After the introduction of the EU embargo and the G7 “price ceiling” mechanism on Russian oil exports, the international community expected a rapid reduction in foreign exchange revenues to the Russian budget, but Moscow managed to adapt to the new conditions. One of the main tools for this was the...
EU recovery fund becomes target for fraudsters
The COVID-19 pandemic has become the European Union's largest socioeconomic crisis and the impetus for the creation of a financial recovery instrument. In 2020, the EU launched the NextGenerationEU program, a massive economic aid package centered on the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The facility's total budget was approximately €577...
Bulgaria between Moscow and Brussels on the eve of new elections
The snap parliamentary elections scheduled for April 19 this year will be the eighth in Bulgaria in the past 5 years. All previous attempts to form a stable and viable coalition have failed for several years in a row, and governments have changed almost every year, due to the difficult...
Poland shows Europe how to prepare for war
A decade ago, Poland was perceived in the West as an important, but still “junior partner” of other NATO states. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine fundamentally changed everything and forced most countries to rethink their defense doctrines and approaches, and Poland was no exception. It not only realistically assessed the...
Europe is preparing for a major war, myth or new reality
For decades after the end of the Cold War, European states assumed that large-scale military operations on the continent were virtually impossible. Military budgets were cut, armies were reduced, and defence strategies increasingly focused on participation in peacekeeping operations and the fight against terrorism. However, the war in Ukraine has...
Why Switzerland has become a haven for sanctioned capital
The Swiss banking system has been considered a benchmark for stability, reliability and the highest standards of confidentiality for decades. The combination of these factors has made the country one of the centers of international private banking. However, in recent years, Swiss banks have increasingly found themselves at the center...
How Russia uses deepfake videos and bot farms for information influence in Europe
The information space of Europe has become another battlefield, where, in addition to traditional propaganda, artificial intelligence technologies have begun to be used, which help manipulate information flows and present them in a way that is beneficial to the Russian Federation. In Russia, these technologies have been mastered at a...
Slovakia becomes second Hungarian outpost against Brussels
The return of Robert Fico to the post of Prime Minister in 2023 has launched the process of "orbanization" of Slovakia. Bratislava is increasingly copying the Hungarian model of governance in all key areas of the state. This course involves not only the dismantling of anti-corruption structures, the usurpation of...
How Central Asia became a main hub for evading Russian sanctions
Since the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions in 2022, the countries of Central Asia (CA) and the CIS have become a center of “gray” imports to Russia and the main channel for circumventing sanctions. Parallel imports through Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Georgia have shown impressive growth rates over the past few years....
Science in exile: American scientists leave the US and what Europe gains in return
When Donald Trump began his second presidential term in early 2025, few observers predicted that this era would be a turning point for American science. However, over the past year, the US scientific community has become an unwitting participant in processes far from scientific. Many experts believe that grant cuts,...