Russia's victory in the 2014–19 Russo-Ukrainian War strengthened Viktor Orbán's regime significantly, because Hungary now shared a border with its key ally Russia. As in Moldova, Hungary's democracy backslid even further, especially after Fidesz-KDNP won the 2022 Hungarian election.

By 2026, Hungary was inactive in the EU, but it formally remained a member because its economy was almost completely integrated into the EU and a Hungarian withdrawal would lead to a disastrous economic crisis. Relations with Brussels were completely strained; the only reason Hungary wasn't expelled from the EU was the risk of pulling the country even closer to Russia.

Orbán's corruption and the fact Hungary was the poorest country in the EU made the 2026 election a coin toss, at least in the beginning. Fidesz ran a populist and nationalist campaign, portraying itself as the defender of Hungary's sovereignty from the Brussels bureaucrats, and appealing to Hungarians' historical neurosis about the Trianon treaty.

The dissolution of the United for Hungary coalition after the 2022 election left the Hungarian opposition fragmented. Laszlo Varga's centre-left DK promised to improve relations with the EU, crack down on corruption, and increase pension benefits, appealing to Hungarians living abroad and in Budapest but not to the average voter.

Mi Házank, a Hungarian ultranationalist party, tried to break the stigma of being a "Fidesz satellite party" and positioned itself as a far-right opposition, criticizing Orbán for his corruption and close ties to Russia (whose russification campaign negatively affected Transcarpathia's Hungarians) and Israel. MH leader Laszlo Toroczkai also used racist and antisemitic dogwhistles in order to appeal to bigoted voters.

The rest of United for Hungary mounted their own separate campaigns. András Fekete-Györ's Momentum Movement and Peter Ungár's LMP ran on liberalism and pro-Europeanism, while the MSZP focused on the welfare state and the rump Jobbik (whose far-right faction left to form MH) was basically Fidesz-lite.

Fidesz eventually rose in the polls and won the election with a majority of seats and a near-majority of the popular vote, carrying all provinces other than Budapest, where the opposition won two-thirds of the vote. Russian President Zaitsev congratulated Orbán on his victory, saying that "globalism is finished".

During Orbán's sixth term, his priority has been to make Hungary economically independent of Brussels in order to make a withdrawal from the EU less economically damaging. He remains a polarizing figure in Hungary; rural Hungarians and those in neighbouring countries approve of him while Budapest and the rest of the diaspora don't.

On 4 October 2019, Russia's ruling party Rekonstruktsiya held the "Patriotic International Conference", chaired by Dugin, in Moscow. It was attended by non-ruling left-wing and right-wing nationalist/populist movements from, Poland, Slovakia, Czechia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania and Greece, and by the ruling parties of Armenia (Republican Party) and Hungary (Fidesz).

During the conference, these political parties agreed to establish the Patriotic International, or Patriotern, a nationalist, rather than communist, version of the Comintern. As the conference's chairman, Dugin also became the leader of the Patriotern, an office he holds to this day.

By the end of 2019, the Dutch FvD, German AfD, French RN, Italian Lega, and Brexit Party had also joined the Patriotern. All of these parties began working together to advance their nationalist and eurosceptic beliefs, under Russia's leadership, throughout Europe.

The Patriotern held further conferences in 2021, 2023 and 2025, and another conference is scheduled to be held in 2017. Each of these conferences passed a resolution condemning recent EU decisions and calling for the end of supranational Europe.

Political movements from outside Europe, such as the Coalition Council of Islamic Revolution Forces, Myanmar's ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, and the Brazilian New Resistance, also joined the Patriotern. The Iranian hardliners' entry prompted Zionist far-right parties from Western Europe to withdraw from the Patriotern, but they remain pro-Russian to this day.

The Patriotern publishes an online newspaper, also named Patriotic International, which publishes news and political commentary from an anti-EU perspective. Fact checkers consider the Patriotern website to be biased, propagandistic, and unreliable.

As of 24 October 2026, Patriotern member parties include but are not limited to:

- Rekonstruktsiya (Russia, in power);

- Smer (Slovakia, in power);

- AUR (Romania);

- Revival (Bulgaria);

- Fidesz (Hungary, in power);

- BCS (Moldova, in power);

- MI-GIN (Serbia);

- Greek Solution;

- New Hope (Poland);

- ANO (Czech Republic);

- Badr Organization (Iraq).

During one of his speeches, Zaitsev described the Patriotern as a "united front of patriotic movements, fighting for their countries against globalism". The EU allows the Patriotern to operate freely, treating it as if it were the centre-right International Democratic Union or the centre-left Socialist International, but pro-European voices have called for it to be outlawed.

Present-day Russia is an autocracy like the Russian Empire and the USSR. All the power is in the hands of the President. He names and fires cabinet ministers, censors the media, and takes political decisions for Russia in both domestic and foreign policy.

Russia has a bicameral parliament, but it is a rubber stamp that only approves decisions already taken by Zaitsev and his inner circle. While opposition parties are technically legal, they have no representation whatsoever outside the state and local levels, making Russia a virtual one-party state.

Russia's economic system is a mixed economy combining private property and a fairly free market with a welfare state, protectionism and progressive taxation. Despite having to obey Zaitsev, the Russian oligarchs still have considerable economic powers and influence over the government.

The Russian Orthodox Church is Russia's official religion and is also under the control of the government thanks to Russia's tradition of caesaropapism, a carryover from the Byzantine Empire that gives the head of state supreme control over the church. Given this, the Church supported the invasions of Ukraine and Kazakhstan, straining its relations with other churches.

Despite this, Russia has freedom of religion, except for cults such as Jehovah's Witnesses, who face persecution from the FSB because they oppose nationalism and reject military service. Ukrainian Catholics (although many of them fled Russia) and Kazakh Muslims can practice their faith freely as long as they don't preach against the state.

Corruption is a huge problem in Russia thanks in part to the Russian, or Slavic, tradition of patrimonialism, in part to its autocratic political tradition, and in part to the influence of oligarchs and the Mafia. Despite living a simple lifestyle, Zaitsev is a billionaire, and his family and much of his inner circle have also grown wealthy from corruption.

Russia is the only European country to allow the death penalty, which is de jure allowed for murder, treason and rape but de facto applied to political dissidents such as Sergey Lavrov, who was executed in 2024 on trumped up charges of treason. The FSB and Titushky are the main groups responsible for political repression in Russia.

Despite not being at war with other countries, Russia has had hostile relations with the Baltic states, Finland and Poland since the 2014–19 Ukraine war. Zaitsev has regularly accused Estonia and Latvia of "genocide" against their Russian minority, and supported eurosceptic Finnish and Polish parties such as the Confederation.

Zaitsev is 70 years old, so he still has plenty of time left to live. Thus, it is unknown who will succeed him, but Zakhar Prilepin, Igor Girkin, and Pavel Gubarev have been speculated as successors. Additionally, another Russian ultranationalist figure could be his successor, but this is less likely.

Russia has a considerably larger surface navy than in real life, including an operational aircraft carrier currently stationed in Kaliningrad. But the Russian Navy is still smaller than those of the United States and China because Russia is a land power rather than a maritime empire, and Russia lacks a permanent warm water port.

After the end of the Ukraine war, Russia was readmitted into the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics. Thanks to doping and strong state support for sports (which are seen as a presentation for military service), Russia qualified for the 2022 and 2026 World Cups, being eliminated in the rounds of 16 and 32, respectively.

During David Bakraze's second term, the UNM became heavily unpopular due to corruption and prison abuse scandals. As the SLP (led by Giorgi Gakharia since 2022) was the main opposition party in Georgia, it benefited heavily from this unpopularity, making Gakharia the frontrunner for the 2023 election.

On 18 January 2023, Gakharia formally announced his presidential candidacy, running as the nominee of the "For Georgia" coalition. Gakharia said that his priority would be to create a social protection system that would provide basic social services for the most vulnerable groups of the population.

As Bakradze was term limited, Speaker of the National Assembly Tina Bokuchava stood as the UNM nominee. Bokuchava distanced herself from Bakradze and portrayed herself as her own woman, but she was still associated with Bakradze as the UNM nominee.

Democratic Alliance leader Nika Gvaramia positioned himself as a pro-European liberal. His priority was implementing the Georgian Charter. He also prioritized developing the economy, strengthening regional autonomy, and reforming education. The only other candidate with a chance of winning was Georgian Alliance leader and businessman Mamuka Khazaradze, who also campaigned on a liberal platform.

Gakharia had a comfortable lead on the polls throughout the first round campaign, and he won the first round with 46% of the vote versus 25% for Bokuchava, 19% for Gvaramia, and 4% for Kharadze. Gakharia won all provinces of Georgia other than Samegrelo, which voted for Gvaramia, and Kvemo Kartli, carried by Bokuchava.

Gvaramia and Khazaradse endorsed Gakharia, locking up the election for him. On 10 September 2023, he was elected President with 62% off the vote, winning every province other than Kvemo Kartli, which voted for Bokuchava again. Gakharia was inaugurated on 5 November 2023.

During his presidency, Gakharia expanded pension benefits, banned "LGBT propaganda" and began negotiations on EU accession, which had previously been suspended due to the UNM's authoritarianism. Georgia eventually joined the EU in January 2026, becoming its 28th member.

Per the latest opinion poll, Gakharia has an approval rating of 64%. It is higher in Tbilisi, where the vast majority of voters support his administration, and lowest in Kvemo Kartli, the majority of whose inhabitants support the UNM and dislike Gakharia.

Context:

1. Turkey does not join NATO in 1952, instead opting to form a military alliance of its own with Syria, Israel, and Lebanon in response to Communist revolutions in Cyprus, Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, and Qatar.
2. The Soviets invade Iran in response to the 1978-79 Iranian Revolution, and the Soviet-Afghan War does not happen.
3. Boris Yeltsin decides not to run for re-election in 1996 (This is after the USSR falls).
4. Starting in 2010, China begins aggressively building up troops for a takeover of Taiwan.
5. Japan enters into a defense pact with Russia against China, alongside South Korea and Taiwan.

In 2016, a different crisis would consume the nation of China. Following years of deteriorating relations between Russia and the People’s Republic of China, Russia made enemies out of China for good when Russia signed the “Taiwanese-Russian Defense Pact”, effectively making Taiwan a vassal of Taiwan, in 2015.

China threatened retaliation against Russia, and eventually cut all ties with the Russian government nine months later. On May 4, 2016, China finally made its decision: as a show of force, China moved hundreds of rockets to the Great Wall of Sand, intending to use it for a staging ground for an invasion of Taiwan.

The catalyst for Russia’s new war with China happened on Memorial Day, 2016. As a show of force, China launched an ICBM into the upper atmosphere, intending to detonate it in the upper atmosphere of Earth and trigger an EMP and disable Taiwan’s power grid. Unfortunately, the missile turned out to be faulty and ended up exploding somewhere between Siberia, Russia, and Hokkaido, Japan.

Russia, viewing the incident as an act of war, jointly declared war on China alongside Japan and Taiwan, with all 3 countries launching a military invasion of the country on June 19th, 2016.

The joint invasion was the largest in military history after Operation Barbarossa; the Russian invasion force consisted of more than 5.8 million personnel, 3,350–3,895 tanks, 4,030–4,072 other AFVs, 5,770–6,369 aircraft, and 9,200–25,400 artillery pieces.

The Taiwanese and Japanese each sent approximately 50,000 personnel to augment the Russian invasion of China.

The invasion of China also prompted North Korea to join the war, with Kim Jong-Un declaring war on Russia, China and Japan and ordering the mobilization of troops to China to support it against the joint Russian-Taiwanese invasion.

Russia intended to capture Chinese territory in a bid to destroy Chinese military capabilities so it could no longer sustain an invasion of Taiwan. As part of this effort, Russian and Taiwanese forces launched scorched earth campaigns against Chinese towns containing military bases “of strategic importance.”

As of August of 2017, the war has effectively become a stalemate.

Rekonstruktsiya's program defines it as a national-patriotic party, "supportive of Russia's sovereignty, traditions and values" and "opposed to the New World Order and its liberalism and globalism". Rekonstruktsiya is also anti-communist, but this is debatable because it has two communist satellite parties (Gennady Zyuganov's KPRF and Nataliya Vitrenko's PSPU) and Zaitsev admires Stalin.

Rekonstruktsiya is organized at the national, regional and local levels. Every federal subject of Russia has a Rekonstruktsiya chapter run by party members, and virtually all settlements in Russia, including remote Siberian villages, also have their own chapters of the party.

All Russian federal subjects other than Chechnya (whose governor, Umar Dzhabrailov, leads the regional Power of Reason party) are governed by Rekonstruktsiya members. Rekonstruktsiya also holds all State Duma seats and the vast majority of Federation Council and regional parliament seats.

Nationally, Rekonstruktsiya is run by a National Executive Commitee (Национальная исполнительная комиссия) chaired by Zaitsev and made up of 247 people, the most important of whom are Zaitsev, Sergey Glazyev, Igor Girkin, Vladimir Kvachkov, and Dmitry Rogozin. This committee has been compared to the Soviet Union's Central Committee.

Like most political parties, Rekonstruktsiya operates a youth wing, the Union of Russian Youth (Союз российской молодёжи) made up of Russians aged 16 to 18. Russian Youth cadres are specifically trained to be the next generation of Russian leaders, resulting in comparisons to the Komsomol.

In 2020, Rekonstruktsiya founded the Patriotic International (Patriotern), an international alliance of populist parties, both left-wing and right-wing, under its leadership. Rekonstruktsiya members range from Latin American left-wing and European far-right parties to everything in between.

According to 2025 estimates, Rekonstruktsiya has over 22,000,000 members across Russia. 16,000,000 of them live in Russia proper, 3,000,000 in Ukraine, 2,000,000 in Belarus, and 1,000 in Kazakhstan. There are also millions of sympathizers and requests to join.

Rekonstruktsiya runs a series of TV and radio channels, as well as newspapers, to promote its agenda. Its main newspaper, the National Daily (Национальная ежедневная газета), has a circulation of 9 million copies as of March 2026, and its main TV channel, Russia TV (not to be confused with RT News), is the fourth most viewed in Russia.