Executive Summary: Russian President Vladimir Putin met with activists from the All-Russian Popular Front (ONF) in July, demonstrating the Kremlin’s reliance on government-organized non-governmental organizations (GONGOs) to mobilize support for his war against Ukraine. The ONF highlights achievements in infrastructure and social projects while directly... MORE

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: 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

Executive Summary: The number of Russian companies registered both in Russia and Georgia that are winning Georgian state tenders is increasing, even though Russia has occupied 20 percent of Georgia’s territory since Moscow’s 2008 invasion of Georgia. Russian companies winning Georgian state contracts became more... MORE

Executive Summary: Since Russian President Vladimir Putin began his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, some Russian troops sent there have been taking their weapons home, undermining unit effectiveness and boosting the amount of violent crime in Russia. This trend has been exacerbated by the... MORE

Executive Summary: India’s increased economic cooperation with Russia since 2022, despite Western sanctions, has provided the Russian military-industrial complex with critical technological and financial support. India has helped Russia evade Western sanctions by providing Moscow with Nvidia artificial intelligence (AI) chips, octogen, and Swiss-made precision... MORE