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Russia

The West Must Tell Russians the Truth About the War

Tell the Russian people about the carnage in Russia’s war with Ukraine. Tell them about the Russian lives lost and the crushing financial cost of a [...] More

The Latest

RUSSIA-UKRAINE-CONFLICT-POLITICS

After the War and After Putin: Three Potential Succession Scenarios for Russia’s Modern Tsar

THE KREMLIN FILES / COLUMN — Recent weeks have seen seismic shifts in the world’s authoritarian landscape: from the dramatic removal of Venezuela’s [...] More

Russia’s Promises of Security Lead to Ukraine's Frontlines

Russia’s Promises of Security Lead to Ukraine's Frontlines

DEEP DIVE — Moscow has spent nearly four years burning through human resources in Ukraine, and now they’ve found a new way to fill the gaps of loss: [...] More

The Kremlin Files: Russian Double Agents and Operational Games

The Kremlin Files: Russian Double Agents and Operational Games

THE KREMLIN FILES / COLUMN — There are similarities among intelligence agencies worldwide. All professional services rely on tradecraft to recruit [...] More

Russia’s War Economy Lifeline: Inside the Sanctions Evasion Network

Russia’s War Economy Lifeline: Inside the Sanctions Evasion Network

DEEP DIVE — Nearly three years into the most comprehensive sanctions regime ever imposed on a significant economy, Russia’s defense industrial base [...] More

Russia is Targeting Civilians in Ukraine

The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported that 14,383 civilians were killed in Ukraine, 673 of them children, as of late [...] More

Two men in a serious conversation, one in a suit, the other in a military uniform.

The Kremlin Files: Russia’s Way to the Gray Zone

THE KREMLIN FILES / COLUMN — Russian hybrid warfare, often referred to in the West as “gray zone” conflict, has transitioned from theoretical concept [...] More

Russia Signals Minimal Desire for Peace

Russia Signals Minimal Desire for Peace

As Russia continues it's brutal bombardment of Ukrainian cities, talks between Moscow and the U.S. to end the war appear on very different [...] More

Uber Krysha: How Russia Turns Crime into Power—and Poison

Current discussion of Russian "hybrid warfare" tends to revolve around concepts like disinformation, proxy militias, cyber operations, sabotage, and [...] More

The Kremlin Files: Russia, the Modern Surveillance State

The Kremlin Files: Russia, the Modern Surveillance State

THE KREMLIN FILES / COLUMN — Ask any Russian intelligence officer about “naruzhka,” and you’ll see them nod knowingly. It’s the term for physical, [...] More

Putin Again Bungles Strategy: Why His War of Attrition will Sink Russia

On February 14, 2022, with Russia poised to invade Ukraine, I questioned whether Vladimir Putin’s reign to that point had revealed him to be a [...] More

Russia is Waging a Sabotage Shadow War on Europe

Russia is Waging a Sabotage Shadow War on Europe

DEEP DIVE — In the darkness of night on November 15, a massive explosion ripped through a stretch of the Warsaw-Lublin railway line close to Mika, [...] More

Putin Sees “Useful Meetings”, the U.S. Should See a Trap Set for Inexperienced Negotiators

EXPERT OPINION / PERSPECTIVE -- Reports from Moscow suggest that U.S. representatives Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are “optimistic” about the [...] More