Executive Summary: Belarusian Foreign Affairs Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov published an op-ed outlining Minsk’s assessment of the current and prospective bilateral relations between Belarus and Lithuania, signaling a desire from Minsk to further engage with Vilnius in the future. In Vilnius, Ryzhenkov’s suggestions were received coldly,... MORE

Executive Summary: The Kremlin announced updates to Russia’s nuclear doctrine, lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons by expanding the list of conditions that would justify such a measure. These updates are intended to serve as a warning to the West and legitimize... MORE

Executive Summary: Russia continues to conduct misinformation campaigns against Europe. As its war in Ukraine continues and Europeans become tired of the prolonged conflict, fewer people will be engaged and thus more susceptible to disinformation coming from Russia. Russia’s current disinformation campaign revolves around three... MORE

Executive Summary: September 2024 marks the fourth anniversary of the Second Karabakh War and the first anniversary of Azerbaijan’s “anti-terror operation” against the Armenian separatist contingency in the Karabakh region, and peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan are ongoing. Baku continues to demand that Armenia... MORE

Executive Summary: The Saimaa Canal, linking Lake Saimaa to the Gulf of Finland via Russian territory, is becoming a flashpoint in the deteriorating relationship between Moscow and Helsinki and, more generally, between Russia and NATO. Both Russia and Finland have cut back their use of... MORE

Executive Summary: Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te stated that if China’s claims on Taiwan are about territorial integrity, then it should also press for the restoration of land from Russia that the Qing dynasty signed over in the 19th century. If Russia can insist that Ukraine,... MORE

Executive Summary: The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has trained 2,700 foreign police officers in the past year and pledged to train an additional 3,000 in the coming 12 months, as part of its growing involvement in global security governance. The Global Public Security Cooperation... MORE

(Part One) Executive Summary: NATO’s outgoing Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, has called for maximizing military assistance to Ukraine to change Russia’s calculus and bring Moscow to the negotiating table. This scenario spells, however, a territorial compromise at Ukraine’s expense rather than victory in war. Stoltenberg... MORE

Executive Summary: Moscow is focusing on the Åland Islands as a potential target in the event of war with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) now that the West has taken new steps to boost the defense of Gotland and the Svalbard islands. This Russian... MORE

Executive Summary: Russian state-run media outlets, such as RT, have transformed their disinformation campaigns in the West to adapt to local situations, exerting subtle influence on domestic media to conduct a more covert operation. Moscow is increasingly utilizing embedded propaganda by funding foreign media voices,... MORE