
Latest Articles about Russia

Moscow Wants Russian Society to Pay for War in Ukraine (Part Two)
*Read Part One. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is creating a myriad of problems for the Russian economy. While the Russian state budget is experiencing a deficit, the Russian Central Bank posted some uninviting news: its annual deficit for 2022 was 27 times higher... MORE

Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan Optimize Middle Corridor
On April 10, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev paid a one-day official visit to Kazakhstan (President.az, April 10). This visit took place about six months after the first official visit of Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as the head of state to Azerbaijan in August 2022 (The... MORE

Russia’s Main Strategy: Demonize Ukraine and Hope for Weakening Western Support
As the United States continues to investigate the massive leak of classified Pentagon documents that include key strategic insights into plans for a Ukrainian counteroffensive, Russian propaganda is trying to make the most of the situation (Euromaidan Press, April 10). In doing this, propagandists are... MORE

Rising Russian-Chinese Tensions Over NSR Could Spark Russian Military Clash With West
In March 2023, at his summit meeting in Moscow with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he was ready to create a joint Chinese-Russian working group to develop what the Russians call the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and the Chinese the... MORE

ICC’s Arrest Warrant for Putin Divides Post-Soviet Space
In the three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the 14 independent states of the post-Soviet era have been forced to improvise their policies vis-à-vis the Russian Federation. These measures range from the Baltic states’ total repudiation of the Soviet experience by joining... MORE

Sisyphean Labor: Extracting Slivers of Optimism From Events in Belarus
As every cloud has a silver lining, the current situation in Belarus is no exception. Admittedly, this is hard to prove, but four recent events may have cause for some restrained optimism. First, on April 12, during his visit to Hungary, Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergei... MORE

China’s Growing Economic Power in Uzbekistan
Against the backdrop of the Russo-Ukrainian war and fluctuating relations between Kazakhstan and Russia, Uzbekistan is gaining strategic importance for China as a potential stable emerging market in Central Asia. As a result, Beijing has made more concerted efforts to expand its soft power throughout... MORE

Moscow Faces Serious Obstacles in Making Karelia a ‘Second Kaliningrad’
Since the demise of the Soviet Union, Moscow has viewed Kaliningrad as an important Russian outpost in the West—first under Boris Yeltsin as a bridge to Europe and then as an advanced post for projecting Russian power. More recently, in response to Finland’s decision to... MORE

Can Muscovy Be Considered a ‘State-Civilization’?
On March 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the new Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation (Kremlin.ru, March 31). The previous version had been adopted seven years ago; but even then, in 2016, its wording was significantly more diplomatic than the current document. Moscow’s... MORE

The Sivash: A Key Strategic Point in the Retaking of Crimea
As Russia’s war against Ukraine wages on, much discussion has focused on Ukraine’s strategy for retaking the Crimean Peninsula (Kyiv Independent, February 2; Ukrinform, March 14; Kyiv Post, April 6). In this context, the Sivash, or “Rotten Sea,” on Crimea’s northeastern coast and near the... MORE