Future Frontlines
@NewFrontlines
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Public intelligence for next generation security & democratic resilience.
Washington, DC
Joined October 2021
“Without social media like Twitter and Facebook,” argued @CandaceRondeaux at @NewAmericaISP's 2025 #FutureSecurityForum, “there would be no #WagnerGroup.” Wagner’s power lies not only in arms but in narrative — the viral machinery of war in the digital age. 4/4
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For autocrats, power is performance. Mobilization becomes a marketing exercise as much as a military one. #Prigozhin’s innovation: selling war as identity. A “special forces” aesthetic — regalia, symbols, myth — to recruit loyalty beyond pay. 3/4
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“#Putin is a man who deals in guesses and intuition,” Rondeaux says. When crises emerge, he turns to ad hoc actors like the #WagnerGroup — what .@MarkGaleotti calls “ad-hocracy” — to project control where systems have failed. 2/4
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To understand the rise of the #WagnerGroup, @CandaceRondeaux argues, we must first understand the #Russia that #Putin inherited in 2000 — a state where power flows through personalities, not institutions. 🧵 1/4
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Washington just sanctioned the "backbone" of the Russian economy. Senior Director @CandaceRondeaux breaks down why that's a big deal. https://t.co/Kqoww7VIw3
1/ This is Igor Sechin — CEO of Rosneft and one of Vladimir Putin’s oldest allies from their KGB-era St. Petersburg days. Yesterday, his company was hit with the U.S.’s toughest sanctions yet. And that’s a big deal. 🧵
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1/ This is Igor Sechin — CEO of Rosneft and one of Vladimir Putin’s oldest allies from their KGB-era St. Petersburg days. Yesterday, his company was hit with the U.S.’s toughest sanctions yet. And that’s a big deal. 🧵
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With their new MAX app, the Kremlin is building a WeChat-style model of digital control.
nytimes.com
As the Kremlin throttles WhatsApp and Telegram, the new MAX messaging app is moving Russia closer to a restricted internet without foreign technology.
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A new @bellingcat investigation exposes the inner workings of Rusich, a Russian neo-Nazi paramilitary group, tracing how the group's online fundraising and e-commerce help sustain operations despite sanctions. Featuring insight from our colleague @rljondeer. 🔗
bellingcat.com
An investigation by Bellingcat has found that a former St. Petersburg local election prospect is helping Neo-Nazi paramilitary group, Rusich, operate its online store.
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Russia leveraged the #WagnerGroup to turn irregular warfare into a global business model. Tomorrow at @NewAmerica, I’ll be talking with .@WQBowen of .@warstudies fame what that means for the next phase of conflict & what we’ve learned from Putin’s Sledgehammer.
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Sr. Director @CandaceRondeaux deep-dives into how the #Trump administration is trying to outmaneuver #Russia through #Belarus, and why this move isn't likely to pay off. Read here at @WPReview:
worldpoliticsreview.com
Trump is pursuing a thaw in ties with Belarus, but the chance of these efforts paying strategic dividends is slim.
The Trump administration is attempting a mini-thaw with Belarus, hoping to peel the close Russian ally away from Moscow. As @CandaceRondeaux writes, though, this strategy has one fatal flaw. https://t.co/zRIaVhgfJW
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Sr. Director @CandaceRondeaux deep-dives into how the #Trump administration is trying to outmaneuver #Russia through #Belarus, and why this move isn't likely to pay off. Read here at @WPReview:
worldpoliticsreview.com
Trump is pursuing a thaw in ties with Belarus, but the chance of these efforts paying strategic dividends is slim.
The Trump administration is attempting a mini-thaw with Belarus, hoping to peel the close Russian ally away from Moscow. As @CandaceRondeaux writes, though, this strategy has one fatal flaw. https://t.co/zRIaVhgfJW
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Africa has 65% of the world's uncultivated arable land and 300+ sunny days annually, yet only 38% internet connectivity. @PlanetaryPol's Laura Kupe argues the continent could leapfrog through AI in agriculture, if we get governance right at #UNGA80.
diplomaticourier.com
Sep 23, 2025 // Without deliberate intervention, AI will likely intensify global inequality. Yet Africa is poised for an AI–revolution, particularly in agriculture, if fora like the UN can help lay...
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This sharp review of Sr. Director @CandaceRondeaux's book on Prigozhin and his mercenary empire, Putin's Sledgehammer, unpacks what the #WagnerGroup’s rise, fall, and rebrand means for #Russia, #Africa, and global security. Read here:
nybooks.com
From Africa to Ukraine, the rise and fall of the Wagner Group and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was marked by theatrical violence, the seizure of resources, and an utter lack of accountability.
“Prigozhin’s rise from street criminal to billionaire….dovetailed with Russia’s transformation into a rogue state with revanchist dreams and a determination to extend its reach—often by force—around the globe.” —Joshua Hammer
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Sr. Director @CandaceRondeaux & Program Manager Ben Dalton @wbend dig into the open source investigative techniques used by the Future Frontlines team to follow digital #WagnerGroup footprints. Listen to hear from us and @bellingcat here: https://t.co/aJjTAO1uc8
#Russia #OSINT
rss.com
TW: This episode contains a description of a murder and mutilation. This week we spoke to the team at New America about their work tracking militia and private military groups online. Candace...
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Sr. Director @CandaceRondeaux features on LitWars, Ep. 36 to expand upon her background and Russianist expertise in the context of the #WagnerGroup, Russian corruption, and her book Putin's Sledgehammer. 🔊 Listen here: https://t.co/QOdwqxlUna
#Russia #Putin
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🕊️ What’s really at stake in Russia-Ukraine peace talks? On Democracy Deciphered, @CandaceRondeaux and @wbend unpack the history, geopolitics, and hard choices shaping negotiations today. 🎧 Listen here:
podcasts.apple.com
Podcast Episode · Democracy Deciphered · 08/22/2025 · 38m
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🚨LIVE at 5 PM: On Today with Dr. Kaye @kayewhitehead, Sr. Director @CandaceRondeaux will be breaking down what the #Putin–#Trump–#Zelenskyy–#EU summit means for #democracy and global security. Be sure to tune in via @WEAA889:
weaa.org
Baltimore, Maryland (May 2021): From speaking at the White House to speaking in the classroom, Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead, Ph.D., the host of Today With Dr. Kaye and an associate professor...
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Nearly four years into #Russia’s war on #Ukraine, structural strains have left Moscow ragged. As #Trump and #Putin prepare to meet in Alaska, Sr. Director @CandaceRondeaux argues in @WPReview that the U.S. should exploit Putin’s anguish, not ease it. 🔗
worldpoliticsreview.com
With Russia’s economy buckling and military production struggling, Putin’s newfound interest in diplomacy reflects weaknesses that Trump should exploit.
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Sr. Director @CandaceRondeaux joined Today with Dr. Kaye @kayewhitehead to unpack the #Trump admin’s decision to send nuclear submarines to #Russia. What do these developments means for U.S.–Russia relations? 🔊Listen here:
weaa.org
Interview aired August 4, 2025.
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Sipher calls Rondeaux's account "meticulously researched" - tracing how Putin turned a St. Petersburg ex-con into his deniable instrument of war crimes across Africa, Syria & Ukraine. 2/2 https://t.co/Vx4C9laDjB
spytalk.co
Candace Rondeaux’s “Putin’s Sledgehammer" chronicles the fortunes of Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group
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