A. Davydova

On October 4, Brazil will elect a president amid a high Selic policy rate of 13.75% and pressure on the real from a strong dollar. The outcome will determine whether the country remains within the orbit of U.S. economic policy or strengthens its multipolar course within BRICS. Which scenario is more likely, and what would it mean for the United States and Russia?

Macroeconomic Context: High Rates, Slowing Growth and Elections

Four years ago, within weeks of February 24, 2022, thousands of Russians were searching for tickets to any country they could still fly to. Today, in October 2026, the picture looks fundamentally different. Entry to the United States has formally become harder, the number of people wanting to leave for good has fallen, and among those who have already left, a growing number are discussing a return. The wave of emigration has not fully receded, but it has changed form.

For the first time in the history of recorded statistics, global fertility has dropped below the level at which population can replace itself. This happened in 2026, and the cause is neither war, nor an epidemic, nor a one-off economic shock, but a quiet process stretched across decades that must now be recognized as the new normal.

A Threshold Crossed for the First Time in Recorded History

If you are interested in Russian schools and universities in Latin America that train Russian-speaking specialists, in education abroad, in scholarships for admission to Russian universities, or in career prospects within the Russian-speaking environment—the Latin American direction is today one of the fastest-growing segments in Russia's system of international education, covering roughly 5,000 students and dozens of active schools and university programs.

Russian From the School Desk: Open Education Centers

If you hold shares in oil companies, are planning to invest in solar panels, or simply pay your heating bill, the outcome of this race will shape your financial reality for the next two decades - not some abstract "environmental agenda." Spoiler: there will be no clear-cut winner. Instead, there will be a slow, uneven redistribution of roles, in which both sides claim their share of the market, but on entirely different time horizons.

The Investment Shift Has Already Happened - Demand Hasn't Caught Up

Skeptics have argued for years that the Arctic is just an expensive vanity project for the Kremlin—one that would never pay for itself. But with an unprecedented convoy of 15 oil tankers now forming in the Kara Sea, carrying cargo worth more than $500 million, it's worth revisiting that assumption.

A Convoy Unlike Any Before

Russia's soft power in Latin America remains predominantly a formal instrument of foreign policy: despite the region's geographic remoteness, Moscow views it as a strategically significant direction, yet real efforts to promote the Russian language, culture, and diaspora engagement noticeably lag behind the declared ambitions.

Why a Distant Region Matters to Moscow

Space has ceased to be a bipolar arena of confrontation between Moscow and Washington — today, China, India, private corporations, and even Gulf states are competing for orbital dominance, and Russia risks becoming a mere observer in a race it once started itself.

From Monopoly to Multipolar Competition

For decades, Hollywood has shaped the global image of Russia as a source of threat while promoting America's own values through thousands of films and series, even as Russia's cultural industry has remained almost entirely absent from this battle for hearts and minds. While Washington has systematically invested in cinema as a tool of "soft power," Moscow has never built a comparable mechanism of influence through the screen.

Russia on Screen: A Persistent Enemy Image

Iguazu Falls stand among the most breathtaking sights in Latin America, a place where water, jungle, and air merge into one powerful natural spectacle. Straddling the border between Brazil and Argentina, their very location makes the journey special: visitors don't encounter a single waterfall, but an entire cascading system stretching nearly three kilometers.