Political scientist Nikolai Petrov looks at the recent reappearance of populist governors in Russia, who had all but disappeared with the emergence of Sergei Kiriyenko as the Kremlin’s chief of domestic policy in 2016 and the transition to a “technocratic” model of governance.

In an interview with RBC, Russia expert Thomas Graham talks about terms for potential ceasefire in Ukraine, including where the ceasefire line may be drawn, and gives his thoughts on the state of US-Russia relations and the limits of NATO expansion.

Journalist Sergei Shelin dissects the statistics on Russia’s losses in the war and concludes that Putin will soon need to choose between declaring another wave of mobilization or agreeing to a pause in the war.

Historian Rustam Alexander writes about what is wrong with the Russian Ministry of Defense’s recent proposal to draft men with syphilis and traces the highs and lows of Russia’s fight against the disease and STIs in general.

Sociologist and Levada Center Director Denis Volkov argues that most Russians favor starting peace negotiations and have pinned their hopes on Trump. Yet alongside a gradual increase in support for peace, Russians’ readiness to give back Ukrainian territory as part of an agreement is simultaneously decreasing.

The authors explore how a shared sense of injustice among the families of mobilized soldiers fostered solidarity and compelled them to join a protest movement demanding their loved ones’ return home.

Considering the evolution of the Russian regime and profound deterioration in Russian-American relations following the war in Ukraine, business consultant and author, Daniel Satinsky expresses skepticism regarding the comeback of American business to Russia

Robert Agee, head of AmCham Russia, recently gave in an interview to RBC in which he discusses doing business in Russia amid Western sanctions and Russian restrictions and shares his thoughts on the outlook for companies that hastily exited Russia after the start of the war.

Economist Andrei Yakovlev notes that the war created not only problems but also opportunities for Russian business, while the Kremlin’s lavish spending of fiscal reserves and excess earnings from oil exports mainly drove economic growth. However, by end-2024, these factors had run out of steam, and Russia now faces the prospect of long-term stagnation, in Yakovlev’s view.

Publisher Felix Sandalov discusses an important Russian cultural phenomenon of the 2020s, the so-called “new tamizdat” – the publication of banned books and writers by emigrant publishers outside of Russia.

Culture commentators Ksenia Basilashvili and Anatoly Golubovsky weigh in on the appointment of Anna Trapkova, the current director of the Museum of Moscow, to replace Roman Romanov at the Gulag History Museum. Before being squeezed out, Romanov had headed the museum for over a decade.

Art critic Ada Nabokova discusses how the Russian authorities have been pushing radical contemporary art out of public spaces since the early 2000s, which has culminated in the recent dissolution of the so-called “department of modern trends” at the Tretyakov Gallery.

Based on ethnographic research of small-town Russia, sociologists Yakov Lurie and Sasha Kappinen challenge the idea of the war in Ukraine as a major turning point or defining political event.

Historian Sergey Chernyshov outlines how Ivan the Terrible’s capture of Kazan in the 16th century has been viewed throughout the centuries and reflects on what Tatarstan’s recent ban on events to mark the exact date mean for Tatar identity.

Based on her research, Vlada Baranova claims that the war in Ukraine has led to the ethnicization of conflicts and confrontation between the federal authorities, perceived as “Russian,” and the indigenous population. Language and environmental activism is becoming more tinged with nationalism, as well.

Following Wagner’s mutiny in June 2023 and Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death, the Russian government sought to replace the group in international operations in the Middle East and Africa. Antonio Giustozzi and David Lewis examine the shifts in Russian policy based on a series of interviews with Wagner personnel and other informed interlocutors.

In recent years, Georgia's ruling party has been shifting the country toward Russia, putting its long-standing cooperation with Washington and Brussels at risk. Nicholas Castillo examined the reasons behind this shift.

Moscow’s return to the Middle East rests on three main pillars: arms exports; access to military bases; and use of its private military companies, such as the Wagner Group.