Executive Summary: Russia will hold presidential elections this week in an attempt to demonstrate the population’s sustained loyalty to President Vladimir Putin and support for his war.       On the battlefield, Moscow’s primary tactic of mobilizing massive amounts of weapons and manpower is... MORE

Executive Summary: Ukraine has disabled roughly one-third of the Russian Black Sea Fleet since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, relying on “sea drones” and other unmanned capabilities. Kyiv’s offensive measures in the Black Sea have allowed it to deliver larger volumes of grain to... MORE

Executive Summary: Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan are facing severe water shortages, which Kabul plans to counter with the Qosh Tepa canal, which will likely exacerbate water issues in Central Asia. Uzbekistan’s and Turkmenistan’s economies largely rely on agriculture, and the canal project would detrimentally affect... MORE

Executive Summary: Russia has transformed the education system in the occupied territories of Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk, replacing educators and curriculum with pro-Russian, military-patriotic education aimed at militarizing Ukrainian children against their homeland. The Kremlin has started to erase the Ukrainian language, rewrite history books,... MORE

Executive Summary: Moscow recently carried out a counterterrorism operation against what it describes as Islamist radicals in Ingushetia—the smallest, poorest, and arguably most restive republic not only in the North Caucasus but also in the Russian Federation. The Kremlin took this step lest violence in... MORE

Executive Summary: Following the recent presidential elections, Azerbaijan turned its focus to the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) and its role in connecting the Turkic world, indicating that Baku does not intend to align with the West or Russia. The expansion of defense cooperation within... MORE

Executive Summary: Belarus’s government outlawed opposition parties in anticipation of last week’s parliamentary election, contrasting previous elections that had offered a platform for opposition parties to spread their views. Oppositionists have primarily been forced into exile, which raises doubts about how effectively they can communicate... MORE

Executive Summary: Moscow seeks to boost its struggling economy through increased development of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) as a real competitor to the Suez Canal and the Bosphorus Strait. Moscow wants the INSTC to open pathways to new markets that circumvent Western monitoring... MORE

Executive Summary: New Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze is playing a delicate balancing act of attempting to gain EU membership while reproaching the United States in public statements.  Kobakhidze’s strategy toward the West resembles the Kremlin’s approach: divide the West into two camps, Europe and... MORE

Executive Summary:  Armenia has announced it is suspending cooperation with the Moscow-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a signal that Yerevan may soon reduce or even end other forms of cooperation with Russia. The almost universal assumption that Armenia, because of its geographic location and... MORE