Letter From the Editors

A new broom sweeps clean – but an old broom knows the corners. The old adage holds true this week as one old broom (Putin) went to visit another, sort of new (and sort of old) broom, Kazakh President Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev. The choreography felt familiar, echoing Putin’s China trip just days earlier: military pomp, runway greetings, red carpets (presumably swept clean). Energy, unsurprisingly, took center stage: Russia’s Rosatom will help build Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant. Alongside deals on space cooperation, investment and student exchanges, there was also a more theatrical gesture: a literal “tiger team.” Putin brought four tigers to help restore the Amur tiger population in a reserve in Almaty Province.

Predictability has its virtues: According to analyst Eduard Poletayev, Kazakhstan’s adherence to a “multivector policy” is what makes it a reliable and consistent Central Asian partner, not only for Russia, but also for China and other players. This makes Kazakhstan a key energy and transit hub. It looks like Tokayev knows his corners.

Another new broom, Hungary’s recently elected Prime Minister Peter Magyar, is having a harder time convincing commentators and Hungarians that he can successfully pull off his biggest campaign promise: ridding the country of 16 years of his predecessor’s policies. While a sweeping victory in April seemed to make this a no-brainer, many now point out that the Fidesz party still holds many crucial posts – including the presidency – which could make Magyar’s clean sweep hard to pull off. Not to mention that Magyar himself and the Tisza leadership “consists entirely of people who made their careers in Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party or even in his government,” writes NG. What’s at stake for Budapest? Merely 30 billion euros in funding, which the EU froze over Viktor Orban’s antidemocratic policies.

Meanwhile, money is tight in Russia, too. “A policy of managed cooling” has pushed the Russian economy “into a multiyear investment slump amid negative economic growth in 2026,” writes financial journalist Mikhail Sergeyev. That’s because the government and Central Bank are working at cross purposes: Tight monetary policy suppresses demand and investment, while fiscal measures and rising taxes add pressure. The first harbingers of doom are all there – tanking investment, shrinking GDP and falling budget revenues. Can a behemoth like the Central Bank change course in time? Or will it be more of the same old?

At ground level, however, life goes on. A Moscow Times article penned by an anonymous writer inside Russia offers an interesting look that goes beyond the headlines and polling studies. Yes, the numbers show support for Vladimir Putin is declining, along with support for the war, while the share of those who favor peace talks is increasing. But what are the actual, everyday concerns of Russians? Are they that different from those of the average Westerner? People are obsessively hunting for online deals. They’re complaining about the rising costs of health care and food. Slow-loading Instagram is another irritant. Gen Alpha’s “six-seven” has finally caught on, and continues to flummox anyone who still remembers landline phones. With travel restrictions and threats of constant flight cancellations, more Russians are vacationing closer to home. Mortgages remain out of reach for many young families. Sound familiar? The pursuit of a normal and comfortable life is a universal human desire, it seems. “Even without regular access to Russians or the country itself, we need to deal with people as they are, not how we would like them to be,” the anonymous author concludes. As the war in Ukraine enters its fifth year, and tragedies stemming from it continue to pile up, perhaps it’s time we remember that not every new broom cleans better – and some old ones just keep rearranging the dust.