Russia’s military industry continues to bolster efforts to increase arms production in the face of strangling Western sanctions. The results of these efforts have been doubtful considering the engagement of high-ranking officials in the administration of any single factory, their “manual mode” of management and... MORE

Questions about the drivers, participants and consequences of the Wagner Group mutiny on June 23 and 24 are set to remain unanswered as the Russian leadership finds it necessary to close that shocking page. President Vladimir Putin has executed a sharp turn from describing Yevgeny... MORE

“Azerbaijan has proven to be a reliable partner of NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization],” declared President Ilham Aliyev in December 2021 during his visit to NATO Headquarters in Brussels. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed this statement by referring to Azerbaijan as “a valued partner.” Stoltenberg... MORE

The weekend mutiny launched by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner Group will have numerous wide-ranging consequences that analysts are still trying to sort out. However, more attention should be drawn to the fact that one of main reasons for this insurrection’s rapid failure was the... MORE

The Kremlin’s ongoing propaganda effort is fundamentally different than that of its Soviet predecessor, less because of the technology it has access to and more because of its different overarching goals. The Soviet effort was countered by providing information that highlighted its falsehoods, a task... MORE

*Read Part One. The destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) on June 6, caused by the Russian occupation forces, proved to be a catastrophic event with wide-ranging environmental and economic consequences for Ukraine and the broader Black Sea region. Recent satellite images confirm... MORE

Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner Group’s aborted munity in Russia has demonstrated the weakness of the Kremlin in controlling the situation inside the country, which, as shown by the so-called “march for justice,” can rapidly deteriorate in a matter of hours. While moving toward Moscow... MORE

As the entire world watched in disbelief during the rapidly unfolding mutiny in Russia organized by Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group on June 23 and 24, hardly anyone could imagine how its endgame would ultimately play out. In particular, the factor of Belarus seemed... MORE

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s putative role in reversing Yevgeny Prigozhin’s march on Moscow is now on everyone’s mind. Preempting alternative opinions, some opposition analysts have already posited that Lukashenka’s role in that saga was purely “technical” (Zerkalo, June 24). Today, Lukashenka himself offered a detailed... MORE

Ethnic Russians in the former Soviet republics are declining in number not only because of flight and an excess of deaths over births among them but also because some in these communities are increasingly identifying with the titular nation and even assimilating with it. This... MORE