Russian-Iranian relations long ago moved beyond the framework of ordinary good-neighborliness. Today this is a strategic partnership, cemented by the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership signed in January 2025. The preamble of this document directly records the parties’ desire to “promote the objective process of forming a new just and sustainable multipolar world order based […]

NATO’s threat to blockade the Gulf of Finland could backfire by disrupting regional trade, triggering Russian military retaliation, and escalating tensions in the Baltic Sea. Rather than weakening Moscow, such a move could expose NATO’s logistical vulnerabilities and undermine its own military readiness. “We are able within a few hours to form a force of […]

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski made an unusually confident assessment of a hypothetical war between NATO and Russia during the Yalta European Strategy conference in Kiev on September 12. “If Russia attacked us, and we took our gloves off, I think we would defeat Russia quite quickly,” Sikorski said. “We have overwhelming superiority over Russia […]

Russia’s response to the Iran war reflects a pragmatic strategy of influence without military entanglement: Moscow supports Tehran diplomatically to preserve their strategic partnership while maintaining economic ties with the Gulf states, safeguarding its own interests, and avoiding confrontation with the United States and Israel. The recent US-Iran war highlights a key feature of Moscow’s […]