Siberia Pays for Moscow’s War: The Imperial Centre Shifts the Cost Onto the Regions
Russia’s war against Ukraine is increasingly damaging not only the front lines but also the regions Moscow uses as the empire’s human and resource reserve. Buryatia is one of the […]
Moscow Celebrates the Languages of Its Nations While Reinforcing the Russian-Language Imperial Vertical
On 8 September 2026, Russia marked its so-called Day of the Languages of the Nations of the Russian Federation for the first time. The Kremlin spoke of nearly 200 peoples, […]
Agents of Decolonisation? The Chechen and Circassian Diasporas in Europe since 2022
As Russia continues its aggressive foreign policy and authoritarianism deepens, questions about the sustainability of the Kremlin’s system have begun to circulate, especially since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in […]
Erzya, Tatarstan, Perm: Ukraine Strikes Imperial Infrastructure on the Lands of Nations Subjugated by Moscow
Ukraine is increasingly striking Russia’s economic infrastructure deep behind the front line. On 7 September, Ukrainian forces reportedly hit oil refineries in Ryazan Oblast, Perm Krai and Tatarstan, alongside other […]
Moscow is looking for a rear outside Russia: the Kremlin is trying to draw Central Asia into its military economy
With Russian infrastructure being pummelled by Ukrainian drones, the Kremlin is hoping to sustain its war effort in Ukraine by strengthening defence cooperation with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. It is uncertain, […]
Central Asia Is Moving Away from Moscow: The Imperial Centre Is Losing Its Periphery
For decades, Moscow treated Central Asia as its sphere of influence. But that model is increasingly breaking down. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are pursuing multi-vector foreign policies, expanding […]
When the Empire Weakens: Four Steps Toward a Post-Russian Space
The Russian Empire depends on more than its army and repression. It needs oil, money, transport, control over the periphery — and the belief that nothing can function without Moscow. […]
My enemy’s enemy
How Ukrainians and Russia’s ethnic minority groups are making common cause in opposing Russian imperialism
Russia Begins to Feel the Cost of War: Fuel Shortages Hit the Imperial Centre
Russia, one of the world’s major oil powers, is ending August unable to fully supply its own gasoline market. Following strikes on oil refineries, production has fallen to around 80,000 […]
The Roads No Longer Lead to Moscow: How the Post-Soviet Space Is Building a New Trade Map
For decades, Moscow was the main transport hub for much of the post-Soviet space. Railways, pipelines and trade routes were built according to a simple “periphery-to-centre” model. Russia’s full-scale invasion […]
Russian Passports as an Instrument of Empire
Russia uses the passport not simply as proof of citizenship. In territories Moscow seeks to keep within its sphere of influence, it becomes an instrument of political expansion. The model […]
190 Nations on Stage — No Political Agency: How the Kremlin Turns Nations into Imperial Decorations
The Russian authorities like to present their country as a unique space of “unity among peoples.” More than 190 peoples, dozens of languages, hundreds of traditions, national costumes, festivals, concerts […]