Russia’s ethnic minorities are notoriously overrepresented in the death toll of Russia’s war in Ukraine. However, the fact that Arctic Indigenous peoples of Russia’s North are among the hardest hit is often overlooked. The disproportionate fatalities have put the very existence of many Indigenous communities in the Russian Arctic at risk. As Russia’s military leadership… Read More

Buryatia is a sparsely populated region in the Far East of Russia, sharing its southern border with Mongolia. Normally away from the spotlight, Buryatia received vast media attention in the wake of the 24 February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, when military units based in Buryatia played a significant role in the assault on Ukraine’s… Read More

‘Each patch of these 236 hectares has heirs to them in the village; their ancestors owned these lands even before the Soviet collectivization of 1920’, a man from the Republic of Dagestan says in a video recorded outside a local mosque on a snowy February day. Read More

Energy has played a central role in shaping the political dynamics of the South Caucasus, significantly shaping its geopolitical terrain. Historically, Azerbaijan’s hydrocarbon reserves and the region’s potential as a transit corridor for energy resources have attracted international interest, independent of the varied political models pursued by regional states. But there is far more to… Read More

The recent failure of Russia’s peacekeeping mission in the South Caucasus underscores the necessity of a clear and robust mandate backed by coalition guarantees and aligned with international principles. Any agreements lacking firm guarantees risk the fate that befell the small Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which, alongside the collapse of Russia’s peacekeeping effort, vanished from… Read More

Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine forced millions of people to flee and become refugees. Ukraine’s economy and demographics were badly hit by this outflow. The government in Kyiv is desperate to bring its people back and has launched a new ministry to work with Ukrainians abroad. But refugees themselves are increasingly integrated in their host… Read More