kremlin’s playbook for malign energy activities comes around year after year. Whether it is using energy infrastructure proposals to export strategic corruption into… Read more »
Civil society–led efforts to expose domestic and foreign state capture practices are the most effective check on potentially corrosive capital inflows—and their adverse knock-on effects, according to a new report…. Read more »
The election of the pro-Western politician Maia Sandu as Moldova’s next president shows that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is losing his grip over Russia’s near abroad, analysts contend. Monica Macovei,… Read more »