Putin the Geographer
(Riddle) At the grand reopening of the Russian Geographical Society in 2009, then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin explicitly linked the greatness of Russia as a state and as a culture to the size of…
The End of Strategic Stability? Nuclear Weapons and the Challenge of Regional Rivalries [NEW BOOK]
(Lawrence Rubin and Adam Stulberg, Editors) During the Cold War, many believed that the superpowers shared a conception of strategic stability, a coexistence where both sides would compete for global influence…
NATO’s Trident Juncture Exercise as a Deterrence Signal to Russia
(Russia Matters) This week, NATO forces are engaged in the largest military exercise the alliance has organized since the end of the Cold War and the first major Western exercise in…
Understanding Russia The Challenges of Transformation [NEW BOOK]
Co-authored by Marlene Laruelle and Jean Radvanyi. This timely book provides a balanced and comprehensive overview of the geographical, historical, political, cultural, and geostrategic factors that drive Russia today. Russia…
Kakachia: Everybody knows that demonizing Russia is something that Georgians will react to
(BBC) It takes guts to eat raw chilli. But in Georgia it has become a matter of political conviction. Opponents of one of the top presidential candidates, Salome Zurabishvili, have signed…
Russia Reconsiders Consequences of INF Treaty Breakdown
(EDM) News about the United States’ decision to withdraw from the 1988 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty produced the predictable explosion of propaganda commentary in Moscow. But by the end of…
Mass Protest in Ingushetia
(Point & Counterpoint) An attempt to demarcate the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia has provoked mass protests in Ingushetia, Russia’s smallest region. Unusually for Russia, part of the Ingush elite…
Of Russia and the European Far Right
(CSIS Podcast) In this episode, Jeffrey Mankoff sits down with Marlene Laruelle, research professor at George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs. They discuss the genesis and evolution of European-Russian far right connections, how…
Russian views on U.S. plans to withdraw from the INF Treaty
(WP) Despite Russian urgings, national security adviser John Bolton is insisting that the United States will withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). The treaty prohibits all short-range and intermediate-range ground-launched missiles,…
Kakachia: Georgia remains a steadfast supporter of U.S. initiatives but is unlikely to want to get drawn into a US-Iran conflict
(Eurasianet) A senior adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump is visiting the Caucasus, where he is expected to try to enlist the region’s three governments in Washington’s campaign of isolating Iran.…
Russia Sanctions not Spurring Domestic Rally-Around-the-Flag Effect
(EDM) Russian propaganda excels at shifting the blame for every one of the country’s problems—even those caused by bad luck, devastating mismanagement, or natural causes—on to the purported main source of…
Podvig: Russia will say that it was U.S. intent from the very beginning to pull out of the INF treaty
(TIME) President Donald Trump revealed Saturday the United States intends to withdraw from a 31-year-old nuclear weapons agreement with Russia, delivering a severe blow to the arms control regime that helped…