William Pomeranz

From left, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, China's President Xi Jinping, South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pose for a BRICS group photo during the 2023 BRICS Summit at the Sandton Convention Center in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. (Gianluigi Guercia/Pool via AP)

Russia’s most recent invasion of Ukraine is fast approaching its two-year anniversary, with no end in sight. Russia continues to put a brave face on this military and economic quagmire, with Prime Minister Mishustin recently claiming that many countries still want to pursue business, trade, and investment in Russia. Such bravado does not do justice to President Putin’s ambitious foreign policy. He is contemplating no less than a new global security architecture, downgrading the US and Europe while pursuing what he obliquely terms the new “multipolar world.” In the process, Putin has lost sight of Russia’s traditional allies and partnerships in the post-Soviet space, revealing major fault lines in current Russian foreign policy. William Pomeranz has more. 