The traditional and high-intensity war that has occurred in Ukraine since Russia decided to invade raises a key issue: did post-soviet Russian strategic thought really prepare Russia for waging this war?

Eurasia

The Eurasia research axis whithin Ifri's Russia / Eurasia Center analyses the evolutions of New Independent States (Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaïdjan, Kazakhstan, Ouzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tadjikistan and Kirghizistan) and of their relations with the Russian Federation.
Director of Ifri's Russia / Eurasia Center
...Research Fellow, Russia / Eurasia Center
...Project Officer, Russia / Eurasia Center
Associate Research Fellow, Russia / Eurasia Center
...Associate Research Fellow, Russia / Eurasia Center
...Associate Research Fellow, Russia / Eurasia Center
...When Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin announced a “no limits friendship” at their February 2022 summit, the message was that Beijing and Moscow had reached a new peak in relations.
While Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine has resulted in a decoupling with the West on a scale not seen since the worst years of the Cold War, Russia has not been isolated from the non-Western world and has even reinvested its diplomatic energy toward the Global South.
From the reestablishment of an Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan by the Taliban to the war in Ukraine, not forgetting climate change, the most serious international crises, whether circumstantial or systemic, are having a severe impact on connectivity in Central Asia with regard to transport,...
The blame for committing the blunder of starting the war with Ukraine is deservedly placed on President Vladimir Putin, but a single-explanation interpretation of the unfolding disaster is unsatisfactory.
The two years preceding the Russian invasion of Ukraine suggested that Russia had adopted a measured policy toward the post-Soviet space. Faced with social protests in Belarus, a coup in Kyrgyzstan, the victory of pro-European president Maia Sandu in Moldova, the second war in Nagorno-Karabakh...
Ukrainian institutions have overall withstood the shock of the war: the central government and local authorities benefit from a real legitimacy and a solid ability to govern.
On February 24, 2022, eight years after deploying an integrated military and non-military indirect strategy against Kiev, Vladimir Putin decided to initiate an open war against Ukraine.
The election of Volodymyr Zelensky as president of Ukraine created very high expectations in the society.
A full-blown war erupted in the South Caucasus last Sunday, September 27, and as the two belligerents — Armenia and Azerbaijan — mobilize their forces under martial law, no international authority is trying in earnest to stop the hostilities. The conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh...
France-Ukraine Forum 2023 By invitation only
One year after the beginning of the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine, the second France-Ukraine Forum will host political officials, experts, academics, and association members from both countries to discuss three main issues: military aspects and scenarios for ending the war;...
Russian War against Ukraine: State of Affairs by Igor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Visioconférence
More than a month after the start of the Russian offensive against Ukraine, Igor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, will speak on the current military situation and the prospects for...
Security Situation in and Around Ukraine. Online Briefing by Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba Closed-Door Seminar
Since 2014, Ukraine's territorial integrity and security have been challenged by Russia's annexation of Crimea and by the conflict in Donbas. Military maneuvers in spring and October 2021 have raised the threat of open armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Kyiv, on the other hand,...
Russia’s thwarted ambitions By personal and non-transferable invitation
This event is dedicated to the Russia/NIS Centre Corporate supports. By personal invitation only.
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Russia’s power: instruments and dilemmas By personal and non-transferable invitation
This event is dedicated to the Russia/NIS Centre Corporate supports. By personal invitation only.
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Russia: challenges of the next presidential term 2018-2024 By personal and non-transferable invitation
This event is dedicated to the Russia/NIS Centre Corporate supports. By personal invitation only.
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International Seminar - Russia 2016: Return of Great Power Strategy? By personal and non-transferable invitation
This event is dedicated to the Russia/NIS Centre Corporate supports. By personal invitation only.
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European Union's Eastern Partnership and Eurasian Union: Collision or Collusion of Visions and Interests? A closed seminar by personal invitation
In May 2015 will be held in Riga the forth summit of the Eastern Partnership, an initiative of the European Union launched in 2009 for six post-Soviet States (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine). The current situation is clearly marked by the Ukrainian crisis and an...
Which international positioning for Russia after Crimea? Les Mensuelles Ifri/Entreprises
A luncheon debate with Thomas GOMART, Vice President for Strategic Development, Ifri.
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What are Georgia's Foreign Policy Options?
Conference-debate with Grigol Vashadze, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia
Chairman: Thomas Gomart
Addressing the situation in Afghanistan remains on top of the agenda for Central Asia, said Michael Levystone, an associate research fellow at the Institut Français des Relations Internationale (IFRI) Russia/Eurasia Center, in an exclusive interview with The Astana Times. The expert, who...
The Kremlin wanted Russia's invasion of Ukraine to yield a lightning victory, but 12 months on the war is dragging into a stalemate with neither side achieving military breakthrough nor prepared to agree a settlement based on the status quo.
As elections approach Sunday, the far-right candidate is linked to the Russian president by a web of financial ties and a history of support that has hardly dimmed despite the war in Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the port city of Mariupol, located on the Sea of Azov, has been of great strategic interest to Moscow. Vladimir Putin has made it a symbolic objective.
Renault had for months been plotting to export a newfangled version of the Lada to the reste of the world. although realising that ambition remained some way off, it would have capped the revival of a brand arguably more synonymous with the Soviet Union than any other and which Renault first...
Officials in Beijing believe it can take advantage of a distracted US and weakened Russia. The war in Ukraine is far from over, but a consensus is forming in Chinese policy circles that one country stands to emerge victorious from the turmoil: China.
...In January 2022 Kazakhstan underwent its most serious political crisis since its independence, proclaimed on December 16, 1991. The increase in the price of fuel has set ablaze the west of the country in the grip of socio-economic marginalization, then the southern regions, traditionally more...
Data on the concentration of Russian troops was solid; the diplomatic offensive executed by Moscow was deliberately disagreeable; yet, many experts (myself including) refused to accept the proposition on the coming war as “inevitable”.
Western powers appear unable to thwart Putin’s strategy to reassert Russian influence
Since 2014, Ukraine's territorial integrity and security have been challenged by Russia's annexation of Crimea and by the conflict in Donbas. Military maneuvers in spring and October 2021 have raised the threat of open armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Kyiv, on the other hand,...