In September 2022, after Vladimir Putin announced mobilization in Russia, 406,000 Russians crossed into Kazakhstan. So far, it’s been easy for those who have stayed to avoid trouble with immigration authorities: under Kazakh law, Russian citizens have effectively been allowed to reside in the country visa-free indefinitely by crossing the state border, even if only for a few minutes, at least once every 90 days. On December 31, however, the Kazakh government tightened its visa rules, outlawing these “visa runs” beginning on January 27, 2023. Meduza explains how this change is likely to affect Russians who fled mobilization.
In this at Foreign Policy, I argue #Russia’s recent actions have made an #Arctic freedom of navigation operation more likely
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/12/20/russia-arctic-claims-territorial-internal-waters/
My colleague Josh Tallis has a sharp piece out in War on the Rocks laying out a primer on #NATO’s Standing Naval Groups and a vision for how they can be made more relevant and effective, particularly for burden sharing in the alliance.
A proposed amendment in the Russian parliament would require foreign warships to obtain diplomatic clearance before navigating through the internal waters of the Northern Sea Route. It is plainly illegal—Moscow’s own past actions tell us so.