SVR embraces disinformation as official policy The Kremlin’s disinformation machinery is nothing new in Europe’s political landscape. For years, Russia has relied on state outlets and covert networks to spread fabricated narratives, deny responsibility, and discredit democratic processes. What is new, however, is the role of Russia’s foreign intelligence service,…

The stockpiling of Kalashnikovs without serial numbers as strategic reserves poses a security challenge for the EU and NATO. Russian state-owned arms factories are increasingly supplying unmarked modern weapons to Italy’s mafia groups, including the Calabrian ’Ndrangheta, the Neapolitan Camorra, and the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, according to investigative reporting. These…

As economic growth stalls and revenues decline, Moscow is no longer able to pump up the fiscal stimulus that fueled earlier wartime expansion, instead embracing austerity measures that threaten to further strangle the civilian economy.  While the budget figures are not final — the fiscal plan requires parliamentary approval — Moscow’s…

Western sanctions have proved highly effective in dismantling Russia’s economic resilience limiting access to Western technology and financial markets, constraining output and creating a “demand outstripping supply” scenario that fuels inflation. This cycle breeds rising deficits, inflation, and stagnation. Ending the Ukraine conflict could help break this cycle, but Putin’s…

here is no peace in France, where the political crisis seems endless and deepening. Not even a month after being chosen to lead the government, Sebastian Lecornu ends up in the eye of the storm for qualifications he never obtained. The loyalist of French President Emmanuel Macron lied about the…