Russia

Introduction Russia’s influence operations in Georgia represent one of the Black Sea region’s most comprehensive hybrid warfare campaigns. The Kremlin has employed military intervention and territorial occupation, economic embargos, energy leverages, political co-optation, corruption, and information warfare. The Kremlin’s...

  Introduction The first report in this series examined Chinese and Russian influence and interests in the Indo-Pacific region. This report, the second of five in the series, analyzes China’s use of the instruments of power to build its...

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian government accelerated the preexisting trend of centralizing control over regional power and economic assets. This centralization drive has manifested in several ways including tightening control over regional and municipal political institutions,...

US President Donald Trump is a radically transparent person but still manages to surprise. After promising for years that he would put pressure on Ukraine to agree with Russia to halt fighting, Trump has recently followed through. He directed...

The lives of Central Asian migrant laborers in Russia have become much worse since the terrorist attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall on March 22, 2024, that left more than 140 people dead. Prior to that attack, these migrant...

  Introduction In late September, a US HC-103J Super Hercules spotted four foreign vessels operating about 440 miles southwest of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. Upon closer inspection, the patrol turned out to be Russian Border Guard and Chinese Coast...

President’s Letter The Foreign Policy Research Institute had an exceptional year. We published cutting-edge research on Russia’s war in Ukraine and examined the Russo-Chinese relationship, with a special focus on Central Asia and the challenges posed by the rise...

Introduction Disinformation, the deliberate dissemination of false or misleading information to deceive or manipulate public opinion, represents a profound and ongoing threat to Western democracies. It erodes trust in institutions, fuels polarization, and undermines decision-making processes. Russian disinformation campaigns,...

Discussions of possible ceasefire negotiations in the war between Russia and Ukraine focus on the concessions that Ukraine could make to stop the hot phase of the war. At the same time, a realistic assessment of the prospects for...

The title of this essay would have been a little bit different if I had spent five more days in Odesa as planned. “50 days in Ukraine, 1,005 days in war.” That would be a neat summary of my...