Special Reports

Download Russia’s Long Pivot East Executive Summary  The rise of Asian oil demand over the last 20 years has prompted the Russian Federation to seek opportunities to export to the People’s Republic of China and other growing markets. Since...

How have countries in the post-Soviet space responded to the intensified clash between the Russian Federation and the West since 2014? Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its war in eastern Ukraine forced post-Soviet states to re-evaluate their foreign policy...

The Russian Federation is pursuing an active and wide-ranging strategy to reassert and strengthen its dominant position in the greater Black Sea region, which the Kremlin believes is critical for the restoration of Russia's great power status. Consolidation of...

From 1949 to the end of the Cold War era, the Kuomintang (KMT)—under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo—ruled the Republic of China (Taiwan) under martial law. The martial law decree gave the government immense...

The war in the eastern Ukrainian region known as the Donbas has killed over 13,000 people, displaced millions, and led to the worst rupture in relations between the Russian Federation and the West since the end of the Cold...

The Black Sea has been called “the inhospitable sea” because of the “savage” tribes living on its shores. Today, the region is inhospitable for Western countries as they struggle to provide security in the region. The primary cause...

While Socialist Republic of Vietnam has remained the Russian Federation’s most important partner in Southeast Asia in the three decades since the end of the Cold War, the Kremlin no longer has the outsized voice in Hanoi that it...

Central America has received little attention in the Russia Federation’s ‘return’ to Latin America. The region’s small population and underdeveloped markets make it relatively uninteresting for a far-off country like Russia. Yet, in recent years, Russia has intensified and...

This report examines Rosneft’s international operations and its source of financing while under Western sanctions. Intended to disincentivize malign activity, Rosneft, a Russia state-owned oil company led by Vladimir Putin ally Igor Sechin, has responded to sanctions by spearheading...

The war in eastern Ukraine has raged for five years, killed over 13,000 people, and displaced millions. It has affected Ukraine’s political system, economy, society, and security situation. It has caused a rupture in relations between Russia and the...