Foreign policy
Post-Soviet space

Living in the Middle: Central Asia’s 2025 in Review

Roman Chernikov on how the five Central Asian states have learned to speak with one voice
Riddle Political News Week
A Sermon from the Kremlin
Andrey Pertsev sums up the political week (5−9 January)
Andrey Pertsev sums up the political week (5−9 January)
By Andrey Pertsev
Riddle Economic News Week
Marching to Nowhere
Nicholas Trickett with the economic summary of the week (January 5−9)
Nicholas Trickett with the economic summary of the week (January 5−9)
By Nick Trickett
Steeringless Auto Industry: How Sanctions Have Thrown the Sector Back Decades

Vakhtang Partsvania on the sanctions-induced exhaustion of Russia’s automotive industry and how the sector mirrors deeper structural problems in the economy
The Fall of Maduro: How Russia Lost an Ally but Gained a Like-Minded Thinker

Ivan U. Klyszcz on how the capture of Maduro will affect Russia's policy
The Power Vertical Under Siege: Repressions, Nationalizations, and the Erosion of Loyalty Guarantees

Andrey Pertsev on the Key Political Developments of 2025
From «Discrediting» the Military to High Treason and Terrorism

Sergei Davidis on the evolution of political repression in Russia since the start of the war
Informal Economy and the Fiscal-Military State: Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object

Jem Morrow on why Russia’s fiscal-military state keeps crashing into the immovable object of mass economic informality — and why the war only sharpened the paradox
Top reads
  • The Decline of Russia’s Railroads

    Jeff Hawn on Russian railways as a diagnostic indicator of broader economic crisis

  • Neighbors of Strategic Importance

    Anton Barbashin on how post-Soviet countries have become crucial pillars of the Russian economy

  • Russia’s Pivot to the Eastern Route: Balancing Azerbaijan with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan?

    Nurlan Aliyev on the International North-South Transport Corridor Eastern Alternative

  • Russia-Africa Ties Catch Global Tailwinds in 2025

    Ivan U. Klyszcz on Russia — Africa dynamics in 2025

  • 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

  • The End of Russian Hegemony: How Azerbaijan Rewrote the Rules in the Caucasus

    Roman Chernikov on the transformation of the South Caucasus in 2025

  • Irkutsk and Kemerovo: warning signs for regions at war

    Andras Toth-Czifra on how declining extractive rents, stagnant wages, and unsustainable social obligations signal rising fiscal fragility in Russia’s industrial periphery

  • From «Discrediting» the Military to High Treason and Terrorism

    Sergei Davidis on the evolution of political repression in Russia since the start of the war

Authors
  • Roman Chernikov

    Political scientist
  • Vakhtang Partsvania

    Economist, Professor of Management at Caucasus University
  • Ivan U. Klyszcz

    Research fellow at the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) in Tallinn, Estonia
  • Sergey Davidis

    Human rights activist and public figure, head of the «Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial» Project
  • Jem Morrow

    Political scientist
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