Reading Russia Right 2025

After more than three and a half years of full-scale war, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has settled into a military stalemate. Despite repeated Russian offensives, the front line has remained largely unchanged since December 2022. Now, with the media uproar over Putin’s visit to Alaska fading, the already faint hopes for a peace agreement appear more distant than ever.

So where is the war heading? Prolonged wars of attrition, such as the conflict in Ukraine, are often decided by which side can best sustain the replacement of troops and equipment. With its vast territory, three times larger economy and its early shift from peacetime to wartime production, can Russia maintain—or even expand—its military output, especially if China continues, or increases, its support? And how do Russia’s actual war aims align with its broader great power ambitions and where does that leave Europe?

To explore these and other pressing questions, we have invited some of the leading experts in the field.

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