A surge in cyberattacks, particularly phishing and ransomware, has left Balkan countries to improve their defences against cybercrime, BIRN research shows. The Balkan region has witnessed a significant increase in internet penetration and the integration of Biometrics and Digital Identity BDI technologies into various sectors, BIRN research shows. Between 2020 …

On Sunday, the US Central Command revealed that an ISIS leader had been eliminated by the US military in an eastern Syrian drone strike conducted on Friday. Meanwhile, there were reports suggesting that Syrian authorities responded promptly to contain and isolate Wagner operatives following the mercenary group’s rebellion against the …

Topped off by a curious ‘coup’ attempt in Russia, June was a fascinating month with new geopolitical economic developments, twists and turns on many fronts: As US President Biden wooed, wined and dined India’s Prime Minister Modi (who was once refused a visa to America), France’s Macron sought an invite …

Plentiful resources contribute to long-term success if channeled to the development of institutions, but Azerbaijan, like many other autocracies, is instead using them to burnish its image abroad and cement the status quo.Since the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, news out of Azerbaijan has been an unending series of announcements about achievements …

Putin’s former bodyguard and current Tula governor Alexei Dyumin is eternally tipped for a position in the federal government, yet is still waiting after seven years.Alexei Dyumin, a former bodyguard of Russian President Vladimir Putin and now governor of the Tula region, has been the subject of much discussion since …

While the Ukraine war has seen an explosion in the collection and distribution of open source intelligence, the work of secret intelligence agencies remains as important as ever. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the world of secret intelligence is no more. Ever since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February …

Kyiv’s bid to join NATO would bolster both Ukrainian and European security. The future of Ukraine–NATO relations is once again the number-one topic on the agenda for Alliance members in the lead-up to the forthcoming Vilnius Summit. The issue was just as acute 15 years ago when, at the Bucharest …

The Wagner mercenary group’s rebellion against Russia’s military leadership has further split Russia’s anti-Kremlin opposition, which is already largely divided over a litany of issues and geographically scattered in exile. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an exiled former oil tycoon turned opposition figure, swiftly emerged as the most vocal of Prigozhin’s unlikely supporters, …

Anna, a 67-year-old woman from the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, remembers being woken up by the sounds of military equipment early in the morning of June 24. From her window, she could see a tank, armored vehicles and machine gunners of the Wagner private military company sitting opposite her house, …

Yevgeny Prigozhin’s attempted insurrection against the Russian Ministry of Defence (MOD) last month created massive confusion. The rebellion raised many questions about what might come next for the war in Ukraine and the future of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule. Other important questions pertain to the Wagner Group’s ‘March of …