Some are finding ways to make money in wartime Russia, but no one views the country as a safe place to keep savings. Ultimately, it is only high savings rates and a lack of alternatives that are keeping the last remaining investors in the Russian financial market.

The new approach will badly damage Russia’s relations with some Asian countries, in particular South Korea, which is now likely to greenlight weapons shipments to Ukraine.

The bulk of the current analysis of the attacks on refineries is celebratory, with a strong element of confirmation bias—and that is a classical folly that prevents learning. Russia’s refining sector, unlike its Black Sea Fleet, has proven to be resilient to the recent type of attacks, rather than the Achilles’ heel of the Russian economy that many were hoping it would be.

Carnegie Politika podcast host Alex Gabuev is joined by Andrei Lankov, a professor at Kookmin University in Seoul, to discuss the outcome of Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent visit to North Korea.

Unlike Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin chose to bring about his country’s international isolation himself. Modern Russia is not an inheritance, but a regime built by his own hands.

Beijing’s refusal to take part does not mean it wants to keep its distance from the Ukraine war. Instead, it will look for allies in the Global South.

The new sanctions package will be extremely painful for the Russian economy, but it’s two years too late to be a gamechanger. In a global context, however, it increases the risk of the fragmentation of the financial system.

Although there are potential security and economic benefits for Moscow to be gained from closer ties to Afghanistan, they will be difficult to achieve. 

Russia’s tax reform comes at the expense of companies working outside of the defense sector and related industries.

The population of a colossal country may be clinging to its Soviet self-perception, but it is no longer Soviet—nor Western—and has lost all semblance of identity.