Global Security Briefing

Energy is no longer the preserve of the business pages and is central to questions of European Security.
Disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has left European gas prices far above where they sat at the start of 2026 and reserves are lower than where they need to be for winter.
Jet and diesel markets are tighter than at any point since 2022.
And, across the North Sea, unexplained drones and loitering vessels have become a routine feature of offshore operations.
In this episode, Andrew Gee, Director, International Security at RUSI, is joined by Amund Vik, senior advisor at Eurasia Group and former head of strategy and policy for the Norwegian Labour Party, and Petras Katinas, a research fellow in climate, energy and defence at RUSI Europe.
They discuss the following core questions:
How exposed will the United Kingdom and Europe energy markets be this winter and is more North Sea energy production any kind of solution?
Who does Europe now depend on for its energy? Is that reliance a partnership or a vulnerability?
If energy infrastructure is now a target, what does defending it require? Would a turn to civil nuclear power change the picture?

Japan's significant intelligence reforms reveal how the country's approach to security is becoming more self-reliant and autonomous. But what is being proposed, and why now?
In this edition of Global Security Briefing, host Philip Shetler-Jones, Senior Research Fellow, Indo-Pacific Security at RUSI is joined by Ken Kotani, Professor at Nihon University, Japan and James DJ Brown, Professor of Political Science at Temple University, Japan Campus, to reflect on how Japan is rebuilding its national intelligence capability.
They explore the following core questions:
Why is this important in terms of the history of the country?
What are some of the obstacles?
What does this reform tell us about how Japan is changing in terms of its self-perception and threat perception?
What are the implications for Japan's relationships with allies and adversaries?

The 2026 NATO Summit convened at a moment of fragile unity for the alliance. What did it deliver? What did it leave unresolved?
In this episode of Global Security Briefing, RUSI's Director-General Rachel Ellehuus is joined by three colleagues, each bringing with them a different perspective on the alliance: Natia Seskuria, Senior Research Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Security, Burcu Ozcelik, Senior Research Fellow for Middle East Security, and Oana Lungescu, Former NATO Spokesperson and RUSI Distinguished Fellow. Burcu and Oana join the recording from Ankara and offer their reflections on the atmosphere on the ground.
The three core questions explored in this episode are:
What did the summit tell us about how NATO as a whole – and individual members – view Russia?
Second, what does the summit and its mention of Iran mean for the Middle East, and where does the region now sit among NATO's priorities?
Third, what does the summit mean for Europe, and where does the transatlantic relationship now stand? What about the roles of Turkey and Ukraine?

Organised crime no longer operates outside international politics. Criminal networks are increasingly present in spaces once associated with intelligence services, foreign policy and national security.
In this edition of Global Security Briefing hosted by Cathy Heanlein, Director of Organised Crime and Policing at RUSI, we look at the blurring of boundaries between crime, statecraft and geopolitics.
The discussion coincides with a new special issue of RUSI's flagship Journal on 'the Changing Face of Organised Crime'. The issue brings together leading experts to examine how crime is evolving in a period of technological disruption, geopolitical competition and profound changes in the international order.
Cathy is joined by Professor Heather Marquette, Professor of Development Politics at the University of Birmingham, and Dr Magda Long, an international security researcher and consultant, to explore the following questions:
How should we understand the relationship between organised crime and state power?
Are criminal networks merely opportunistic actors operating in geopolitical spaces, or are they increasingly performing strategic functions for states?
Is the role played by criminal networks in Russia comparable to what we see in Iran or the Western Balkans, or do different political environments produce different forms of state–crime interaction?
If states such as Russia and Iran are increasingly using criminal networks to evade sanctions, acquire restricted goods or conduct covert operations, are existing laws, institutions and strategies equipped to respond?

What does the Russian wartime economy look like beneath the official data – and what are the implications for regime stability?
In early June, President Putin took to the stage at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum – Russia's flagship annual showcase for investors and international media – and delivered a characteristically assured account of an economy not just surviving but adapting. Sanctions, he suggested, had been absorbed. Western predictions of collapse had amounted to little more than wishful thinking.
But if we look more closely at the current state of the Russian economy beyond the Kremlin narratives, the picture is more distorted. This is a classic war economy where growth is almost entirely a function of state defence orders, public spending has reached historically elevated levels, and the civilian economy is being systematically drained of labour, capital and technology to feed the military-industrial complex.
In this episode, Natia Seskuria, Senior Research Fellow, Russian and Eurasian Security, is joined by RUSI Associate Fellow Charles Hecker, to discuss Russia's wartime economy and explore the following questions:
What does the Russian wartime economy actually look like?
As economic strain intensifies and the logic of state predation deepens, what are the implications for regime stability?
If the conflict extends to another three to five years, how will Western corporate engagement with Russia evolve – and what risks does that trajectory create for sanctions coherence and Euro-Atlantic security?
Some of the data and sector information in this podcast were sourced from The Bell, written by Alexandra Prokopenko and Alexander Kolyandr. More information on the Russian economy is available at their website: www.thebell.io.