Executive Summary: The effect of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Russian life is typically measured in terms of political opponents arrested, items in stores no longer available, or other “objective” figures. A more insidious and important metric, however, is its degradation of institutions. Nowhere... MORE

Executive Summary: The Kremlin instituted restrictions on the civilian use of virtual private networks (VPN) and U.S.-built technology at the beginning of September, ostensibly fearing that the U.S. government is using the technology to sow internal discord in Russia. The Russian Duma approved legislation on... MORE

Executive Summary: Non-Russians in the Russian Federation are increasing their share of the country’s population despite decreasing in absolute numbers because the decline in the number of ethnic Russians is far greater. This proportional increase reflects higher fertility rates among non-Russians than among ethnic Russians... MORE

Executive Summary: The September 7 Kremlin-backed religious-nationalist procession in Moscow only drew 40,000 people, supporting the argument that right-wing activists remain a marginal force and do not pose a threat to the regime. In contrast, grassroots networks built around “war correspondents”—Russians who post information about... MORE

Executive Summary: The ruling Georgian Dream party won an overwhelming victory in Georgia’s October 4 municipal elections, capturing all 64 mayoral seats amid an opposition boycott, low voter turnout, and minimal international monitoring presence. Critics allege the elections were manipulated to fabricate a competitive image... MORE

Executive Summary: Leading candidates in the KMT party chair elections strongly self-identify as Chinese and are advocating to resolve cross-Strait tensions with a dialogue approach rooted in the 1992 Consensus. Notably lacking amongst the leading candidates is someone who represents the “Taiwanese” faction of the... MORE

Executive Summary: Russia’s youth organizations have played an important role in the Kremlin’s indoctrination effort, with Russian President Putin himself facilitating their development. Groups such as Yunarmia, Avangard camps, and the “Movement of the First” serve as platforms for indoctrination and militarization of their members,... MORE

Executive Summary: The first phone call between U.S. President Trump and Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in August, followed by high-level meetings in Minsk, marked a surprising shift after 15 years of estrangement between the two countries.  The issue of political prisoners has become the central... MORE

Executive Summary: Within the last two decades, patriotic education in Russia has become a well-functioning apparatus of indoctrination that combines schools, youth organizations, museums, religion, and digital platforms. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, nationalistic education evolved into a vital pillar of governance,... MORE

Executive Summary: The proportion of deaths in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine among men from non-Russian republics and from poorer but predominantly ethnic Russian regions has been far higher than among residents of Moscow and other large cities. Putin’s adoption of the Soviet-era... MORE