At his annual press conference, the Russian president dismissed European leaders, and was cautious about whether negotiations with Trump on Ukraine would yield anything.

The storm of government spending is sustaining the current state of affairs, but it cannot address the chronic problems that have long plagued the Russian economy. We are witnessing an irreversible turn toward economic stagnation.

If separatist Transnistria is deprived of the cheap Russian gas that keeps its economy afloat, it would hand Moldova a historic opportunity to reunify the country.

In Russia’s increasingly monarchical regime, the president surrounds himself with blood relatives, the heirs to influential clans, and those who relay good news.

As the latest U.S. sanctions make it even harder and more expensive for Russian businesses to settle international payments, they are being forced to resort to the age-old practice of hawala.

Podcast host Alex Gabuev is joined by Nicole Grajewski, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Hanna Notte, director of the Eurasia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center, to unpack the sudden fall of Assad’s regime and what it means for Russia to lose its stronghold in the Middle East. 

With the fall of Syria’s Moscow-supported regime, a large chunk of Russia’s leverage over Türkiye is gone. But Erdoğan will not take the risk of challenging Russia. Rather, he will continue acting as an intermediary between Putin and the West.

While U.S. sanctions caused the Russian currency to drop sharply in November, the changing structure of trade flows means the ruble is doomed to weaken further. 

The Kremlin could offer support and international legitimacy to the new rulers in Damascus in exchange for being allowed to keep its military bases in the country. 

Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s enigmatic billionaire powerbroker, appears fixated on Western reactions while ignoring the mass protests engulfing his nation.