The exposure of a spy network operating from the building of the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the European Union in Brussels was one of the most serious counterintelligence operations in recent years and has once again raised the issue of the stability and security of EU institutions. The joint...
The rise of the AfD: causes, rhetoric, and the Russian connection
The rise in popularity of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party is no longer a phenomenon but has become one of the serious challenges for German and European politics. While in the mid-2010s the AfD was perceived as a protest group of Eurosceptics, today it is confidently competing with traditional...
Fear as a strategy: what lies behind Orbán’s election rhetoric
In early January 2026, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán made one of the harshest and most candid pre-election statements of his entire time in power. Addressing Hungarian voters via social media and controlled media outlets with a call to support his Fidesz party in the elections, Orbán stated that the...
US operation in Venezuela: political motives, international reaction, and risks
On the night of January 3, the US conducted an unprecedented military operation on Venezuelan territory, as a result of which American special forces captured the country's incumbent president, Nicolás Maduro, and took him to the US, where he is to stand trial on charges of narco-terrorism and participation in...
The NHS crisis: between reforms and reality
The maternity services of the UK's National Health Service (NHS) are currently experiencing one of their most challenging periods. What were recently perceived as isolated incidents of concern are now increasingly recognized as a systemic crisis affecting the safety of mothers and newborns across the country. Staff shortages, deteriorating conditions...
Sex scandal in Spain: lessons for Europe
In December 2025, Spain was rocked by an unprecedented political scandal involving not only corruption, but also sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour by high-ranking members of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), which traditionally considers itself one of the main defenders of gender equality in the country. In the summer,...
A crisis of confidence and growing instability: the UK on the brink of 2026
The year 2025 will go down in British history as another period of deepening socio-political division and slowing economic growth. The results of the outgoing year show that Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government has faced extremely low levels of trust, while economic indicators have faced difficult challenges that create a...
The Kremlin’s “Shadow Fleet”: from sanctions to espionage
With the outbreak of a full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022, the world, and Europe in particular, faced a new form of "hybrid" warfare: covert operations in international waters. Central to this strategy has been the so-called Russian "shadow fleet," which comprises over 1,000 vessels registered under shell companies and...
International Russophile movement in Russia’s hybrid influence system
In December 2025, the Council of the European Union imposed sanctions against the International Russophile Movement (IRM), adding it to the list of organisations and individuals involved in ‘hybrid threats’ from Russia and its information operations in Europe. The EU Council's decision states that, along with a number of analysts,...
Uninvestigated death and missing data: the Serbian trail in Moscow
The death of Radomir Kurtic, a representative of the Serbian state defense company Jugoimport-SDPR, who died in Moscow on November 17, 2025, remained virtually unnoticed by the international community until mid-December, when it was reported by the Serbian media. The Military Security Service and the Information and Security Agency (BIA)...