Executive Summary: Russian state-run media outlets, such as RT, have transformed their disinformation campaigns in the West to adapt to local situations, exerting subtle influence on domestic media to conduct a more covert operation. Moscow is increasingly utilizing embedded propaganda by funding foreign media voices,... MORE

Executive Summary: Russian President Vladimir Putin was propelled into power amid a series of deadly terrorist attacks in Russia in the 1990s. His tactics to combat this “war on terror” are being used today against Ukraine. In the 1990s, Russian propaganda and a boost to... MORE

Executive Summary: NATO’s outgoing Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, recently offered his first retrospective assessment of the Alliance’s Ukraine policy. Retrospective assessments recognize that the United States and its major allies failed to deter Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022. While member states may have... MORE

Executive Summary: Earlier this month, a critical section of the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India (TAPI) gas pipeline project was inaugurated on the border between Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. The pipeline aims to reshape the energy landscape in Central and South Asia. The primary reason behind the project delays has... MORE

Executive Summary: Russia aims to increase its armed forces to 1.5 million personnel, largely to justify higher military spending. The Kremlin, however, faces difficulties achieving this target, as the war in Ukraine continues to cause tremendous casualties, rapidly depleting Russia’s supply of manpower.  Despite stable... MORE

Executive Summary: The Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute has always been about both Karabakh and regional transit routes, which now center on Zangezur. Addressing this problem is far more difficult than Karabakh because it directly involves not just Baku and Yerevan but all outside powers—including Russia, Iran, Türkiye,... MORE

Executive Summary: Bidzina Ivanishvili, the informal leader of Georgia, made a recent statement promising an apology to puppet regime of so-called South Ossetia controlled by Russiafor the war in 2008, placing the blame for Russia’s war on Georgia itself. The Georgian opposition and general public... MORE

Executive Summary: Russia and Iran’s strategic partnership has strengthened steadily since the beginning of Moscow’s war against Ukraine and has progressed as tensions in the Middle East are rising, largely due to the war in Gaza. The Kremlin’s growing reliance on an uninterrupted flow of... MORE

Executive Summary: Ukrainian nuclear company Energoatom and US-based Westinghouse are working on implementing agreements to deploy new AP1000 pressurized water reactors, which have emerged as a key component for the future reconstruction of Ukraine’s energy generation sector. Actual construction is unlikely to start before the... MORE

Executive Summary: Western officials have raised concerns about increased Russian naval and sabotage activity, which could potentially target the global underwater cable network vital for international communication, financial transactions, and trade. Russia’s specialized unit, the Main Directorate for Deep-Sea Research (GUGI), possesses a significant fleet... MORE