CLAWS Russia Newsletter | 16 – 30 September 2025

This edition covers major developments in Russia’s expanding strategic partnerships and its push for a multipolar world order. Iran and Russia deepened cooperation through a $25 billion nuclear deal, a memorandum on small modular reactors, and discussions on electronic warfare systems and advanced fighter jets, underscoring their alignment amid renewed Western sanctions. Moscow hosted the Global Atomic Forum, promoting nuclear energy as a pillar of clean growth and announcing plans for a closed fuel cycle by 2030, while Ukraine condemned IAEA participation in the meeting. The inaugural Intervision Song Contest in Moscow highlighted Russia’s use of cultural diplomacy to counter Western isolation. At the UNGA, Sergey Lavrov reiterated calls for a multipolar security order and criticised NATO’s expansion into Eurasia. President Putin’s Reunification Day address celebrated the incorporation of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, along with the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, into the Russian Federation, while the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi convened global experts to debate Russia’s vision of a “polycentric world.”