In December 2025, the British government put an end to a story that began in the spring of 2022. British Prime Minister Keit Starmer announced that Abramovich had been given 90 days to voluntarily transfer £2.5 billion from the sale of Chelsea to humanitarian aid for Ukraine, after which the...
Core 5 Without Europe: Implications of the US Strategic Pivot
The idea of forming a new geopolitical format, tentatively called Core 5, at first glance appears to be a pragmatic response by the US to the changing world order. This bloc is expected to consist of five key powers: the US, China, Russia, India, and Japan. However, upon closer examination,...
Russia’s information war and Britain’s new anti-Russian sanctions
The British government's decision to impose sanctions on a number of Russian entities accused by London of participating in information warfare signals a new level of Western response to hybrid threats. In particular, restrictions were imposed on the Russian Telegram channel Rybar and its co-owner Mikhail Zvinchuk, the Foundation for...
The new battle for the Atlantic: why Britain needs an “Atlantic bastion”
On December 8, 2025, the UK Ministry of Defense officially unveiled its new submarine defense program, Atlantic Bastion. The program is a direct response to increased Russian submarine and espionage activity. According to the statement, the project aims to “make Britain more secure from Russian submarine threats in the North...
How Putin’s European “friends” promote Russia’s interests in the EU
Promoting its interests has always been one of the Kremlin's foreign policy priorities. One way of achieving this goal has been to win over former European politicians and influential experts. As a rule, they act as a link and a form of “soft power” that helps promote Moscow's interests in...
The European Union recognizes Russia as a country with a high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing
After imposing 19 rounds of sanctions, the European Commission is preparing to include the Russian Federation in the list of countries with a high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing. This status will mean that all financial transactions related to Russia will be subject to enhanced monitoring procedures: banks...
Bulgaria’s crisis of power, budget and corruption. What next?
At the end of 2025, Bulgaria is experiencing one of the biggest political crises in recent years. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Sofia and other cities to protest against the draft state budget for 2026, which was drawn up in euros for the first time...
The hidden cost of fiscal reform: what awaits Britain
At the end of November 2025, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves presented a budget that is positioned as an attempt to combine “restoring public finances” with “investing in social justice.” The budget is seen as one of the most ambitious and controversial documents of recent times, combining a...
Exposed infrastructure for laundering Russian money from London to the Kremlin
The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) conducted a large-scale operation called “Destabilisation”, which exposed money laundering schemes and transnational infrastructures linking street crime in the UK to global cryptocurrency networks working for Russian interests. How can organized crime become a link between sanctioned Russian elites and British street crime? At...
The Western Balkans: a focus of instability on the way to the European Union
For a long time, the states of the Western Balkans – Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are considered potential members of the European Union, provided that the criteria appropriate for accession are met. Especially since such Balkan states as Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and Croatia...