
Latest Articles about Russia

European Mission in Armenia Completes Its First Year Amid Regional Tensions
Executive Summary: The European Mission in Armenia (EUMA) marked its first anniversary in Armenia on February 20 with its presence facing several challenges from Baku and Moscow. The European Union and Armenia regard EUMA as a crucial confidence-building measure to increase international support for shifting... MORE

Presidential ‘Elections’ Cannot Restore Putin’s Authority
Executive Summary: Russia will hold presidential elections this week in an attempt to demonstrate the population’s sustained loyalty to President Vladimir Putin and support for his war. On the battlefield, Moscow’s primary tactic of mobilizing massive amounts of weapons and manpower is... MORE

Ukraine Restoring Security to the Black Sea
Executive Summary: Ukraine has disabled roughly one-third of the Russian Black Sea Fleet since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, relying on “sea drones” and other unmanned capabilities. Kyiv’s offensive measures in the Black Sea have allowed it to deliver larger volumes of grain to... MORE

Russia Converts Ukrainian Children Into Enemies
Executive Summary: Russia has transformed the education system in the occupied territories of Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk, replacing educators and curriculum with pro-Russian, military-patriotic education aimed at militarizing Ukrainian children against their homeland. The Kremlin has started to erase the Ukrainian language, rewrite history books,... MORE

Moscow’s Action in Ingushetia About Far More Than Counterterrorism
Executive Summary: Moscow recently carried out a counterterrorism operation against what it describes as Islamist radicals in Ingushetia—the smallest, poorest, and arguably most restive republic not only in the North Caucasus but also in the Russian Federation. The Kremlin took this step lest violence in... MORE

Russia Hopes to Use Caspian Sea Route to Evade Sanctions
Executive Summary: Moscow seeks to boost its struggling economy through increased development of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) as a real competitor to the Suez Canal and the Bosphorus Strait. Moscow wants the INSTC to open pathways to new markets that circumvent Western monitoring... MORE

Armenia’s Break With Moscow Redefines South Caucasus Geopolitics
Executive Summary: Armenia has announced it is suspending cooperation with the Moscow-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a signal that Yerevan may soon reduce or even end other forms of cooperation with Russia. The almost universal assumption that Armenia, because of its geographic location and... MORE

Putin’s Political Machinations Delegitimize Russian Presidential Elections
Executive Summary: Russia is scheduled to hold presidential elections from March 15 to 17, which will predictably result in the reelection of President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin is doing everything in its power to prevent opposition figures from gaining traction in presidential elections, including preventing... MORE

Russian Unity and Western Discord Converge in Putin’s Imagination
Executive Summary: The Kremlin’s war strategy relies on the ideas that Russian society is united behind the war and that Western unity is crumbling, neither of which is strong enough to sustain the war effort indefinitely. Putin seeks to maintain public support for the war... MORE

Nine Things Western Analysts Got Wrong About Russia and Its Invasion of Ukraine
Executive Summary: Many analysts in the West have misunderstood the conflict in Ukraine, leading to the mishandling of aid to Ukraine. Many Western analysts overlooked the historical myth-making that the Kremlin had been promoting for many years, which aimed to erase Ukrainian history and identity.... MORE