Executive Summary: Ukrainian forces have enjoyed a string of successes in targeting energy facilities and military installations within Russia and the occupied territories. Kyiv’s “de-naftification” of Russia reflects Ukraine’s growing ability to bring the war home to Moscow, further enflaming societal discontent with Putin’s Kremlin.... MORE

Executive Summary: Russia is struggling to attract more volunteers to fight in Ukraine, and Moscow has increasingly turned to the outer regions for recruitment. Such an approach has raised ethnic tensions in some regions where the volunteers are largely non-ethnic Russians, while other regions have... MORE

Executive Summary: Russian-cultivated circles overlap with People’s Republic of China (PRC) intelligence networks. These intersections include politicians on both extremes of Europe’s political spectrum, and across countries which include Belgium, Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. “Daniel Woo,” a PRC state security officer, is a... MORE

Executive Summary: Ukraine’s drone attack on defense industries in Tatarstan has shown the reach of Kyiv’s weapons into Russia and raised questions in the non-Russian republics about Moscow’s ability to defend them. Kazan has concluded that it cannot count on the Russian government to defend... MORE

Executive Summary: The All-Russian Cossack Society continues to establish outposts in the occupied territories of Ukraine under Moscow’s direction.  The state-registered Cossack movement is working to deepen the control of loyal structures in the occupied regions and take advantage of existing social beliefs, particularly through... MORE

Executive Summary: Ukrainian mobilization will be necessary to repel a possible Russian offensive in the coming summer, but a draft mobilization law is currently being held up in Ukraine’s parliament. Such uncertainty has a negative impact on Ukrainian society, opening the way to various manipulations... MORE

Executive Summary: Moscow looks to the Volga region—an ethnically non-Russian region and one of the poorest in Russia—for “volunteers” to fight in the war against Ukraine.  Many of these “volunteer” battalions have experienced heavy losses along the frontlines, which the Russian government attempts to cover... MORE

Executive Summary As NATO takes steps to increase its solidarity, Russian propagandists have responded by exaggerating Western disunity. Kremlin propaganda portrays NATO’s strengthening European pillar as evidence of weakening US leadership. A more concerted focus on Western disunity has become a way for Russia to... MORE

Executive Summary: Russia is expanding the number of “volunteer battalions” from non-ethnically Russian regions, especially Bashkortostan. Most battalions are named after Soviet or post-Soviet heroes—likely to prevent inflaming local patriotic (nationalist), anti-Russian, or anti-colonial sentiments in Bashkortostan. Moscow, in legitimizing these formations, is trying to... MORE

Executive Summary:  The Kremlin is preparing to mobilize the Russian economy and population not only for the “long war” against Ukraine but also for a potential large-scale conflict with the West.  Beyond providing Kyiv with the necessary arms and economic support, a more concerted effort... MORE