International Affairs No. 2, 2025 – Table of Contents

THE war [between Russia and Ukraine] is still ongoing. But calls for its cessation are becoming more frequent. Of course, the war will end, some kind of agreement will be signed, and Ukraine – even if its territory is reduced – will have to build a new life. This raises key questions: What will this life be like? Will we learn lessons from the past, and will we be able to find the right path to a new life? These questions are more difficult to answer than predicting the outcome of the war. They trouble me as well, prompting me to search for the right answer. I will take the risk, without claiming that my judgments are incontestable, of offering a few proposals. The first question: Will Ukraine be able to exist as a full-fledged, independent, and nonaligned state?

– rejection of the division of Ukrainian society along national and religious lines; the main slogan should be: “We are the people of Ukraine”…

THE Arctic is increasingly becoming a staging ground for “deep warfare” in today’s geopolitical realities.¹ Unlike traditional interstate conflicts, the region is now the nexus of interests not only among national governments and military alliances but also among influential global coalitions of interest groups, hybrid networked structures, and their associated military and intelligence entities. These actors share common objectives: the struggle for resources and critical logistical hubs, the effort to limit or strip rivals of their agency, and the drive to secure overwhelming dominance – not so much through formal territorial control, but rather through access to the most critical technologies.

According to estimates by several research organizations, including the US Geological Survey, the Arctic may contain up to 22% of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas reserves. In addition, the region holds significant deposits of nickel, cobalt, and rare earth metals essential for the production of high-tech electronics, batteries, advanced dual-use energy systems, and cutting-edge weaponry. Given the ever-growing demand for these resources, especially amid technological competition with China, control over Arctic deposits has become not merely an economic priority but a military-political imperative. The melting ice, along with the opening…

ON DECEMBER 24, 2024, the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, by consensus, adopted Resolution 79/243, approving the Convention against Cybercrime developed by the international community at the initiative of the Russian Federation. This document became the first universal legally binding instrument in the field of criminal justice in the digital environment and international information security as a whole.

Thus, five years passed between the adoption of UN General Assembly Resolution 74/247 – which, by majority vote, established the Ad Hoc Committee to elaborate a comprehensive international convention on countering the use of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes – and the presentation of the finalized convention to the 79th session of the General Assembly, following its approval by the Ad Hoc Committee on August 9, 2024. It would be fair to state that the Ad Hoc Committee successfully concluded its work during the 78th session. However, the mandate established by UN General Assembly Resolution 74/247 has not been fully implemented. Therefore, further…

“Washington has undermined strategic stability by unilaterally withdrawing from treaties on missile defense, on the elimination of intermediate-and shorter-range missiles, and open skies … dismantling the decades-old system of confidence-building measures and arms control in Europe.”

SINCE its inception in the late 1940s, the US missile defense system has undergone significant evolution – from its early stages as a limited-capability system designed to protect specific sites within national territory to the formation of a global, multi-layered structure. Today, it covers not only the entire US homeland but also strategically important regions worldwide – Europe, Asia, and the Middle East – ensuring the protection of US military forces deployed abroad, as well as Washington’s allies and partners…

FOR the second time, following a four-year hiatus – a rare precedent in US history – Donald Trump has assumed the presidency, promising numerous initiatives. This suggests that a new era is beginning in the economic policy of the leading Western nation: America is shifting from Keynesian approaches to a traditional Republican policy that primarily relies on market forces and focuses on reducing the role of government regulation. There is nothing fundamentally new in this transition – the history of the US has largely been a cycle of alternating liberal and conservative economic policies…

US PRESIDENTS in the nuclear era have repeatedly faced crises that could have led to nuclear war. Consequently, these presidents have updated American nuclear weapons policy and risk reduction strategies through comprehensive national nuclear policy strategies, culminating in a strategic document that defines the role of nuclear weapons in US strategy, plans for the maintenance and modernization of nuclear forces, and the overall US approach to nuclear arms control and nonproliferation – the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR)…

CENTRAL Asia¹ became a focus of interest for the US after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. Washington was among the first to recognize the independence of the newly formed states and among the first to open embassies in all republics of the region. Initially, the American strategy consisted of deepening political contacts, promoting democratic governance, and liberalizing markets. Additionally, the US actively supported and promoted the revival of “national consciousness” and cultural identity of the peoples of Central Asia, with the primary goal of detaching the region from Russia in cultural, historical, and ideological terms.

The strategic significance of the region for the US is driven by its abundant energy resources, rare earth metals, and advantageous geographic position in Eurasia. This positioning makes Central Asia a key player in the fight against terrorism and regional stability efforts. At the same time, in terms of economic integration, migration flows, and both traditional and nontraditional security threats, Central Asia serves as a buffer zone for influencing Russia and, more recently, China, which has emerged as…

UNDER the Joe Biden administration, the US-Canada border – and more specifically, the significant increase in illegal migration from the north – became yet another challenge. Unlike the US-Mexico border, the US-Canada border had not been a major concern for Washington following the events of September 11, 2001, when the US and Canada implemented additional security measures along its perimeter…

IN 2013-2014, several events influenced a shift in priorities in the development of Russia’s network diplomacy. The first such event was the civil war in Syria, which began in 2011. In seeking mechanisms to resolve the conflict, international mediators actively utilized both global network diplomacy institutions (discussions held “on the sidelines” of G8, G20, and BRICS summits) and the specially created Geneva format, which brought together not only mediators but also representatives of the Syrian Arab Republic’s government and opposition.

Another no less significant conflict was the crisis in Ukraine. It exacerbated disagreements between Russia and the Euro-Atlantic states, leading to the need to reassess the expediency of the Russian Federation’s participation in Western-centric organizations¹ (in particular, the G8). Following the collective West’s transition to a strategy of sanctions pressure – which took on a layered character after February 2022 – the productivity and effectiveness of network platforms dominated by the US and its partners began to decline sharply due to the excessive politicization of their agendas and erosion of their mandates…

“The Russian people are Christian not only due to the Orthodox nature of their beliefs but also because of something even more heartfelt. They are so by virtue of their capacity for self-denial and self-sacrifice, which constitutes, as it were, the foundation of their moral nature.”…

NIZHNY Novgorod Province is experiencing a noticeable influx of highly qualified specialists from countries previously designated as unfriendly. This immigration trend is characterized by several important features that set it apart from ordinary labor migration.

APPLICATIONS for relocation to Nizhny Novgorod Province are most frequently received from Germany, France, Switzerland, Canada, the US, and Australia. Notably, these applications are predominantly from families with children, and the incoming professionals are highly qualified – engineers, IT specialists, doctors, and investors in social projects…

NIZHNY Novgorod Province is experiencing a noticeable influx of highly qualified specialists from countries previously designated as unfriendly. This immigration trend is characterized by several important features that set it apart from ordinary labor migration.

APPLICATIONS for relocation to Nizhny Novgorod Province are most frequently received from Germany, France, Switzerland, Canada, the US, and Australia. Notably, these applications are predominantly from families with children, and the incoming professionals are highly qualified – engineers, IT specialists, doctors, and investors in social projects…

GERMANY is the most populous country in the European Union. In late 2023, its population was approximately 84.7 million people, accounting for just over 18% of the total EU population – and its population is clearly rising. Over the past 10 years, Germany’s population has increased by nearly 5%, demonstrating the highest growth rate among the largest EU countries. One might assume that German policymakers should take pride in this achievement, yet behind the attractive façade lies a void.

For five decades, the Federal Republic of Germany has been unable to sustain its population independently, relying solely on immigration for growth – a symptom of a serious and prolonged demographic crisis. Moreover, statistical data suggest that negative trends will inevitably worsen in the near future. In this regard, it is particularly relevant to analyze the causes and potential consequences of these developments, as well as to assess the effectiveness of any countermeasures that may be in place…

DESPITE Russia’s unique experience in confronting fascism in the 20th and 21st centuries, the country has yet to develop a comprehensive conceptual description of this phenomenon. In public discourse, fascism is often interpreted solely as Hitlerism, the ideology of the Third Reich. Later forms are, at best, labeled with the prefix “neo-,” while earlier forms are sometimes ignored altogether.

This narrow approach weakens Russia’s position in cognitive warfare and needs to be corrected. It is therefore worth taking a closer look at the historical genesis of German fascism, including the influence of Pan-Germanism, which took shape long before the era of Hitler’s National Socialism and served as a kind of repository of ideas for the ideologists of the Third Reich…

THE peaceful foreign policy of neutral Turkmenistan, under the leadership of President Serdar Berdymukhamedov, is gaining increasing recognition and support from the international community, primarily due to major initiatives aimed at addressing global challenges, consolidating joint efforts through the identification of common interests, and employing political and diplomatic methods of peaceful dialogue.

The constructive nature of Turkmenistan’s foreign policy strategy and its consistent implementation have gained even greater momentum since the beginning of 2025, which was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly as the International Year of Peace and Trust. For Turkmenistan, which initiated this high-level decision at the UN, this year is also a milestone, as it marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the UN General Assembly’s special resolution “Permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan” on December 12, 1995…

THE events of 2024 in international relations have demonstrated epochal tectonic shifts, revealing a key contemporary trend – the formation of a new world order based on multipolar principles…

TODAY, many are reflecting on how past events – specifically, the 1853-1856 war between the Russian Empire and Turkey over Crimea and the ensuing Great Game between Russia and Great Britain – resemble the events of the 21st century in the same regions. The answer may lie in the fact that the [Crimean] war was not merely about territory but rather a confrontation between Russia and the British and French forces backing Turkey. The outcome of this war largely determined the fate of modern Europe. Essentially, it was a precursor to World War I, which was waged with the same objectives but in a different configuration.

From Britain’s perspective, control over the Black Sea was, first and foremost, of strategic importance, as London had regarded Russia as a competitor since the 17th century. Second, the Black Sea provides access to the Mediterranean, and thus to the World Ocean, control over which the Anglo-Saxons have always fought for, viewing it as a key link in their global hegemony…

ON JANUARY 30, 1950, the Soviet Union officially established diplomatic relations with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, becoming one of the first countries in the world to recognize the young independent state in what was once a colonial possession of France in Indochina. For three-quarters of a century, close ties of friendship and cooperation have united our peoples, regardless of the formal details and spatial jurisdiction of the state system. Undoubtedly, the deep sense of affinity and practical achievements of our interaction over the past decades would have been impossible without intimate and systemic knowledge of each other’s language, history, culture, customs, and traditions…

COMPARED to other geopolitical centers that make up today’s Global South, banking institutions on the African continent, with few exceptions, remain outsiders in the global banking system. The modest scale of the African banking sector is illustrated by a single example: Russian banks surpass all African banks in terms of total assets, Tier 1 capital, and net profit. At the current dollar exchange rate, the sizes of the banking systems of Africa and Russia are roughly comparable. The total assets of African banks amount to approximately $1.5 trillion, compared to $1.67 trillion in assets held by the Russian banking system (according to the Bank of Russia, as of January 2024, 166,816 billion rubles at a nominal exchange rate of 100 rubles per US dollar). Sberbank (with assets of around $530 billion) is roughly three times as large as Africa’s biggest bank, Standard Bank Group.

First, the African banking system has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the macroeconomic consequences of the ongoing hybrid war waged by the collective West against Russia in response to our country’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine…

The 15th annual Yalta International Conference “Contemporary Integration Processes in the Post-Soviet Space,” organized by the journal International Affairs with support from the Russian Foreign Ministry, took place September 23-28, 2024, in Yalta, Republic of Crimea. The conference discussed the most pressing topics concerning the interaction of former Soviet republics and broader international issues, including contemporary international relations in the context of the Ukraine crisis; bilateral and multilateral cooperation formats among post-Soviet states; and shared historical memory and the formation of a new historical and cultural identity in these countries…

Alexander Gasyuk: Mr. Ambassador, on January 26, India celebrates its national holiday – Republic Day. What does sovereignty, or as it is called in Hindi, purna swaraj (literally “complete self-governance “), mean today for your country, which has journeyed from an ancient great civilization to a long-time Western colony and has now become a driving force of the modern global economy?

Vinay Kumar: When India gained independence from colonial rule on August 15, 1947, we did not yet have our own governing framework. It was only on January 26, 1950, that the Constitution of India came into force, transforming the country into a sovereign democratic republic. Since then, January 26 has been celebrated as Republic Day in India…

Armen Oganesyan, Editor-in-Chief, International Affairs: Alexey Anatolyevich [Gromyko], let me begin our conversation with the 80th anniversary of the Yalta Conference. Your grandfather, Andrey Andreyevich Gromyko, then the Soviet ambassador to the US, played an active role in its preparation and conduct. How did he assess the outcomes of Yalta?

Alexey Gromyko: I believe that for Andrey Gromyko, the Yalta Conference was the first of the most important in his diplomatic career, because it largely determined not only the outcomes of World War 11 but also how the world would develop for decades to come…

EXACTLY 80 years ago, in February 1945, the third meeting of the Big Three took place in Yalta – the longest and most significant of them all. The experience of the Crimean meeting has enduring historical value. It proves that high-quality diplomacy is capable of winning over and uniting even those players who are openly unwilling to negotiate. Our task as historians is to continue studying all stages and dynamics of this complex political process in detail and to present them objectively.

By the time of the Yalta Conference, Soviet troops had not only liberated the territory of their own country but also parts of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia and had advanced into Germany itself. At that point, they were less than 70 kilometers from Berlin. The German Army had suffered enormous losses, and the myth of the Third Reich’s invincibility had long been shattered. Furthermore, the successes of the Allies in Western Europe, who had finally opened the Second Front on June 6, 1944, were in many ways predetermined by the victories of the USSR in the Soviet-German theater of operations, which had nearly destroyed Germany’s military and economic power by the time Allied forces landed in Normandy…

IF, in private life, according to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, the sin of forgetfulness is considered a grave sin, then all the more so when it concerns the collective memory of a people. If forgetting God destroys the individual, then forgetting historical memory wounds the nation.

When asked what associations the names Halychyna or Galicia bring to mind, many will respond: Of course, it is a hotbed of Russophobia. That was where the SS Legion was formed, and Bandera’s ideology was nurtured. Aside from a narrow circle of specialists and historians who study the region in depth, no one will tell you anything about the hundreds of thousands of Russian martyrs of Galicia, Bukovina, and Hungarian Rus who suffered during World War I…

THE history of Russian diplomacy spans several centuries. Among the most important tasks of Russia’s diplomatic service are the continuity of generations, preservation of historical memory, and fidelity to tradition…

THE year 2024 marked the 130th anniversary of the birth of Tsar of the Bulgarians Boris III, who ruled the country for 25 years until his mysterious death in August 1943, during one of the most complex and dramatic periods in modern Bulgarian history.

The future Bulgarian Tsar Boris III (full name: Boris Clement Robert Maria Pius Louis Stanislaus Xavier of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) was born in Sofia to Prince Ferdinand I of Bulgaria and Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma, and was baptized at birth by then Pope Leo XIII. However, in 1896, at the age of two, he was converted to Orthodoxy at the request of his father, Ferdinand I…

A FEW years ago, in connection with the 70th anniversary of the passing of Alexandra Kollontai, the documentary film “Vikhri veka” [Whirlwinds of the Century], dedicated to her diplomatic activity, was released. Unfortunately, the genre of film did not afford an opportunity to tell about many aspects and interesting details related to her work during World War II.

On August 23, 1944, a small group of officials met with King Michael of Romania in the royal palace in Bucharest. They were participants in a conspiracy against Marshal Ion Antonescu. The plan was to summon him in the afternoon and remove him from power. Among them was Grigore Niculescu-Buzesti, head of the cipher department of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. By that evening, he had become the new minister of foreign affairs in the first Romanian government following the dictator’s overthrow. In his pocket was a decrypted telegram marked “urgent” from Stockholm, containing a report of a conversation between Gheorghe Duca, counselor of the Romanian Embassy in Sweden, and Soviet Ambassador [to Sweden] Kollontai. To this day, the contents of that document and the role it was to play in Romania’s fate have been subject to the most incredible interpretations…

THE Battle for Syria* is the title of a new book by Russian diplomat Alexander Iosifovich Vavilov, a prominent scholar of the Orient.

The book was published shortly before the dramatic, large-scale events in Syria, the removal of President Bashar al-Assad from power, and the beginning of a new phase in the country’s development…

THE digital age demands the development of new approaches to the study and teaching of diplomacy and international relations. The analytical report “Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence in the Service of Diplomacy,”* edited by Professor Yelena Zinovieva and a team of authors from Moscow State Institute (University) of International Affairs (MGIMO), is a thorough and comprehensive study dedicated to analyzing the impact of digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) on contemporary diplomacy. The report was prepared as part of the “Priority 2030” strategic leadership program and published by MGIMO-University. The foreword was provided by Maria Zakharova, Director of the Information and Press Department, official spokeswoman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.

The authors of the report posit that digital technologies and the Internet now play the same role in modern international relations as nuclear technologies did in the 20th century – serving as a key strategic tool vital for military leadership, economic growth, and foreign policy prestige. This proposition sets the tone for the entire study and highlights the importance of digital technologies as a new field of geopolitical competition and a critical area of Russia’s foreign policy…

THE question of secularity came to public attention in 2020 in connection with amendments to the Russian Constitution. The catalyst for the discussion was the introduction of a reference to God in the text of the Constitution. Opponents claimed that this violated the principle of secularism and contradicted global constitutional practice. However, an examination of the constitutions [of various countries] revealed that invocations of God and reliance on religion are found in the majority of them, whereas the principle of secularism is explicitly stated in only a few cases.¹ The concept of the secular state in its classical form was, as is known, originally adopted in France, from which it entered Russia. Yet the French experience, viewed historically, revealed the inherent threats within the secularist system…