Executive Summary: Uzbekistan’s plans to build infrastructure facilities at the Iranian Chabahar port to gain direct access to the Indian Ocean have not been implemented, indicating Tashkent’s possibly cautious approach to this issue. New Delhi is strengthening its economic ties with Russia and the People’s... MORE

Executive Summary: Ahead of winter, Russia launched another campaign of combined air strikes on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, including energy, gas production, and railway facilities. Russia is continually upgrading its missiles and strike drones, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of its air attacks. Several Ukrainian cities have... MORE

Executive Summary: Kyiv is moving toward more openly backing non-Russian national movements within Russia. It is convinced that such efforts will help it defeat Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and that the decolonization of Russia will ensure Ukraine’s future security. Such moves, which have their origins... MORE

Executive Summary: Late-Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, calls for Europe to develop a united, long-term strategy toward Russia while preserving the country’s territorial integrity. The Russian opposition remains fragmented, divided between Moscow-centric reformists such as Navalnaya’s camp and ethno-national or regionalist forces... MORE

Executive Summary: Western diplomats are coming under unprecedented pressure from the Georgian Dream government, with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kohakhidze accusing EU Ambassador to Georgia Pawel Herczynski of backing an attempt to overthrow the constitutional order. The European Union has categorically rejected and condemned disinformation... MORE

Executive Summary: The U.S.-brokered Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), which would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave through Armenia, has accelerated Armenia–Azerbaijan normalization but triggered domestic backlash in Armenia and concern from Iran and Russia.  TRIPP sovereignty concerns and uncertainty over implementation... MORE

Executive Summary: Russia is reforming its higher education system to instill an ultra-patriotic ideology through new required courses, such as “Fundamentals of Russia’s Statehood,” designed by the presidential administration with the goal of cultivating a “patriotic intelligentsia.” Structural changes include replacing the bachelor’s/master’s model with... MORE

Executive Summary: Moscow’s muted response to the October 10 announcement of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize win and the ceasefire in Gaza underline how Russia’s war against Ukraine has come to dominate the Kremlin’s attention. Recent independent polling by the Levada... MORE

Executive Summary: The effect of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Russian life is typically measured in terms of political opponents arrested, items in stores no longer available, or other “objective” figures. A more insidious and important metric, however, is its degradation of institutions. Nowhere... MORE