Executive Summary: Veterans returning from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine pose challenges not only to Russian society but also to the political elite, where the Kremlin fears returning veterans could grow into a challenge to the powers that be. Putin has announced a... MORE

Executive Summary: Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, in his annual address to the nation on September 8, announced sweeping reforms, including digitalization and the creation of a Ministry of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to modernize governance and boost efficiency. The new “Digital Qazaqstan” strategy aims to unify... MORE

Executive Summary: Moscow is expanding its efforts to use Buddhists within the Russian Federation to expand its influence in Buddhist countries abroad, despite facing growing problems among its own Buddhist population due to its divided response to the war against Ukraine. While it can still... MORE

Executive Summary: Georgian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) say they are enduring one of the most difficult periods in the country’s history, yet they vow to continue their work despite the financial restrictions. Georgia’s Prosecutor’s Office has frozen the bank accounts of seven prominent Georgian civil society... MORE

Executive Summary: The Trust, the Soviet secret police’s first great intelligence operation in the 1920s, is making a comeback under Russian President Vladimir Putin, with Moscow setting up Federal Security Service (FSB) groups to penetrate, hamstring, and ultimately discredit emigres opposed to his regime. These... MORE

Growing Rifts Between Moscow and Dagestan by Umar Hitinav and Zarema Gasanova is the fourth article in a series of analyses as part of “Promethean Liberation: Russia’s Emerging National and Regional Movements,” a project from Jamestown Senior Fellow Janusz Bugajski. Umar Hitinav is an activist... MORE

Executive Summary: Russian President Vladimir Putin met with activists from the All-Russian Popular Front (ONF) in July, demonstrating the Kremlin’s reliance on government-organized non-governmental organizations (GONGOs) to mobilize support for his war against Ukraine. The ONF highlights achievements in infrastructure and social projects while directly... MORE

Executive Summary: Veterans returning from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine are powering the rise of the radical Russian nationalist “Northern Man” group, putting it in a position to challenge the better-known Russian Community controlled by the Kremlin and Orthodox Church. Many of the... MORE

Executive Summary: Sergey Karaganov, one of the founders of the Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, has created the “Code of the Russian” to codify an analogue of Soviet ideals adapted to Putin’s Russia. Stalin’s image is being rehabilitated in Russia through new monuments... MORE

Executive Summary: A new report by the Xinhua Institute argues that U.S. “cognitive warfare” attempts to “colonize” the minds of people across the world, in particular in global south countries. American influence is framed as ideological infiltration designed to generate social conflicts, undermine stability, and... MORE