MOSCOW, RUSSIA- Russian President Vladimir Putin held a video conference on the ecological situation in the city of Usolye-Sibirskoye, Irkutsk region in Moscow, Russia on July 30, 2020.
This Issue Brief was prepared for the Free World Commission and was co-authored by Edward Fishman, a nonresident senior fellow in the Eurasia Center, and
Ash Jain, senior fellow in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.
The views expressed in this publication represent those solely of the authors and are not intended to imply any endorsement of the content by members of the Free World Commission.
Executive summary
Over the past decade, the Kremlin has executed a concerted strategy to undermine the cohesion of, and confidence in, democratically-elected governments in Europe and around the world. Vladimir Putin’s determined efforts to maintain his grip on power and resurrect Russia’s great-power status have led him to pursue policies of political pressure, economic coercion, electio