Mara Morini is an associate professor of Political Science at the University of Genoa, where she teaches Politics of Eastern Europe and Comparative Politics. She is an OSCE-ODIHR election observer in post-Soviet countries and coordinator of European projects with Russian universities, as well as a columnist for the newspapers Domani, La Gazzetta di Parma and Il secolo XIX. Her publications include La Russia di Putin (Putin’s Russia, 2020, il Mulino), with G. Natalizia La svolta della Russia (Russia’s Turning Point, 2023, Carocci) and L’Asia centrale contesa. Il “nuovo grande gioco” tra l’Eurasia e l’Occidente (Contested Central Asia. The “New Great Game” between Eurasia and the West, 2024, McGraw Hill).