Russia Reform Monitor: No. 1998
Despite economic troubles, Russian defense spending soars;
Savchenko in the dock
 
Despite economic troubles, Russian defense spending soars;
Savchenko in the dock
 
Ukraine is at war. Since the spring of 2014, Vladimir Putin’s Russia has waged a concerted campaign of aggression against its smaller western neighbor. Moscow’s “hybrid warfare” in support of separatist enclaves in Ukraine’s Donbass region has included the insertion of military forces to augment pro-Russian insurgents, large-scale deliveries of military matériel to these fighters, and the widespread use of propaganda. The Kremlin’s efforts have met with political and economic pressure from the West, in the form of multilateral sanctions imposed by the Obama administration and the European Union. However, the strongly negative effects of this pressure on the Russian economy have not caused the Kremlin to change course in any meaningful way.
Russia doubles down on the Kurils;
The Crimean millstone
 
In late July, the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs assembled a number of top experts to discuss a critical threat to the homeland: electromagnetic pulse (EMP).
Crackdown on illegal mining of rare earth materials;
Thailand repatriates Uighurs to China