AN AFRICAN ARMS SURGE
According to President Vladimir Putin, Russia earned over $15 billion in arms sales in2025, a figure approaching its pre-war military export revenue. Putin provided the statistics to a late-January meeting of the Russian government's Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation, arguing that the sales were "reliably fulfilled" despite Western sanctions, and that the resulting revenue will be used to fund the country's military modernization efforts. If accurate, the figure is a significant expansion over 2024's total, when Russia claimed $13.75 billion in revenue. Western analysts, however, estimate that the figure is exaggerated – and that Russia's true arms exports last year amounted to much less.
What isn't in doubt, however, is that the arms that Russia did sell were largely geared toward one global region: Africa. ROSOBORONEXPORT, Russia's state arms exporter, has claimed that the bulk of its revenue has been generated as a result of stepped-up Russian military cooperation with, and assistance to, assorted African nations. (Defense News, February 2, 2026)
A NEW ERA WITHOUT NEW START
On February 4th, the last remaining arms control treaty in force between Russia and the United States. Concluded back in 2010 between then-Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev, the New START treaty limited the two countries to 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers equipped to transport nuclear weapons; 1,550 nuclear warheads for these vehicles; and 800 deployed or non-deployed launchers. It further limited Russian intercontinental nuclear weapons capable of striking the U.S. Each country was granted 18 on-site inspections of the other's arsenal per year. However, it has been several years such inspections have been carried out. The treaty was in force for ten years, with a five year extension.
What comes next is unclear. Ahead of New START's expiration, President Trump argued that the U.S. and Russia will conclude a "better agreement." Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, has said that his government is prepared to adhere to the treaty's limits for an additional year, but only if the U.S. committed to the same. (Washington Post, February 4, 2026)
RUSSIA, THE SPOILSPORT
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has disclosed that his government foiled a Russian-origin cyberattack targeting the just-concluded Winter Olympics. The attack targeted websites linked to the Games, hotels in the host town of Cortina d'Ampezzo, and foreign ministry facilities, including an embassy in Washington, DC. The attacks come amid renewed focus on Russia's international isolation; Russian athletes are permitted to participate in this year's games as independent athletes, but are barred from competing under their flag and may not play their anthem. (BBC, February 5, 2026)
THE CULT OF THE "SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATION"
Before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there was evidence that he was constructing a cultural and ideological ecosystem to normalize the coming war. In the run-up to February 2022, a range of Russian public figures, including Army General Sergey Surovikin and state media propagandist Margarita Simonyan, helped to manufacture public consent for the war. Simultaneously, the Kremlin fused militarism, nationalism, and religion to provide sanction for military violence and embed Kremlin narratives into places of worship. This has been especially apparent within the Russian Orthodox Church under Patriarch Kirill, but this "Temple of War" ideology extends far beyond Moscow – with churches, mosques, Buddhist temples, and mobile chapels across Russia and occupied Ukraine now dedicated to Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine. (Meduza, February 13, 2026)