JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin’s Six-Year Manifesto Sets Sights Beyond Ukraine” – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Vladimir Putin file photo, adapted from screenshot of video at shareamerica.gov

“Putin’s state of the nation address should have been a mere pre-election formality, but it left an extremely chilling impression of an unraveling spiral of escalation.” “… The horizons of this ‘holy war’ have now expanded. If a year ago, Putin focused on protecting ‘our land’ and relied on defensive and even sacrificial rhetoric, this year he sounded victorious, speaking […]

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Peeling Away the Layers of Russian Foreign Policy

European Portion of Commonwealth of Independent States

(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Kennan Cable No. 87 – William E. Pomeranz – January 2024) William Pomeranz is the Director of the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute, Russia’s most recent invasion of Ukraine is fast approaching its two-year anniversary, with no end in sight. Russia continues to put on a brave face on this military and economic quagmire,[1] with Prime […]

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Russia in Review, Nov. 17-21, 2023

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) 3 Things to Know In the past month, Russian forces have gained 16 square miles of Ukrainian territory, while Ukraine gained 7 square miles, according to calculations by Katherine Davidson, associate of the Belfer Russia-Ukraine War Task Force.1Yet, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has this week denied his top general Valery Zaluzhny’s recent claim that the war has reached […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “BRICS Expansion Plan Draws Interest From More Than 40 Nations” – Bloomberg

File Photo of Flags of BRICS Nations and BRICS Logo from Past Summit

Twenty-two countries … have formally applied to join bloc Putin skipping summit out of consideration for BRICS: Sooklal “More than 40 nations have indicated an interest in joining the BRICS bloc of major developing economies as it seeks to expand to grow its political clout, [according to Anil Sooklal,] South Africa’s ambassador to the group …. Brazil, Russia, India and […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “How Russia’s grim demographics could thwart Putin’s global ambitions” – Washington Post

Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

“The Russian army’s strangely stumble-footed invasion of Ukraine is only the latest reminder of the pervasive and long-standing ‘human resource’ woes that frustrate … Putin’s aspirations for superpower status. … Russia is depopulating — even after Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, its total numbers are lower today than when the Soviet Union collapsed. Russia’s working-age population and its pool […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Foreign Policy Experts Map Russia’s Plans for 2022” – Moscow Times

Satellite

The Moscow Times asked 10 commentators for their predictions for the coming year […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russian Grand Strategy: Rhetoric and Reality” – RAND

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

“… six key elements of Russia’s stated grand strategy … [given] closer examination [included]: the linkage between internal and external threats, the nature of Russia’s role in its immediate neighborhood, concepts about the future of warfare, expeditionary requirements for Russia’s military, Moscow’s objectives vis-à-vis the West, and Russia’s declared prioritization of engagement with non-Western powers. …” Embedded version follows below, […]

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RUSSIALINK: “IMEMO Director Feodor Voitolovsky: A new system of coordinates is a challenge for the modern world order” – Interfax

Mercator Projection Satellite Image of Earth

(Interfax – May 31, 2021) The Primakov Readings, organized by the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, will take place in Moscow on June 8-9. The topic of the 2021 readings is “Challenges to the Contemporary World Order”. Interfax is an information partner of the Primakov Readings 2021. IMEMO Director Feodor Voitolovsky […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Russia Pushes SPIEF as World’s ‘Largest Post-Pandemic Meeting’” – Moscow Times

Some 5,000 guests are set to attend this week’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. (Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – June 1, 2021) Russia’s flagship business conference — the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) — will return Wednesday following its cancellation last year due to the coronavirus. The annual forum, hosted in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s home city, is seen […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Patrushev: Russia ready to use force to suppress unfriendly activities by other countries” – Interfax

Nikolai Patrushev file photo, adapted from image at defense.gov

MOSCOW. May 31 (Interfax) – Russia may use force if need be in response to unfriendly activities by other countries, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said. “The new edition of the National Security Strategy emphasizes that Russia seeks greater predictability, trust and security in the international arena. At the same time, it says that it is lawful to take […]

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Putin’s Aggressiveness Uniting West against Russia and Powering Its Search for Modus Vivendi with China, Shevtsova Says

File Photo of G7 Leaders at Summit, adapted from image at usembassy.gov

Putin’s aggressively anti-Western posture is helping the West to recover its lost self-discipline and unity […]

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Russia’s Dwindling Middle Classes No Catalyst for Shift in Kremlin Foreign Policy

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

Confrontation with the west after the annexation of Crimea, the resulting sanctions and the Kremlin’s focus on macroeconomic stability at the expense of prosperity have entrenched a stagnation […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia: Foreign Policy and U.S. Relations [Excerpt]” – Congressional Research Service

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rise to leadership more than 20 years ago, tensions have increased steadily between Russia and the United States […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Putin: Attempts to meddle in Russia’s sociopolitical affairs from outside have no prospects” – Interfax

Putin at Desk

MOSCOW. Feb 24 (Interfax) – The line that is being pursued by some foreign countries to interfere in Russia’s sociopolitical affairs has no prospects, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “We’ve been exposed to a purposeful information campaign involving categorical and unwarranted accusations on a whole variety of issues. Even some absurd and ridiculous conspiracy theories have been employed in an […]

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EVENT VIDEO: JRL NEWSWATCH: “Politics, Tragedy, Sovereignty: A Panel Discussion on the Meaning of Today’s Russia” – Simone Weil Center for Political Philosophy/ Anatol Lieven, Marlene Laruelle, James Carden, Boris Mezhuev, Paul Robinson, Richard Sakwa

Aerial View of Kremlin and Environs

“The Simone Weil Center for Political Philosophy recently hosted a panel discussion on U.S.–Russia relations and Russia’s place in the world. … The discussion was moderated by Anatol Lieven, the distinguished journalist and scholar. The panel was comprised of George Washington University’s Marlene Laurelle, the philosopher and editor Boris Mezhuev, the University of Kent’s Richard Sakwa, the University of Ottawa’s […]

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RUSSIALINK: “IMEMO, Interfax launch new online analytical project Russia and the World: A Professional Conversation”

Mercator Projection Satellite Image of Earth

MOSCOW. Oct 26 (Interfax) – The Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) and the Interfax Group have announced the launch of a new joint project called Russia and the World: A Professional Conversation. They signed an agreement on its implementation on Monday, October 26. The project will include a series of expert meetings dealing […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Four Myths about Russian Grand Strategy” – Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)/ Robert Person

Satellite

“Myth #1: Russia’s grand strategy is driven by ideology …. Myth #2: Russia seeks to reconstruct the Soviet Union or Russian Empire. … Instead of a formal territorial empire … Russia endeavors to establish a privileged and exclusive sphere of influence across former Soviet territory. … [with] a seat at the table in the capital of every post-Soviet country. … […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russians Join Calls Urging Turkey Not to Revert One of Christendom’s Most Famous Churches into a Mosque” – CNS News/ Dimitri Simes

Turkey and Environs Satellite Image

“Russian lawmakers adopted a resolution … calling on Turkey not to change the status of Istanbul’s famed Hagia Sophia from … museum to … mosque, warning that Russia’s … relations with Turkey could be harmed …. Hagia Sophia was the seat of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly 900 years before being turned into a mosque in the 15th century. […]

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Russia and the West

Satellite

From: David C. Speedie <davidcspeedie@gmail.com> Date: Sun, Jun 28, 2020 Subject: Russia and the West To: <letters.editor@ft.com> (Financial Times) Philip Stephens [“Russia cannot afford a war with the west”, 26 June] contains some home truths about Russia under Vladimir Putin, but comes significantly short of the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. To focus on but a few illustrations: […]

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RUSSIALINK: “MGIMO University Rector Anatoly Torkunov: The study of international relations needs digital technologies” – Interfax

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

MGIMO University Rector, Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Anatoly Torkunov discusses in an interview with Interfax how artificial intelligence will help improve relations between Russia and the United States and solve the Middle East issue. (Interfax – June 22, 2020) Question: Russia has vast expertise in natural sciences and high technologies. Demand for biological and medical sciences has […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia cannot afford another 15 years at war with the west” – Financial Times/ Philip Stephens

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

“Vladimir Putin should brush off the cold war cobwebs in pursuit of a hard-headed look at national interests.” “… Putin is proposing … the option of another 15 years in office. He could … continu[e] to shake his fist at the west. Alternatively, he could brush away the cobwebs of the cold war and begin to recognise the challenge to […]

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Kremlin Denies Eyeing Territorial Claims After Putin’s Comments In Documentary

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

The Kremlin has denied it has any territorial claims on former Soviet republics after … Putin appeared to question the redrawn borders of Russia after the breakup of the Soviet Union […]

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Replacing ‘The Last of the Offended’ – Generational Change at the Russian Foreign Ministry

File Photo of U.S. Embassy Moscow, with Russian Foreign Ministry Building in Distance

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, April 25, 2020) The Moscow Carnegie Center has issued a podcast devoted to the discussion of generational change at the Russian Foreign Ministry and to what the rising generations, those in their 30s and 40s as well as those in their 20s are likely to bring to the table when they assume […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Moscow’s coronavirus offensive; As the epidemic ravages Europe, the Kremlin has dialed up the disinformation and propaganda” – Politico.eu/ Hannah Roberts

File Image of Artist's Conception of Globe with Curved Connecting Lines of Light Passing Through Space, adapted from image at fincen.gov

“As the coronavirus pandemic spreads, Russia appears to be observing the adage that you should never let a good crisis go to waste. Seeking to capitalize on the chaos and promote its own soft power, the Kremlin has taken Beijing’s lead and started love-bombing struggling nations with medical aid, and stepping up its efforts to broadcast propaganda and sow disinformation […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin’s New Premier Reaches Out to West With Bid for OECD Ties” – Bloomberg/ Ilya Arkhipov, Evgenia Pismennaya

OECD Logo

“Russia’s new prime minister has ordered his government to revive Russia’s ties with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in what looks like a longshot bid to reopen links with western institutions severed after the Ukraine crisis began in 2014. Mikhail Mishustin [reportedly] asked subordinates to draft a plan … possibly even restarting Russia’s efforts to join …. The […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin Proposes 2020 Summit With Leaders of Russia, France, China, U.S. and UK” – Reuters

UN Building file photo

“… Putin … proposed holding a summit between the leaders of Russia, China, the United States, France and Britain in 2020 to discuss the conflict in Libya and other global problems. Putin, … speaking during a trip to Israel, said Moscow was ready for a “serious conversation” with the permanent members of the UN Security Council, that there was much […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia Will Likely Collapse from the Inside” – Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (Israel)/ Emil Avdaliani (Tbilisi State University, Ilia State University)

File Photo of Revolutionaries Marching in Moscow in 1917, adapted from image at state.gov

“Russia is historically prone to internal collapse … shown by numerous examples from both the imperial and Soviet periods. … usually tak[ing] place as Russia rests on the laurels of recent military victories while internal economic and social troubles grow. … the best way to deal with Russia is to keep intervention to a minimum and wait for its internal […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Trump Says Russia Should Be Readmitted to G7” – New York Times/ Michael Crowley

Vladirmir Putin and Donald Trump Sitting in Chairs with Flags Behind, adapted from image at whitehouse.gov

“… Trump said on Tuesday that Russia should be readmitted to the Group of 7 industrialized nations, a call for ending Moscow’s pariah status …. Speaking a few days before his planned departure for the summit, … Trump said … Moscow’s exclusion since 2014 from the group of leading economic powers should be reversed and, ignoring Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, […]

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RUSSIALINK: “G8 reinstatement based on ‘7 against 1’ principle could be trap – MP Kosachyov” – Interfax

File Photo of G7 Leaders and other Officials Around Round Table at the Hague, with Flags

MOSCOW. Aug 21 (Interfax) – Russia could return to the G8 format if the latter becomes a G10 and involves China and India, Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Konstantin Kosachyov said. “In my opinion, Russia’s reunion with the G7 would make sense only if we manage to avoid the ‘seven against one’ trap. We should look at the bigger […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Ask Not What the Kremlin Will Do Next” – Kennan Institute/ Maxim Trudolyubov

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

Maxim Trudolyubov is a Senior Fellow at the Kennan Institute and the Editor-at-Large of Vedomosti, an independent Russian daily. Mr. Trudolyubov was the editorial page editor of Vedomosti between 2003 and 2015. (Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Maxim Trudolyubov – August 16, 2019 – wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/ask-not-what-the-kremlin-will-do-next) The last time ordinary Russians saw their real incomes grow was in 2013. Russia is […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia in the Gray Zone” – Aspen Institute/ Kathleen Hicks

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

“… Russia is waging campaigns … [to influence world affairs with a] significant number of … tactics … [falling] between routine statecraft and direct and open warfare …. Americans … familiar with Russia’s disinformation efforts in the United States and its use of ‘little green men’ in Ukraine … may be less attuned to stepped-up Russian political and economic coercion […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Forget Putin’s ‘liberalism’ jibe. This man runs a war machine; For too long, the west has turned a blind eye to Russian atrocities in a string of wars.” – The Guardian/ Natalie Nougayrède

File Photo of Country Flags Outside 2017 G20 Meeting in Hamburg, adapted from image at state.gov

“… Putin is on a high. Kicked out of the G8 in 2014 after the start of his military operations in Ukraine, he’s been making full use of the G20 summit in Osaka to bask in meetings with world grandees and soak up all the international media attention he possibly can, complete with a not very challenging interview with the […]

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RUSSIALINK TRANSCRIPT: “Vladimir Putin’s news conference; Following the G20 summit, the President of Russia answered journalists’ questions.” – KremlinRu

File Photo of Country Flags Outside 2017 G20 Meeting in Hamburg, adapted from image at state.gov

(Kremlin.ru – June 29, 2019 – en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/60857) President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon. Let us begin. Go ahead, please. Question: Good afternoon, Mr President. We would like to ask, since I am the first to ask a question, about your personal results of the summit. There was a lot of scepticism prior to it, coming both from other leaders […]

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RUSSIALINK TRANSCRIPT: “[Putin] Interview with The Financial Times” – KremlinRu

Vladimir Putin File Photo, Cropped Screenshot from Video at kremlin.ru

(Kremlin.ru – June 27, 2019 – en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/60836) On the eve of the G20 summit, Vladimir Putin spoke with The Financial Times Editor Lionel Barber and Moscow Bureau Chief Henry Foy. Lionel Barber: Mr President, you head for Osaka shortly as the senior statesman at the G20. Nobody has been to so many international meetings of this grouping and the G7 […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Russians Are Losing Interest in Foreign Policy, Poll Says” – Moscow Times

Satellite

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – June 21, 2019) Less than half of Russians pay attention to foreign policy issues, according to a new poll by the state-run Foundation of Public Opinion (FOM) pollster. Polling in recent years has suggested Russians are becoming less focused on endeavors abroad as the economy stagnates and living standards fall. In the FOM poll published […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin touts Russia as a great power. But he’s made it a weak one.” – Washington Post/ Timothy Frye

File Photo of Vladimir Putin at Podium with United Russia Logo, Gesturing

“… Moscow is playing an assertive role [globally] … despite … weakness. … If anyone has made Russia’s hand weak, it’s [Putin, in power for two decades with a] … failure to create a more dynamic economy …. Thanks to high energy prices and fiscal caution … [there are] large reserve funds, but the economy has stagnated …. in 2012, […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Putin’s visit to Rome, meeting with Pope Francis being prepared – Peskov” – Interfax

View of St. Peter's Basilica at Vatican with River and Bridge in Foreground, adapted from image at cia.gov

MOSCOW. June 6 (Interfax) – Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has confirmed preparations for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Rome and the Vatican, where a meeting with Pope Francis is pending. “It is true that Putin’s trip and contacts in Rome are being prepared. He is due to have an audience with the pontiff as part of the visit. Technicalities […]

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RUSSIALINK TRANSCRIPT: “[Putin] Meeting with heads of international news agencies” – KremlinRu

Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

(Kremlin.ru – June 6, 2019) Vladimir Putin met with heads of the world’s leading news agencies. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 2019 St Petersburg International Economic Forum for the sixth time. The conversation with Vladimir Putin involved representatives of news agencies from Great Britain, Germany, Iran, Spain, Italy, China, the United States, France, and Japan; Russia […]

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Public Opinion Paradoxes? Russians Are Increasingly Dubious About the Costs of Putin’s Foreign Policies

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

(PONARS Eurasia – Harley Balzer – May 20, 2019) Harley Balzer is Professor Emeritus of Government and International Affairs, and founding Director, Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies, at Georgetown University. (PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) Recent survey and focus group data indicate that Russians increasingly are questioning whether some of President Vladimir Putin’s policies are worth the price […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “It’s Time to Rethink Russia’s Foreign Policy Strategy” – Carnegie Moscow/ Dmitri Trenin

Mercator Projection Satellite Image of Earth

“A broad public discussion on Moscow’s foreign policy goals and objectives is long overdue. International issues are affecting the interests of Russian society as a whole more and more, making it necessary for private citizens to take a greater interest in their country’s conduct abroad, especially in the single continental space that is Greater Eurasia.” “It has been just over […]

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Experts Discuss Threats Shaping Russia’s Alliances

Moscow State University file photo

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Nini Arshakuni and Daniel Shapiro – April 8, 2019 – russiamatters.org/blog/experts-discuss-threats-shaping-russias-alliances) The authors are graduate student associates at Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and Russia Matters. What kind of alliances and partnerships is Russia building and what motivates great-power behavior? At a recent conference organized by the Moscow State Institute of International […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Putin reaffirms Russia’s plans to ratify Paris Agreement on climate change” – Interfax

File Photo of Smokestacking Spewing Cloud of Discharge

ST. PETERSBURG. April 9 (Interfax) – Russia is committed to ratifying the Paris Agreement on climate change after comprehensively analyzing it, but Russia’s role in maintaining environmental security in the Arctic should not be overestimated, President Vladimir Putin said. Speaking at the International Arctic Forum in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, Putin corrected the mediator, who said that Russia is the […]

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Russia Makes Progress When It Looks Outward and Suffers When It Turns in on Itself, Inozemtsev Says

Mercator Projection Satellite Image of Earth

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, April 5, 2019) Yezhednevny zhurnal offers another chapter from Vladislav Inozemtsev’s new book, An Uncontemporary Country, a chapter that demonstrates that whenever Russia has turned outward and involved itself with the rest of the world, it has made progress but that when it has turned in on itself, it has not only […]

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7 Pillars of Putin’s World: New Book Shows U.S. Policymakers Russia as It Is

File Photo of Vladimir Putin at Podium with United Russia Logo, Gesturing

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Nikolas K. Gvosdev – April 4, 2019 – russiamatters.org/analysis/7-pillars-putins-world-new-book-shows-us-policymakers-russia-it) Nikolas K. Gvosdev is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and at the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs.   “Putin’s World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest” By Angela Stent Twelve, February 2019 American officials who profess to have […]

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How Big a Threat Is Russia? RM Staff interview with Graham Allison

Satellite Image of Earth in Style of Mercator Map, adapted from image at nasa.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – February 26, 2019 – russiamatters.org/blog/how-big-threat-russia) The Munich Security Conference is the largest annual gathering of political and security leaders from government, think tanks and academia worldwide. This month more than 600 key decision makers and policy shapers from across the globe gathered in Germany to discuss and debate pressing security issues. Unsurprisingly, Russia has often […]

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