Executive Summary: Alexei Navalny’s death and the specter of increased hopelessness in Russia’s regions have highlighted growing apathy among the Russian opposition. Supporters of “post-Russia” movements are searching for alternatives to Putin’s Kremlin that differ significantly from the long-standing Moscow-centrist model. The next Kremlin crisis... MORE

Executive Summary: Russia is expanding the number of “volunteer battalions” from non-ethnically Russian regions, especially Bashkortostan. Most battalions are named after Soviet or post-Soviet heroes—likely to prevent inflaming local patriotic (nationalist), anti-Russian, or anti-colonial sentiments in Bashkortostan. Moscow, in legitimizing these formations, is trying to... MORE

Executive Summary: The PRC’s potential to interfere in elections with deepfakes has been noted, with strategies including creating false narratives around candidates and misleading information on electoral processes. Advanced AI tools could further sophisticate these interference efforts, impacting democratic processes worldwide. Beijing appears to have... MORE

Executive Summary: Russian propaganda has admitted to the involvement of Islamic State militants in the attack on Crocus City Hall while pushing the narrative that the West is to blame at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s direction.  Direct orders from the Kremlin to lay blame for... MORE

Executive Summary: No Russian institution has lost more ground since President Vladimir Putin launched his expanded invasion of Ukraine than the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (ROC MP)—a development that undermines Putin’s “Russian world” vision.  These self-inflicted losses are disrupting the Moscow church’s... MORE

Executive Summary: Russia suffered one of the worst terrorist attacks in its history on March 22 when a group of Islamist terrorists attacked Crocus City Hall in Moscow, but the Putin regime’s response appears even more worrisome. Putin has deepened the divide between Moscow and... MORE

Executive Summary: The Movement of the First, a successor to the Soviet Pioneers, is growing, indicating the potential for a more radicalized, militarized Russian future. The Kremlin-sponsored organization is ostensibly designed to promote creative work and life in Russia, but its actions suggest that the... MORE

Executive Summary: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s declarations regarding Poland once again demonstrate that the Kremlin is trying to create and strengthen contradictions between its geopolitical enemies. Moscow has a similar policy regarding other Western countries, and Kremlin analysts do not conceal the fact that Russia... MORE

Executive Summary: Russian President Vladimir Putin asserts that participants of the “special military operation” should be viewed as the new elite of Russia and participate in the governing the country to sustain support from those on the front. The Kremlin will be forced to show... MORE

Executive Summary: Russia has transformed the education system in the occupied territories of Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk, replacing educators and curriculum with pro-Russian, military-patriotic education aimed at militarizing Ukrainian children against their homeland. The Kremlin has started to erase the Ukrainian language, rewrite history books,... MORE