Special Reports

Special Reports provide in-depth analysis on a particular topic or issue and provide policy recommendations.

The Realignment of the Middle East

    Executive Summary In the Middle East, reality can change in the blink of an eye. Misconceptions and misrepresentations that dominate the public discourse have it that the region has been embroiled in war since time immemorial. Still,...

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Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in the “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine

  Key Findings Russia’s Black Sea Fleet’s supremacy on the Black Sea naval theater was contested in the early stage of the conflict. Ukraine’s anti-surface and drone capacities have challenged the Black Sea Fleet’s supremacy at sea, creating a...

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A “Frozen Conflict” Boils Over: Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023 and Future Implications

Executive Summary This report has two objectives: first, to present an account of the conflict with an emphasis on analytically useful categories and context up to the present, and second, to discuss local, regional, and global consequences of the...

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Controlling the Narrative: A Roadmap to Russia’s 2024 Presidential Election

Almost ten years into Russia’s war against Ukraine and almost two years into the 2022 full-scale invasion, most domestic political and economic actors seem to have accepted the emergence of a new normal. Timelines and perceived limits of economic...

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Seoul Searching: Lessons from South Korea’s Experience with Sanctions against Russia

  Introduction Russia and the West have found themselves enmeshed in an expansive economic war as a result of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. While the conflict on...

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Synchronized: The Impact of the War on Ukraine’s Energy Landscape

This report takes a three-step approach to analyzing the consequences of the war on the Ukrainian energy landscape and its international ramifications....

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Russian Military Drones: Past, Present, and Future of the UAV Industry

  Introduction Since 2009, Russia has invested significant effort into developing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, for military purposes. They have used drones for reconnaissance, targeting, electronic warfare, and direct strikes. Some of these UAVs have been used...

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The Dragon and the Bear in Africa: Stress-Testing Chinese-Russian Relations

  Introduction This report is based on a chapter of my forthcoming book on the relationship between China and Russia. For the US, this is arguably the most important bilateral relationship in the world today. A robust, resilient partnership...

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Takeaways from Russia’s Regional and Municipal Elections

Introduction The 2023 regional and municipal elections held in Russia on September 8–10 were notable because of their timing. A year and a half into the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, domestic political actors—from political and business elites to voters—seem...

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The Frontline States: Conversations and Observations About Russia’s Other War in Europe

  All Soviet efforts…will be negative and destructive in character, designed to tear down sources of strength beyond reach of Soviet control. This is only in line with basic Soviet instinct that there can be no compromise with rival...

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