Executive Summary: Relations between Russia and Azerbaijan have degenerated over the past several months, but until recently, the two countries aimed to keep the crisis under control. Moscow’s aggressive rhetoric regarding Baku has turned into action, including the bombing of Azerbaijani oil depots in Ukraine.... MORE

Executive Summary: In early August, the Kremlin began discussing a project to move approximately 170 large state corporations from Moscow to the regions where they extract profits, primarily from natural resources.  Putin’s “de-Moscowization” moves remain nominal, as state corporations maintain executive offices in Moscow and... MORE

Executive Summary: Russian President Vladimir Putin has opened the way for memorials to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin by praising his role in the Soviet victory in World War II and silencing any discussion of Stalin’s repressions. The push to restore Stalin to a position of... MORE

Executive Summary: Russian fatality estimates in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine vary widely, but analysis of open-source data suggests they exceed 175,000 between February 2022 and July 2025. Older Russian men and ethnic minorities are disproportionately dying in the war—many deaths come from... MORE

Executive Summary: The Russian Foreign Ministry’s premier journal, International Life, says the Baltic Sea region has become “a potential theater of military conflict,” one where there is no chance that regimes more amenable to Moscow will arise in the absence of a radical shift in... MORE

Executive Summary: The Kremlin is systematically erasing Ukrainian identity in occupied regions to solidify long-term submission and control by banning Ukrainian in schools, rewriting history, and indoctrinating children.  In the occupied territories, the Kremlin is linking Russian citizenship to access to healthcare, SIM cards, and... MORE

Executive Summary: The Moscow Patriarchate is taking steps to increase its usefulness to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia and abroad to offset its declining power and influence across the former Soviet space. The Moscow Patriarchate is aiding the Kremlin in promoting traditional values and... MORE

Executive Summary: Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin on August 31 and September 1, and the Victory Day military parade on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on September 3. Putin likely... MORE

The Caspian Sea, once considered a “Russian lake,” is becoming a more multipolar space. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan have expanded their navies, built new security accords with each other, and increased cooperation with Türkiye. Russia has responded with naval cooperation with Iran, but this alliance... MORE

Executive Summary: Moscow believes the upcoming Alaska summit will end Russian President Vladimir Putin’s international isolation, taking note of its location in Alaska, which Russia once owned.   Russian commentators are interpreting the summit as U.S. acceptance of Moscow’s view that decisions can be made about... MORE