Executive Summary: Russia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) held the joint Maritime Interaction-2025 naval drills on August 1–5 in the Sea of Japan and East China Sea, coordinating submarine operations for the first time. These drills demonstrate a new level of interoperability in... MORE

Executive Summary: Veterans returning from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine are powering the rise of the radical Russian nationalist “Northern Man” group, putting it in a position to challenge the better-known Russian Community controlled by the Kremlin and Orthodox Church. Many of the... MORE

Executive Summary: On September 10, Poland shot down at least 19 Russian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that had violated its airspace. Afterward, Poland invoked Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) founding treaty. Belarus’s armed forces notified Poland and Lithuania about the incoming... MORE

Executive Summary: Ukraine is stepping up international cooperation in defense manufacturing to maximize production, drive innovation, and protect critical industrial infrastructure from Russian strikes. Kyiv launched the “Test in Ukraine” platform to allow international defense companies to learn from Ukrainian innovation and test their new... MORE

Executive Summary: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Beijing for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit on August 31–September 1 emphasizes Baku’s recent push for the formation of a multivector diplomatic position. Baku seeks deeper SCO engagement to boost the Middle Corridor, but India appears... MORE

Executive Summary: Moscow is using drone incursions in Romania and Poland to test the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO’s) readiness and resolve, seeking to highlight divisions over how to respond to this new form of aggression. Moscow’s simultaneous moves in Svalbard (Spitzbergen), a Norwegian archipelago... MORE

Executive Summary: Belarusian officials insist that the joint strategic exercise Zapad-2025 of the Regional Troops Grouping (RTG) of Belarus and Russia poses no threat to neighboring states, has limited parameters, and is purely defensive in nature. The Belarusian authorities present the scaling back of strategic... MORE

Executive Summary: Sergey Karaganov, one of the founders of the Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, has created the “Code of the Russian” to codify an analogue of Soviet ideals adapted to Putin’s Russia. Stalin’s image is being rehabilitated in Russia through new monuments... MORE

Executive Summary: Russia’s September 9–10 drone attack, when at least 19 decoy Gerbera drones entered Polish airspace, caused little physical damage but triggered a swift response, including operation “Eastern Sentry,” in a kinetic test of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) resolve. Moscow’s incursion occurred alongside... MORE