Despite various sanctions put in place against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the Russian economy is surprisingly doing much better than expected. It appears for now that at least in the short term, the Russian economy is able to bypass sanctions as long as other countries are willing to pursue business as usual with Russia. Whether or not the sanctions will have a longer-term effect and have any impact on Russian aggression remains to be seen.

When western countries adopted sanctions against Russia in response to Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine, western politicians promised nothing less than the complete breakdown of the Russian economy. The French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire spoke of the “collapse” of the Russian economy, while US President Joe Biden said that “We will keep raising the economic cost and ratchet up the pain for [Vladimir] Putin and further increase Russia's economic isolation.”

A new government has been sworn in in Israel under the re-elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. How will the new Israeli government position itself with regard to the Russian war in Ukraine?

Moscow’s war in Ukraine has not only forced millions of Ukrainians to flee their home country but has also led hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens to seek exile abroad. Among the most popular destinations for Russians are two South Caucasian republics: Armenia and Georgia.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February, several hundred thousand Russians have fled the country. Some sources even estimate that more than one million Russian citizens have already gone into exile. Among them are some of the country's biggest celebrities, such as Alla Pugacheva, who settled in Israel, and music stars like Face and Zemfira, who both moved abroad out of fear of persecution for their anti-war activism.

There are some problems in politics that simply do not have good solutions. Relations between Armenia and Turkey are certainly one of these issues. Yet, for the first time since 2009, a move towards the normalisation of political relations now seems to be within reach.

Following over a decade of diplomatic silence on the matter, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently broached the issue of normalising relations with Armenia in August last year. The president stated that he would be ready to take all the necessary steps to resume relations with Ankara’s neighbour. This proposition from the Turkish side was echoed a few days later by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.