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• Freezing a Nation Into Submission: Russia’s Nuclear Substation Campaign and the Human Cost of Infrastructure Warfare

  Editor’s Note: ComplexDiscovery has covered Russia’s war in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. Our reporting has drawn heavily on the daily assessments produced by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), whose rigorous methodology and open-source intelligence analysis provide a reliable foundation for understanding the conflict’s evolution. This article is...

• Ballistic Blackmail and Maritime Shell Games: Russia’s Evolving Hybrid Front

  Editor’s Note: Strategic deception and performative aggression are reshaping the battlefield in Ukraine and far beyond, exposing new fault lines in global security and compliance frameworks. Based on Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reporting and open-source intelligence, this analysis translates real-time battlefield developments into critical lessons for professionals managing risk, data, and legal...

• Offsetting Inter-State Debt in International Law

  Since the immobilization of Russian Central Bank (RCB) assets across multiple jurisdictions in response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, officials and commentators have debated the legal permissibility as well as the political and economic wisdom of using those assets to fund Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction. While the EU has agreed to issue a loan to...

• Valdai, Veracity, and the Winter War: Russia’s Claims Collide with Evidence

  Editor’s Note: Russia opened December 29 with a bold claim: that Ukraine had launched a massive drone strike against President Putin’s Valdai residence. Yet as the day unfolded, the story unraveled under scrutiny—lacking credible evidence and even contradicting itself within Russian official channels. This disinformation-inflected episode, detailed in the Institute for the Study of War’s...

• Swiss government implements listings of 19th EU sanctions package

  On 12 December 2025, the Swiss Federal Council announced the expansion of its sanctions lists against Russia and Belarus (see press release here). With this expansion, Switzerland has partially implemented the measures adopted by the EU under its 19th sanctions package. The updated Ordinance on Measures in Connection with the Situation in Ukraine (“Ukraine Ordinance”;...

• OFAC Amends General Licenses for Certain Categories of Transactions Involving Lukoil Entities Outside of Russia and for Lukoil Retail Transactions

  The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) has amended two Russia-related General Licenses (“GLs”) —131A and 128B—affecting (i) contingent contract negotiations for acquisition of and maintaining/winding down transactions with certain Lukoil entities and (ii) retail transactions with ex-Russia Lukoil service stations.  More information regarding each GL is below and our...

• Rights group condemns systemic torture of Ukrainian POWs by Russia

  Human Rights Watch released a report on Thursday that alleges Russia has inflicted a widespread and deliberate pattern of physical and psychological abuse upon Ukrainian POWs throughout their detention. The report, based on in-depth interviews with 12 former prisoners, documents severe beatings, mock executions, electric shocks, and attacks by dogs, describing a system intended to...

• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675 to add Russia to the list of high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies

  On 3 December 2025, the European Commission (Commission) listed Russia as a high-risk country with strategic deficiencies in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing frameworks. Earlier this year, the Commission adopted Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1393 which committed the Commission to concluding, by the end of 2025, a review of third countries not listed by the...

• EU Adopts 19th Sanctions Package Against Russia

  On 23 October 2025, the EU adopted a further sanctions package, its “19th Round”, against Russia in connection with its ongoing war in Ukraine. We summarise the key measures below. Energy Asset-Freezing Sanctions Military and industrial capabilities Financial services Other services Diplomats Russian diplomatic or consular personnel, including administrative and technical staff, and their family...

• Russia Adopts Fast Track Mechanism for Selling Federal Assets

  On September 30, 2025, President Vladimir Putin signed Decree No. 693 “On Certain Particularities of the Sale of Property in Federal Ownership” (here). The measure took effect the moment it was published. The decree is expressly framed as a response to “unfriendly” actions by the United States and its allies. It is adopted “to protect...

Featured documents

• Politkovskaya Trial Gets More Complicated; Supreme Court Will Review Trial Judge’s Actions In Closing Proceedings

  Russia’s Supreme Court has decided to review the actions of the judge presiding over the Politkovskaya murder trial after jurors involved indicated that they favored an open trial instead of the closed trial the judge has mandated. Many of the jurors said they were not intimidated by the press who...

• Squashed By Russia: The Sergei Magnitsky Story

  NWC nabbed an exclusive interview with Jamison Firestone, the law partner and friend of Sergei Magnitsky - a whistleblower whose disturbing story reveals the ruthlessness and corruption of the Russian government....

• Russia

  The Deputy Finance Minister reportedly announced that a law will be passed by next spring banning transactions in virtual currencies. The law will reportedly provide for criminal penalties against miners of virtual currency, and ban access to exchanges and online stores accepting bitcoin....

• Russia

  At least five bitcoin websites were reportedly blocked by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media pursuant to a court order entered last year....

• A Primer on Russia’s New Data Localization Law

  Privacy and data security professionals worldwide should circle September 1 on their calendars, as it’s the day Russia’s new data localization law goes into effect – and possibly generates major waves far beyond Russian shores.  That’s because the law has significant implications for companies that ...

• EU Extends Russia Sanctions Through January 2017

  The EU has extended, today, economic sanctions targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy to 31 January 2017.  The extension is set out in Council Decision (CFSP) 2016/1071. The sanctions concern the financial, energy and defence sectors, as well as dual-use goods, and have been extended...

• Groundbreaking Russia Sanctions Bill Introduced in the Senate

  A bipartisan group of US Senators introduced a bill on January 11, 2017 – the Countering Russian Hostilities Act of 2017 – that would impose unprecedented sanctions on Russia and persons and entities conducting certain types of business involving Russia.  This bill would codify into law most of the ...

• Russian Lawmakers Move to Be Able to Ban Use of VPNs and Similar Access Tools

  By Ksenia Koroleva Russia has adopted a new law further toughening the country’s Internet-blocking regime and introducing a number of restrictive measures applicable to intermediaries providing access to blocked websites, IT networks, and information resources (hereinafter, “Blocked Websites”). The ...

• Fashion law insights with chair and vice-chair of Franco-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry IP Committee

  The Intellectual Property Committee of the Franco-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry was elected at a meeting on 22 November 2018, dedicated to the legal protection of intellectual property assets in the fashion industry. Partner Natalia Gulyaeva, who heads the firm’s IP, Media and Technology ...

• European Court Says Muslim Inmate’s Religious Rights Were Infringed In Russian Prison

  The European Court of Human Rights this week handed down an opinion in the case of a Muslim inmate in a Russian prison who claims that his religious rights were infringed in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights when he was reprimanded for praying in the middle of the night during...