Executive Summary: Russian President Vladimir Putin began his new presidential term by holding a week of events to demonstrate his continued reign but has not received the blind following he anticipated. The Kremlin is playing up its nuclear capabilities as a response to the expansion... MORE

Executive Summary: Russia employs various tools to influence people’s minds domestically and internationally, from “positive propaganda” to intricate “information operations.” For a long time, the Kremlin’s primary propaganda narrative has been to instill the notion that truth is subjective or non-existent. The core methods of... MORE

Executive Summary: A new report from two high-end PRC think-tanks details the country’s path to modernization in anticipation of July’s Third Plenum but suggests that any shifts in policy direction will be muted. The report emphasizes the triumph of Chinese-style modernization over the Western model... MORE

Executive Summary: The Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (SNSO) introduced under Article 23 of the Basic Law prohibits five types of activities which HKSAR officials intend to declare as “offenses,” and has proposed provisions which are vague and criminalize the peaceful exercise of human rights while... MORE

 Executive Summary:  Anti-immigrant sentiments in Russia have led to a growth in inter-ethnic tensions and other hidden systemic problems, such as massive corruption concerning migration. The conditions under which many migrants live, such as “rubber” apartments, have become a perfect breeding ground for radicalization and... MORE

Executive Summary:  Ethnic Chechens in Dagestan and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov have stepped up demands that Makhachkala live up to its promises to restore a Chechen district in Dagestan by the end of 2024. Doing so would likely require the Dagestani authorities to expel the... MORE

Executive Summary:  Moscow has proposed legal action to target the “Anti-Russian Separatist Movement,” an organization that, as far as journalists and analysts can deduce, does not exist. The proposal would allow the authorities to persecute Russian regionalists more aggressively, including those who are not opposed... MORE

Executive Summary: The ruling Georgian Dream party organized a march in favor of their foreign agents bill as a response to two weeks of continuous protests against the bill. Western leaders expressed concern for the foreign agents bill, threatening to impose sanctions against Georgia’s ruling... MORE

Executive Summary: Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev says the influx of immigrants threatens Russia’s social and political stability and, if allowed to continue, could call the country’s territorial integrity into question. Patrushev’s words are stoking xenophobic attitudes in Russia, powering a push for tighter... MORE

Executive Summary: Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was arrested in Moscow on accusations of corruption, surprising Russians who have not seen a large-scale corruption charge since the start of the war in Ukraine. The arrest may have been meant as a warning from Russian... MORE