Russia in Global Affairs

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RSCI Scopus

No. 1

2026 January/March

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Contents

Issue Information

Correcting Mistakes

Fyodor A. Lukyanov

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-1-5-6

The Trodden Paths

Responsibility to Protect: Great Powers in a Polycentric World

Geoffrey Roberts

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-1-8-14

The U.S. Pursuit of NATO Expansion to Russia’s Borders: Motivation and Timing

Dylan Payne Royce

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-1-15-41

Whither Is the West Drifting?

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-1-42-46

The Strike on Iran and the NPT Regime: Live Weapons and Political Tricks

Sergey B. Batsanov, Sofya S. Shestakova

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-1-47-58

The Signaling Function of Nuclear Deterrence and Some Non-Obvious Historical Parallels

Alexei A. Krivopalov

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-1-59-72

Digital War and Peace

The Digital War Is the New Reality

Yuri N. Baluyevsky, Ruslan N. Pukhov

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-1-74-80

Digital Securitization: How Online Platforms Change the Security Landscape

Yury Yu. Kolotaev

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-1-81-97

Deconstructing Propaganda: From Akkadian Kings to the Digital Age

Matthew Alford, Uliana Z. Artamonova

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-1-98-112

Eurasian Pojected Reality

Corridors of Opportunities and Risks

Dmitry V. Yefremenko, Sergei A. Karaganov, Ilya S. Kozylov

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-1-114-127

Eurasia’s Infrastructure— An Indian Perspective

Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-1-128-133

The International North–South Transport Corridor in Russian National Security Optics

Prokhor Yu. Tebin

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-1-134-148

Transport Corridors as a Geopolitical Instrument

Marina V. Beloglazova

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-1-149-152

Changing the Optics

The Role of Social Conservatism in the Postliberal Order

Dušan Proroković

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-1-154-167

Eurocentrism and Orientophobia: Have We Stopped Fearing ‘Asiaticism’?

Alexander А. Girinsky

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-1-168-178

Glocalization

The Middle East, Turkish-Style: How Ankara Exploits Post-Assad Syria

Yegor G. Chobanyan

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-1-180-199

Power and Market Commerce in the DPRK: From Prohibition to Recognition

Andrei N. Lankov

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-1-200-216

Articles

Correcting Mistakes

American politics, in 2026, are a matter of trying to correct the mistakes that were made during the ‘end of history.’ Such mistakes are many; the U.S. set the global agenda and is principally responsible for the current situation. But unless another black swan throws everything into disarray, the Americans will take lessons from all this that are applicable to them.

Fyodor A. Lukyanov

Responsibility to Protect: Great Powers in a Polycentric World

Trump has, perhaps, opened the door to a conversation among the great powers about how they could and should collectively police the new, polycentric world order for general as well as mutual benefit. Without the wholehearted participation of the United States, the new, multipolar world will be inherently unstable.

Geoffrey Roberts

The U.S. Pursuit of NATO Expansion to Russia’s Borders: Motivation and Timing

While NATO’s expansion to Central Europe might have had some realpolitik merit, and it did limited damage to Russian interests and thus to international stability, NATO’s expansion to the Baltics, Ukraine, and Georgia was different, in that it did serious harm to Russia’s security and vital identitarian interests.

Dylan Payne Royce

Whither Is the West Drifting?

The West may lose its power to rule by diktat. Its institutions, culture, and moral fashions may lose their charm. But we will continue to live in a profoundly modern and globalized world of Western origin.

The Strike on Iran and the NPT Regime: Live Weapons and Political Tricks

Iran now faces difficult choices regarding its core interests. While Iran is under pressure to change its nuclear policy, the direction of that change is unclear.

Sergey B. Batsanov, Sofya S. Shestakova

The Signaling Function of Nuclear Deterrence and Some Non-Obvious Historical Parallels

Understanding the irreversibility of mobilization, established by military theory in the 1920s, could be useful for assessing the risks of nuclear escalation now that strategic deterrence is regaining importance. Mobilization races can be considered a pre-nuclear form of escalation dominance. Unlike nuclear crises, which, fortunately, have never led to Armageddon, the mobilization crisis of 1914 eventually escalated into war.

Alexei A. Krivopalov

The Digital War Is the New Reality

Drones really are revolutionizing modern warfare. They impede force concentration, but also make tactical maneuvering unnecessary for striking the enemy. These fundamental changes in tactics and operational art should lead to a reconsideration of how wars are fought and force structures are organized.

Yuri N. Baluyevsky, Ruslan N. Pukhov

Digital Securitization: How Online Platforms Change the Security Landscape

Online platforms’ infrastructural, moderating, and political-economic power gives them influence over representation and perception of international life. Increased moderation by platforms leads to increased state pressure, which in turn increases platforms’ political significance.

Yury Yu. Kolotaev

Deconstructing Propaganda: From Akkadian Kings to the Digital Age

‘Propaganda’ is therefore omnipresent across all sides of every form of discourse, so much so that its meaning can easily become flattened and diffuse.

Matthew Alford, Uliana Z. Artamonova

Corridors of Opportunities and Risks

Russia’s new elites, and the whole country, should feel engaged in the project of building Greater Eurasia, with a Siberian Russia at its heart. Historically, great projects have been needed for Russia to make breakthroughs. The construction of the transport network for a Siberian Russia, and for Greater Eurasia, should become such a project.

Dmitry V. Yefremenko, Sergei A. Karaganov, Ilya S. Kozylov

Eurasia’s Infrastructure— An Indian Perspective

India’s perspective on Eurasian connectivity projects reflects a sophisticated understanding of contemporary geopolitical realities, Eurasia’s evolving balance of power, and pragmatic economic calculations. Russia’s role in Indian calculations remains particularly significant.

Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria

The International North–South Transport Corridor in Russian National Security Optics

The establishment of alternative routes, not vulnerable to NATO’s dominance, is critical for Russia. If Russia’s relations with the West improve, the project will remain important for enhancing Russia’s potential as a transit state in a normalized political environment. It will also serve as a safeguard against efforts to stifle the Russian economy by blocking its Black and Baltic Sea routes in the case of escalating tensions with the West. Moreover, Russia will benefit from a stimulus to develop its eastern territories and to deepen integration with Eurasia.

Prokhor Yu. Tebin

Transport Corridors as a Geopolitical Instrument

Russia’s own trade with China, Central Asia, and the Middle East creates huge parallel cargo flows in both directions. These provide a competitive advantage to whatever route they take.

Marina V. Beloglazova

The Role of Social Conservatism in the Postliberal Order

The postliberal order will be built within a new, multipolar balance of power. The principles and ideological basis of the postliberal order remain undetermined. How will the new principles be legitimized? Conservatism is emerging as an alternative for regulating political and social relations.

Dušan Proroković

Eurocentrism and Orientophobia: Have We Stopped Fearing ‘Asiaticism’?

Geopolitical wars can be won, but their duration, and the fruits of victory, always depend on culture and the level of national self-consciousness. Strategic turns in foreign policy and civilizational self-determination must be accompanied by cultural work.

Alexander А. Girinsky

The Middle East, Turkish-Style: How Ankara Exploits Post-Assad Syria

Turkiye’s actions in Syria can be best understood through the prism of neo-Ottomanism—not as a mere revivalist ideology, but as a practical framework guiding Ankara’s regional strategy.

Yegor G. Chobanyan

Power and Market Commerce in the DPRK: From Prohibition to Recognition

Yet the North Korean ruling elite remains wary and hostile towards private trade. Trade in the conventional sense has been and still is seen, throughout most of the DPRK’s history, as a forced emergency measure. Such an approach is economically detrimental, but can hardly be overcome in the foreseeable future.

Andrei N. Lankov