Former US presidential aide and Council on Foreign Relations fellow Thomas Graham spoke with RBC about prospects for a peace settlement in Ukraine and how recent incidents involving Russian drones over Europe could influence it.

In an interview with Republic, historian Ilya Venyavkin discusses his new book about nine Russians whose ideas shaped the worldview that made Russia’s war possible.

In recent years, the Kremlin has increasingly tried to articulate an ideology. Russia.Post looks at the latest ideological project put forward by Sergei Karaganov, a high-level foreing policy expert who infamously argued for a Russian nuclear strike on Poland and was subsequently invited to publicly discuss geopolitics with Putin.

Two researchers from the PS Lab autonomous research group spent two months in Kursk Region when it was partially occupied by the Ukrainian army. They assisted with humanitarian aid and recorded the stories of refugees and local residents. Their observations show that, even in the face of war, people did not become more united or politically active.

An institutional transformation has taken place in Russia’s school system since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine. Teachers are supposed to transmit more and more ideology, even beyond the well-known “Conversations about Important Things.” The psychological atmosphere in schools is becoming increasingly toxic. These are the conclusions of a study by a group of education experts who, as is often the case now, chose to remain anonymous. The study has been covered by Meduza and Re:Russia.

Having conducted a large-scale study of Russia’s civil society, independent researchers from the Arendt Center argue that civic activism has not disappeared; rather, it continues to exist as a “rhizome,” a flexible and fluctuating network that, despite pressure from the state, retains the capacity to resist and to uphold human dignity.

Despite the rising budget deficit, driven higher by military spending, Russia remains capable of generating the economic resources to sustain the Kremlin’s populism, argues economist Vladislav Inozemtsev.

Robert Agee, who heads AmCham Russia, gave an interview to RBC about the prospects for commercial relations between Russia and the US moving forward. Among the most promising areas are the Arctic and rare earth metals.

Gazprom has recently reported progress in talks with China on the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline. Oil and gas market expert Mikhail Krutikhin argues that the colossal costs of building it will have to be swallowed so Gazprom can fulfill its obligations on the first Power of Siberia contract and that the project will never break even.

The situation in the Russian book market today seems like a paradox. On the one hand, the industry looks to be thriving; on the other hand, anything that falls outside the “norm” is suppressed with terrifying severity. I describe this two-sided picture in the first person – as someone who has worked in the industry for years.

Cultural historian Ilya Kukulin examines key innovations in Russian-speaking cultural institution-building that have emerged outside of Russia since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war.

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.

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.