In August, it became known that Vladimir Matveyev, an electrical engineer from the “Volgoneft-212” tanker that sank in December 2024 in the Black Sea with a cargo of fuel oil, allegedly collected arrears in wages in court from the shipowner “Kama Shipping”, which the Russians are now apparently making the...
Migration as a weapon. Russian influence on crises in Europe
In today’s world, the migration crisis has become an acute challenge due to the dramatic increase in refugees and illegal migrants, demanding comprehensive solutions from the international community. Migration can be triggered by economic factors, wars, natural disasters, and increasingly by environmental change. Traditionally, migration was seen as a humanitarian...
Global maritime agencies tied to the Russian «Shadow» fleet
Recently, the issue of staffing the Russian “shadow” tanker fleet has begun to receive some attention, but its main focus is on business directly related to the Kremlin's oil empire. At the same time, several structures that are daughters of powerful global maritime corporations are still under Russian jurisdiction, and...
Russian influence on the European energy sector and the political stability of the EU
One of the central issues on today’s civilizational agenda is energy. Humanity’s growing needs require ever more energy, and the world’s leading minds are seeking all possible reliable sources of supply to counterbalance traditional hydrocarbons and nuclear power. Yet oil and gas are in no hurry to surrender their positions,...
Exercise West-2025: spy networks and new security challenges. Geopolitical tensions on Europe’s eastern borders
The autumn of 2025 has drawn the attention of the international community to two major military events. The first was a parade in Beijing, showcasing China’s rapidly advancing military capabilities, and the second is the large-scale Zapad-2025 exercises currently taking place in Belarus with the participation of Russian armed forces....
Shadow of the drones over Europe. How war in Ukraine and Russian drones rewrite the EU priorities
Three years into Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, Europe faces an entirely new security reality. The war itself, Russia’s increasingly regular strikes on border regions of Eastern European countries, and the repeated incursions of drones into EU airspace have made defense and security the number-one priority. What used to be...
State Contracts are the fodder base of сorruption on Polish railway
Corruption schemes in the field of railway state contracts in Poland reveal systemic problems that stretch from contractor selection to the padding of contracts with “necessary” components and the exaggeration of required volumes of work. When millions of złoty appear on tender papers, Poland’s “railway economy” often looks less like...
Signa’s corruption empire: European business on the hook of russian capital
It has become almost axiomatic: behind every major corruption scandal in Europe, one inevitably finds a Russian trail. Moscow skillfully identifies unscrupulous players, offers them the chance to enrich themselves, and gradually ensnares them in a web of tainted money—erasing whatever moral compass they once had. In the process, funds...
Obstacles on Montenegro’s path to the EU
Russia and corruption remain the main obstacles to Montenegro’s accession to the European Union. Although Russia is gradually losing its influence in the Western Balkans, the Kremlin has no intention of simply accepting this. Moscow is making every effort to continue interfering in the internal affairs of countries in the...
Hungary acts countrary to the EU on the issue of russian oil
Hungary continues to receive Russian crude oil through the southern branch of the Druzhba (“Friendship”) pipeline – an exemption allowed by the EU due to the particular dependence of Budapest and Bratislava on supplies of Russian “black gold.” The Druzhba pipeline runs from Russia through Belarus and Ukraine, delivering oil...