The Covid-19 emergency will likely exacerbate many longstanding vulnerabilities that Russia has been facing for years: excessive dependence on energy exports, clashes with the West, demographic problems, and a constant foreign policy overreach.
Five years after the annexation of Crimea, European sanctions, and the war in Donbas, the presidents of Russia and Ukraine finally met to outline a peace agreement: the future of the region – and of the continent – hangs in the balance.
As the joke goes in Moscow, inquiring about president Vladimir Putin’s succession would be similar to asking about life after death. With the passage of time, the topic is naturally becoming increasingly relevant. Vladimir Putin’s fourth term ends in 2024 and according to the country’s constitution he is not allowed to run for re-election.
One of Russia's main domestic challenges in the near future is fragmentation. Although president Vladimir Putin's approval rating is still very high – 68% in September according to the independent Levada Centre – there are a few elements suggesting that the "invisible pact of stability" that has bonded the ruling power and the people over the last twenty years is now slightly damaged. Polls show dissimilar data.
Over the last two decades, Russia has taken on a very important geopolitical and military role globally, but the domestic outlook of the country is not particularly rosy from many points of view: a stagnant economy, a growing disaffection of the middle class especially in major cities, the emigration of a considerable number of highly educated young people, the strong aversion to pension reforms on the part of most of the population, the very poor result obtained by the government party in the last administrative elections despite the exclusion from the electoral lists of m
Russia’s foreign policy since the start of Vladimir Putin’s fourth term has been grabbing increased attention in the Western political and media circles. However, it would be hard to analyse some of Moscow’s most controversial foreign policy decisions without looking at the most acute domestic challenges facing the country today. How do these challenges interact with Russia's growing assertiveness abroad?
This analysis aims at explaining the nature of Russian foreign policy towards the Balkans taking into account the role of the European Union as an increasingly important player in this radically changed geopolitical context.
Over the last 30 years, China has made a historical leap out of backwardness towards becoming a modern, developed society.
Under the third mandate of Putin as a president, foreign policy is being exploited for domestic purposes, notably for coalescing a reluctant public opinion around the nation.
