Economics
State Corporations

The Decline of Russia’s Railroads

Jeff Hawn on Russian railways as a diagnostic indicator of broader economic crisis
Riddle Political News Week
Human Rights Sobes: Now Serving Only the Military Queue
Andrey Pertsev sums up the political week (December 8−12)
Andrey Pertsev sums up the political week (December 8−12)
By Andrey Pertsev
Riddle Economic News Week
Compounding Losses
Nicholas Trickett with the economic summary of the week (December 8−12)
Nicholas Trickett with the economic summary of the week (December 8−12)
By Nick Trickett
Not a Bloc, but a Mosaic: A Portrait of Russia’s War Opponents in Numbers

Vsevolod Bederson on the groups that make up Russia’s anti-war minority
Europe as the Chief Adversary: How Moscow Has Rewritten Its Threat Hierarchy

Anton Barbashin on Russia’s contradictory stance toward the European Union
Taming the Machines: How Russian Propaganda is Training AI Language Models

Anna Andreyeva on how Kremlin-aligned disinformation is seeping from obscure websites into the responses of popular chatbots
Kadyrov’s desired successor comes of age. What now?

Harold Chambers on the persistence of structural obstacles to a direct Kadyrov family succession
Russia in the New Syria: From Indispensable Ally to Auxiliary Partner

Nikita Smagin on how Damascus is closing the door on a return to Russian dominance
Top reads
  • Five Principles of Russia’s New Middle East Policy

    Nikolai Kozhanov on Russia's Evolving Footprint in the Middle East and North Africa since 2022

  • Witnesses of Chaos

    Anton Barbashin on the Five Postulates of Russia’s «Chaos Theory»

  • A Preview of the Caucasus to Come

    Roman Chernikov on how the interests of Moscow and Washington unexpectedly converged on the Caucasian rails — and why this doesn’t make life any easier for Yerevan

  • Kadyrov’s desired successor comes of age. What now?

    Harold Chambers on the persistence of structural obstacles to a direct Kadyrov family succession

  • Chronicle of a Deal Missed

    Anton Barbashin on what Trump wanted from the Kremlin, what Moscow offered in return—and why a year of the most intense Russia-U.S. talks in decades ended back at square one

  • Taming the Machines: How Russian Propaganda is Training AI Language Models

    Anna Andreyeva on how Kremlin-aligned disinformation is seeping from obscure websites into the responses of popular chatbots

  • Russia in the New Syria: From Indispensable Ally to Auxiliary Partner

    Nikita Smagin on how Damascus is closing the door on a return to Russian dominance

  • Europe as the Chief Adversary: How Moscow Has Rewritten Its Threat Hierarchy

    Anton Barbashin on Russia’s contradictory stance toward the European Union

Authors
  • Jeff Hawn

    Researcher, London School of Economics, Department of International History
  • Vsevolod Bederson

    Researcher of the Chronicles project, PhD
  • Anton Barbashin

    Editorial director at Riddle, political analyst
  • Anna Andreeva

    Journalist-analyst in the field of digital technologies
  • Harold Chambers

    Analyst on conflict, nationalism, and security in the North Caucasus
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