Russia
Russia is asserting itself as an imperial power. Isolated since its invasion of Ukraine, it is seeking to strengthen its ties with non-Western countries. At home, Vladimir Putin's regime is hardening.
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Dollar-based financial sanctions have been increasing, particularly since the beginning of the century. Is this phenomenon likely to significantly alter the international role of the dollar?
There is a lot of controversy about the in which way frozen assets from Russia’s central bank should be treated, regarding both the assets themselves and the associated revenues. What consequences do you foresee for the international financial system?
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Gaza-Israel conflict: Opportunity and risk for Russia's Putin
The conflict between Hamas and Israel is both an opportunity and a risk for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been mired in pressing his invasion of Ukraine for the past 19 months.
India-Russia Relations in Troubled Times: Steady but Stagnating
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How the Russian Army Changed its Concept of War, 1993-2022
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Reflection on Russia’s Changing Image in the Post-Soviet Region
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Raising the Costs to President Putin
-by building dissonance within. Some like to remember fondly the call by Ronald Reagan for Gorbachev “to tear down this wall”. The United States “Won the Cold War” said George Bush Senior in his State of the Union Address. We need to step back and recognize with some humility that the Soviet Union fell largely of its own weight rather than as a result of external pressure. Again today Russia is economically weak. It has become an exporter of raw materials, its industrial sector is weak, and its revenues are already falling. Conditions now offer the opportunity to aggravate Russia’s economic frailty – let’s focus on that.
Russian LNG: The Long Road to Export
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Beyond the "Arab Spring": Russia's Security Interests in the Middle East
The reconfiguration of the regional system of international relations as a result of the Arab revolutions has engendered fresh challenges for Russia, related, amongst other things, to deteriorating relations with the USA and other Western powers.
China, Russia rise in CAR as Western influence shrinks
Russia and China are muscling their way into the Central African Republic as Western clout in the mineral-rich, strategically important nation seems to wane, analysts say.
100 years after independence from Moscow, Finland anchored firmly to West
HELSINKI (AFP) - A century after gaining independence from its powerful neighbour Russia, Finland continues to consolidate its ties to the West, as tensions flare between Moscow and the West. Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and an uptick in military activity in the Baltic region have tested Finnish-Russian relations, painstakingly maintained over the years with scrupulous diplomatic efforts.
From Russia, with love
Russia is trying to “sow chaos” in Europe by betting big on Marine Le Pen and France's far right.
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