In this edition of THE BIRCH, we continue a 20-year legacy of empowering undergraduate voices in their study of issues seldom covered by global media, fostering discourse that goes beyond mainstream narratives of Russia, Eurasia, and Eastern Europe.

The articles in this journal cover under-discussed topics that exist in the underbelly of our societies. From youth gangs in Georgia to HIV in Russia, from narratives of alcoholism to the realities of prostitution, our edition seeks to critically reject fixed thought processes and expectations. We hope that writers and readers alike will begin to question beyond the obvious and to interrogate the underlying assumptions that constitute this political and cultural moment.

Since THE BIRCH 2025 issue, Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression in Ukraine has only intensified, enabled by the United States’ increasingly passive role on the international stage. Beyond Ukraine, conflict and its consequences loom over the region, with unresolved tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh and Russian-occupied Georgia just two stark examples.

However, 2026 has also been marked with moments of hope. Peter Magyar’s electoral victory ended the 16-year autocratic rule of Victor Orban that eroded democratic institutions in Hungary and undermined critical legislation in the European Union. While it’s impossible to know the immediate implications of Orban’s defeat, it nonetheless demonstrates the importance of a core tenet of this journal’s mission: to reject complacency, and to challenge unjust realities with critical inquiry and scholarship.

We are proud to share that interest in THE BIRCH continues to grow, and with it, the remarkable amount and quality of submissions. Here is a selection of only a few standout pieces from the diverse group of articles we received, all of which pushed the envelope beyond previous editions. As the oldest undergraduate Slavic journal in the United States, we won’t stop encouraging, strengthening, and growing alongside the voices of long-overlooked perspectives and underrepresented ideas.

We are beyond grateful to our writers, without whom THE BIRCH would not be possible, our team of passionate editors, the Columbia University Department of Slavic Languages, and the Harriman Institute for their unwavering commitment to our mission. And, most of all, we would like to thank you, our reader, for allowing us to share undergraduate voices, the next generation of scholars, thinkers, and changemakers within the Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European spaces. We are honored to present you with the 2026 edition of THE BIRCH!

Lora Tseytlin & Alaina Parent

Editors-in-Chief of THE BIRCH‍ ‍