Executive Summary: Russia will celebrate Victory Day on May 9, marking 80 years since the end of World War II, a moral and existential victory that the Kremlin wields to legitimize its present-day war against Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “Great Patriotic War” narrative excludes... MORE

Executive Summary: Ramzan Kadyrov declared this week that he wants to retire from his position as head of the Chechen Republic but acknowledged that only Russian President Vladimir Putin could release him. Putin agreed to meet with him and appears to have turned down his... MORE

Executive Summary: For more than six years, Bashkortostan has been the site of larger and more prolonged protests and greater repression than any other region of the Russian Federation, especially since Russian President Vladimir Putin began his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The protests and repression... MORE

Executive Summary: The Georgian State Registry re-registered “Conservatives for Georgia,” a pro-Russian party tied to political violence and anti-Western rhetoric, signaling the ruling Georgian Dream party’s continued effort to consolidate pro-Russian forces ahead of elections. Ultranationalist groups, originally civil movements promoting anti-Western propaganda, have gained... MORE

Executive Summary: The Kremlin is using Russian ice hockey player Alexander Ovechkin’s record as the all-time National Hockey League–North America’s professional ice hockey league—scorer to promote nationalism, claiming the achievement for Russia. Russian President Putin has long used sports to symbolize Russian values and project... MORE

Executive Summary: Russia’s demographic decline is accelerating, with the population giving birth to fewer babies during the first quarter of 2025 than at any time in the last two centuries. Moscow is alarmed by demographic decline because of the impact of population decline on the... MORE

Executive Summary: Russian President Vladimir Putin has increasingly relied on expansionist, militaristic foreign policy in his 25-year rule to centralize power and justify the dissolution of Russian federalism. Moscow has stripped regional governments of the power to economically and socially self-develop, leaving them only able... MORE

Executive Summary: An overwhelming majority of Belarusians believe Minsk should first prioritize economic relations with Russia followed by relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), according to a national opinion poll on foreign policy priorities conducted in late 2024. Belarusian public opinion remains adaptable... MORE

Executive Summary: Nearly half of Russia’s regional leaders have launched programs to give payments of up to 150,000 rubles ($1,600) to underage girls who become pregnant and give birth as a way to reverse Russia’s demographic decline and win favor from the Kremlin. This policy... MORE

Executive Summary: Nominally “apolitical” ecological protests are becoming seedbeds of political activism in Russia because of the importance of the environment to Russian citizens and Moscow’s clumsy approach to its maintenance. The Vladimir Putin regime is increasingly aware of the threat posed by environmental activism... MORE