Putin's first public reaction to the crisis in Belarus ultimately proves that countries in Russia's so called 'sphere of influence' are not allowed to have an internal political agenda of their own. If protests in Belarus lead to more independence from Russia and inclination to the West they will be stopped.

As of March 24, Russia had reported 658 cases of coronavirus and one (disputed) death. But there is growing speculation in the West over whether official figures can be trusted and whether the Kremlin might be making use of the pandemic to further its own ends. Carnegie Moscow offered three comments by Russian analysts, which we republish.

This fall Dmitry Trenin publishes his new book 'Russia', an ultra-concise overview of 120 years of Russia's recent history. On the site of Carnegie he published this summary.

Many think that Russia's aggressive foreign policy was created by Vladimir Putin. In this report for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Julia Gurganus and Eugene Rumer show that there is nothing new to it. Russia’s quest for strategic depth, great power ambitions, and uneasy ties with the West have been around for centuries and will be with us for the foreseeable future.