Politics
A close look at the inner workings of authoritarian power in Russia and beyond, and the forces that could one day transform it: how the Kremlin holds and wields power, why the democratic opposition endures, and what a genuine political renewal would take
Political Crisis in Belarus
In this September 2020 analysis, Free Russia Foundation's Fellow Alexander Morozov chronicles the unraveling of the political crisis in Belarus unleashed by Lukashenka's illegal efforts to hold on…
The Company You Keep: Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Influence Operations in Africa
Yevgeny Prigozhin, or "Putin's chef," as he's called in the press, is notorious for two things: dispatching Russian mercenaries into war zones and running a troll farm accused…
The Kremlin’s Influence Quarterly #2
The second issue of The Kremlin’s Influence Quarterly continues investigating the malign influence of Putin’s Russia in the areas of the economy, media, religion, civil society, politics, and…
The (Geo-)Political Aspects of Austrian−Russian Business Relations, Part II
The first part of this article is available here.This article is a part of the first issue of the Kremlin’s Influence Quarterly.You can also download this piece as a PDF.…
Russian Gas and the Financing of Separatism in Moldova
This article is a part of the first issue of the Kremlin’s Influence Quarterly.You can also download this piece as a PDF. Introduction Over the last 200 years, the main…
Russian Lawfare and other malign influence operations in Spain
This article discusses the main conditions of Russian-Spanish political and economic relations, their consequences and side effects.
AUTHORITARIAN RESPONSE TO THE PANDEMIC
The report focuses on 5 countries situated in Eurasia: China, Russia, Belarus, Iran, and Hungary, all of which are led by authoritarian leaders that possess robust state machinery for population control. On these 5 country cases, the report investigates whether there were any features in their response to the pandemic specific for autocratic regimes and what are the outcomes of their approaches.
The (Geo-)Political Aspects of Austrian−Russian Business Relations, Part I
As COVID-19 spread from China to the rest of the world and became a pandemic, Moscow used the disaster to intensify its political war against the West
Russian Malign Influence Operations in Coronavirus‑hit Italy
As COVID-19 spread from China to the rest of the world and became a pandemic, Moscow used the disaster to intensify its political war against the West
The Kremlin’s Influence Quarterly #1
The first issue of Kremlin Influence Quarterly looks at malign influence operations of Vladimir Putin’s Russia in the areas of diplomacy, law, economy, politics, media and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.