Executive Summary: Finland’s accession to NATO one year ago marked a significant fracture in Russian-Finnish relations, which have declined precipitously as Finland pledges consistent support to Ukraine. Helsinki and Kyiv signed a recent defense agreement that includes long-term military and financial assistance to build on... MORE

Executive Summary: The Kremlin announced a transformation of its military districts to “buy” loyalty from its officer corps and organize its military with to prepare for war on and beyond its northwestern borders. The Russian High Command considers the movements of its neighbors and enemies... MORE

Executive Summary: The Russian language uses two words for “Russian.” One primarily denotes Russian ethnicity, and the other usually refers to citizens of the Russian Federation (regardless of their ethnicity). Due to a decline in residents declaring themselves as ethnic Russians and a desire to... MORE

Executive Summary: The Kremlin has expanded the state-registered Cossack movement within Russia and the illegally annexed regions of Ukraine. The Cossack institutions established in the Luhansk region aim to foster the militarization of the population, especially youth. Moscow has supported initiatives to establish a registered... MORE

Executive Summary: Western sanctions have severely hurt Kaliningrad’s economy, particularly for cross-border transit, tourism, and fishing. The Kremlin has allocated increased subsidies to the region raising questions regarding the sustainability of Kaliningrad’s growing reliance on Moscow for economic aid. The region’s economy remains highly vulnerable... MORE

Russia’s geopolitical influence is increasingly shrinking in the Baltic Sea region. The most recent episode in the region’s worsening relations with Moscow was the sudden arrival of hundreds of migrants from the Middle East and Africa in November to the busy border crossing between Russia... MORE

In September 2023, all European Union member states bordering Russia introduced an entry ban on cars sporting Russian license plates. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were the first to implement the policy, albeit with Vilnius leaving open an exception for transit from the Russian exclave Kaliningrad... MORE

Since 1991, when the Soviet Union disintegrated and Kaliningrad became an exclave separated from the Russian Federation by Poland and Lithuania, Moscow has been worried about two aspects: transportation links between Kaliningrad and Russia proper and changes in the Kaliningrad population’s attitudes because of their... MORE

On the Donbas battlefields, Russian troops still strive to advance, but in the global arena of confrontation with the collective West, Russia keeps losing ground. A sequence of heavy blows breached Russian defensive geopolitical positions last week, and Moscow’s attempts at counterstrikes only aggravated the... MORE

Moscow’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the ensuing international sanctions have particularly harmed Kaliningrad Oblast, a coastal exclave that is physically separated from Russia and wedged between two European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members. Local sources have reported skyrocketing prices for... MORE