Russia's Internal Struggle

Despite continued threats, the Kremlin is unlikely to block U.S. giants like Google until it's confident Russian firms can effectively replace them.

Details of Russia's ongoing tussles with Western tech companies.

The electoral process highlighted the Kremlin's willingness to take political and economic risks in preparation for a possible transition to a post-Putin era in 2024.

Blocking Alexei Navalny's "Smart Voting" initiative represents a further atrophying of his political movement, but not of the Kremlin campaign against Western social media.

The disjointed rollout of unpopular vaccine mandates will fail to rapidly contain COVID-19 cases ahead of the country’s September parliamentary elections.

Potentially insurmountable hurdles could leave the jailed opposition leader's movement unable to meaningfully contest September legislative elections.

The move will further inflame tensions amid the recent military escalation in eastern Ukraine and deteriorating health of jailed Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny.

While the Kremlin would likely face near-term unrest and additional sanctions, the outcome of September's parliamentary elections and Putin's grip on power would remain unchanged.

While unlikely to outright ban sites like Facebook and Twitter, Russian authorities will seek to more heavily censor their content ahead of September elections.