In May 2024, I woke up to the surprising news that Wycombe Wanderers - the town’s only professional sports team - confirmed a take over of 90 percent of the club’s shares by Georgian-born Kazakhstani billionaire, Mikheil Lomtadze, who has a net-worth of an estimated 5 billion USD. This unexpected acquisition left me intrigued to find out what attracted Mr Lomtadze to my hometown’s football club, and whether other places in the West could see an increase in Central Asian investment, thus bringing new money to their respective communities.

Although Prigozhin met an untimely end at Putin’s behest last year, his former organization, along with similar entities, continues to advance the Kremlin’s malign objectives in conflict zones abroad. Recently, the growing visibility of Russian PMCs in parts of western and central Africa has exacerbated frustrations among U.S. and Western policymakers. It is evident that, despite the lessons learned from last year's Wagner rebellion, the Kremlin considers the benefits provided by Wagner and other state-backed PMC organizations too valuable to abandon.

Putin's latest attempt at global outreach took shape last month with his first visit to North Korea in twenty-four years, driven by his need for more allies and munitions to support his ongoing military quagmire in Ukraine. The two dictators met in Pyongyang, where streets were adorned with Russian flags and portraits of Putin.

Hungarian-Ukrainian relations have been grim well prior to 2022. When Hungary vetoed or delayed EU sanctions against Russia or help towards Ukraine, it could be interpreted as a favour for Moscow just as much as a gesture against Kyiv. From Budapest’s perspective, two – or maybe even three - birds with one stone, as such defiance would also provide leverage to Hungary in various Brussels-Budapest disputes. Yet, defining the main drivers behind each opposition would not be so obvious.

Putin visited Uzbekistan in late May, a Kyrgyz court sentenced a man for speaking out against the war and a new law on media in Kazakhstan mandates increased Kazakh language broadcasting - anyone browsing the news coverage of Central Asia over the last weeks received mixed signals as to the evolution of Russian influence in the region within the larger framework of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The Russian state's actions, as incomprehensible as they may seem, are part of a bigger problem; a symptom of a disease that no administered medicine can cure. Elena Kostyuchenko, this year's Pushkin House book award winner, has examined the patient and found the rot in the gangrenous limbs, threatening to eat away at the body to slowly reach her heart.