1

After Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death, Russia’s long-term trajectory under Putin looks increasingly dire. The enormous complexity of Russia’s challenges is more likely to paralyze Russia’s elites in ways that will enable Putin to delay a reckoning until long after the damage he has done can no longer be fixed.

Many journalists in Russia fled amid the war in Ukraine.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, independent Russian journalists who refused to follow the Kremlin’s narrow rules have had to flee the country, endure persecution by Russian intelligence and suffer the suspicion of those in their new homes. Now the attempted assassination of one of their own has raised their fears to new heights.

BRICS, an organization with China, Russia, India, South Africa, and Brazil, is considering expansion.

The divisive debate within BRICS over whether and how aggressively to expand membership is a sign the group lacks a clear mission and direction. But it also underscores the differences in how BRICS’ members view both the benefits they receive from the grouping and their future role in the international community.