So, just to add a bit more clarity here on the Limes issue. It's an Italian magazine that publishes in both Italian and English. The reason for this is a bit obvious if look that its editor/director, Lucio Caracciolo, is a committee member of the Italy–USA Foundation, according to Italian Wikipedia.
The map (as a whole) appears to have been first published in the Italian in issue 6 of 2008, which was dedicated to Obama's policies and challenges (issue cover is "Obama Project"). Wikipedia claims that the magazine is monthly, but it seems to me it might have been bimonthly then, judging by the dates of the accompanying online articles (although maybe there's a publication delay/embargo, I'm not sure). Anyhow, the first mention of the map online (in Italian) seems to be in a Nov 2008 abbreviated editorial (snippet) apparently extracted from that aforementioned issue. Later on, the same editorial/article was translated and published online [in a longer/full version] in English in Jan 2009. The editorial that accompanies the map (itself credited to Laura Canali, who normally draws maps for the magazines) has text bylined to Caracciolo himself. Here's the relevant portion of the English translation given by the magazine itself:
The idea of integrating, bit by bit, every small and medium-sized piece of the former Soviet territory into the West, thereby isolating Russia, should in theory have been to able to rely on the willingness of the Atlantic alliance – and particularly its leader – to protect the new or aspiring members. However, the folly of Saakashvili exposed the inconstancy of American assurances. Not only do Georgia and Ukraine now seem further removed from NATO, but the Atlantic alliance itself was publicly divided over the Caucasian ordeal.
The result is that two geopolitical phenomena, which to Obama must seem like dangerous trends, have become more marked. These are the growing interdependence between central-western Europe (particularly Germany) and Russia (see Coloured Map 4), and the development of a Muscovite sphere of influence within and even beyond the borders of the previous Soviet bloc (taking in the Balkans, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa). Indeed, the proposed “great gas trojka” between Russia, Iran and Qatar, announced on 21 October in Tehran by Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, is just the latest most ominous manifestation. A cartel between the holders of 56% of world reserves of blue gold [T.N. the Russian nickname for gas] capable of dominating the gas market and controlling prices and supplies is bad news for Obama, who has at least paid lip service to the “energy independence” of the United States.
The bursting of the financial bubble has temporarily blunted the claws of – and perhaps chopped something else off – the geopolitical ambitions of Putin and Medvedev, both of whom now need to concentrate on the economic and social consequences of the stock market crash, the flight of foreign capital and, in particular, the collapse of oil prices. A crude oil price of 50 dollars a barrel would, for next year, mean watching half of over 500 billion dollars of reserves go up in smoke and reducing growth to minimal levels, ahead of a probable rise in oil prices in the medium term if only because of the fall in supply.
Obama could take advantage of this downturn to negotiate a modus vivendi with Putin and Medvedev, that avoids causing an unofficial rift in Europe (Eurussia versus Euramerica) and cuts short any ambitions to structure Sino-Russian cooperation along strategic lines. This latter scenario has, up till now, been unpalatable to both giants, who are suspicious if not averse to each other, yet not above engaging in tactical manoeuvring in order to keep the Americans under pressure.
Discussion of the map kinda ends there. The subsequent paras are about nuclear disarmament.
As for "Pravda.ru"/Russian version (not to be confused with the printed newspaper Pravda--they have different owners), that appears to have been posted on their forum rather than appear even in some more spiffy article on Pravda.ru. The forum thread also clearly credits Limes with the map. So the map was not Russian propaganda at its origin (although it depicted a bad case scenario from the pro-US perspective), although it may have been later used as Russian propaganda--I'm not too inclined to investigate the latter in more depth.
If anyone is curious, Limes also has a 2023 version:
