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...
Legal traps: as «Fides» puts the Hungarian opposition out of play
Against the backdrop of rhetoric about “protecting sovereignty,” Hungary's ruling Fidesz party is systematically shifting the political struggle from the realm of ideology to the realm of law. A new wave of bills and institutional changes is creating legal barriers that not only complicate the work of opposition parties and...
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...
Spain – a new wave of far-right revival
There is a steady trend in Europe toward the growing popularity of far-right parties and movements. This also applies to the political landscape in Spain, where the nationalist-conservative and right-wing radical party Vox, founded in 2013, is gaining popularity. Recent polls show that support for Vox is growing steadily. As...
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...
Gunvor and the Kremlin: How the «reboot» scheme hides the Russian trail
The news that Torbjörn Törnqvist, the long-standing principal shareholder of oil and gas company Gunvor, is selling 100% of his stake and stepping down from all positions is, in fact, yet another scheme to take the company into the shadows and an attempt to hide the real beneficiaries behind a...
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...
Accident at Baikonur and Russian space «prospects»
The night launch of the Soyuz-MS-28 carrier rocket from Baikonur on the night of November 28 ended with the successful arrival of three crew members at the ISS but turned into an unexpected crisis for the Russian space industry. During the launch, elements of the launch complex at pad 31/6...
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...
Dangerous cargo from Moscow: the Lithuanian episode of the hidden war
The summer of 2024 turned out to be “eventful.” A series of fires and explosions in parcels at DHL and DPD freight hubs in Europe—the UK, Germany, and Poland—led to large-scale counterterrorism investigations and raised the question in the West of whether this was part of an organized campaign controlled...