‘DIY Warfare’: How Russia Crowdsources the Battlefield in Ukraine
Image credit/license On April 15, 2025, Russia’s RIA Novosti released footage of a drone strike on a Ukrainian position in Chasiv Yar. The grainy video was notable not so much…
Posts by author
Mariya Omelicheva
18 posts
Professor of National Security Strategy
Affiliation
National War College, National Defense University
Expertise
Russia, Central Asia, Georgia, Foreign Policy, Critical Geopolitics, Counter Terrorism, Human Rights, Democracy Promotion
When Propaganda Backfires: The Kremlin’s Struggle to Shift Russian Public Sentiment on the U.S.
Image credit/license In February 2025, nearly a third of Russians expressed favorable views of the United States—the highest level recorded since before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Is this shift…
What Is Considered Extinct May Never Die: The Future of Russia-Led Organizations in Eurasia
Image credit/license Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has unsettled Central Asia. The governments of these republics have distanced themselves from the Kremlin’s military affairs and sought to…
United We Stand (With Russia)? How Moscow’s Soft Power Shaped Views on the War
The 2022 Russian war against Ukraine elicited worldwide indignation. Wealthy democratic countries levied harsh sanctions on the Russian economy and provided humanitarian and military support to Kyiv. Muted behind the…
Policy Exchange Discussion & Memos: Guaranteeing Ukraine’s Long-Run Security (June 9)
Over one hundred days into Russia’s invasion, Ukraine is still valiantly defending itself against an unprecedented existential threat. For this first entry in our Policy Exchange series, we invited six…
Influencers, Echo Chambers, and Epistemic Bubbles: Russia’s Academic Discourse in the Wake of the War in Ukraine
Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine and Russian troops’ atrocities against the Ukrainian people have unleashed an outpouring of condemnation around the world. Sweeping economic sanctions imposed on Moscow have spilled over…
Relevant Past PONARS Eurasia Policy Memos on Kazakhstan
Central Asian Responses to COVID-19: Regime Legitimacy and [De]Securitization of the Health Crisis By Mariya Omelicheva and Lawrence P. Markowitz | March 1, 2021 Despite a history of using discourses of danger…
Riots in Kazakhstan
(PONARS Eurasia Commentary) Dinissa Duvanova, Pauline Jones, Eric McGlinchey, Yulia Nikitina, and Mariya Omelicheva provide insight into the recent, disconcerting events in Kazakhstan. GazMaidan, Crimea #2, or End of the…
COVID-19 “Humanitarianism”: The Geopolitics of Russia’s Coronavirus Assistance
(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) On April 1, 2021, an Antonov AN-124 Russian aircraft landed in New York City’s JFK airport with cargo of personal protective gear and medical equipment. The…
Russia in Central Asia | PONARS Eurasia Online Academy
In the latest Online Academy video, Mariya Omelicheva, professor of National Security Strategy at the National Defense University, explores Russia’s roles in Central Asia from counterrevolutionary offensives and soft power…
Russia’s Counterterrorism Policy | PONARS Eurasia Online Academy
In this Online Academy video authored by Mariya Omelicheva, professor at the National War College, National Defense University, Russia’s historical and current counterterrorism strategies are explored and explained. Topics include…
The Current Tensions Around Donbas
(PONARS Eurasia Commentary) What are the different actors’ perspectives on the increased tensions? What does the revival of tensions—and their apparent current decrease—tell us about the state of security? Georgi Derluguian…