Putin’s duo are spinning ceasefire talks to Russia’s advantage
The delegation Moscow sent to ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia was clearly well-chosen. Grigory Karasin, for example, the former diplomat…
Trump’s call with Putin has bought Ukraine time
So who won from yesterday’s phone conversation between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin? Arguably, no one did – but nor…
Has Ukraine called Putin’s bluff?
Has Vladimir Putin’s bluff just been called? It certainly looks like it. So long as the Ukrainians were refusing to…
Why Russia has shrugged off Trump’s sanctions threat
While Donald Trump may be threatening Moscow with major new sanctions, as it continues to hammer Ukraine with drones and…
Trump’s pausing of intelligence sharing will hit Ukraine hard
The United States’s decision to suspend all intelligence sharing with Kyiv is a less visible but almost as serious and…
What does Trump’s minerals deal mean for Ukraine?
Has Donald Trump’s heavy-handed negotiation style scored a win, or have the Ukrainians managed to wrench a victory of sorts…
Is Trump’s hostile takeover of Ukraine a trap?
That Donald Trump’s vision of the presidency is less statesman and more CEO of USA Inc. is evident in the…
How seriously will Putin take Ukraine negotiations?
We have no idea whether Vladimir Putin is serious about peace negotiations with Ukraine. He may simply be going through…
Will flattery buy Zelensky help from Trump?
For all the efforts on every side to manage expectations, there is a sense that some kind of Ukraine deal…
Has Putin picked up the phone to Donald Trump?
So, did they speak? How often? What about? The very coyness around the question of whether Donald Trump and Vladimir…
Russia’s quest to woo Africa is paying off
The West may like to convince itself that it is, in the words of one American diplomat, ‘strangling the Russian…
Can a second Kursk offensive give Ukraine bargaining power?
In theory, the Kursk salient is one of the most militarily insignificant fronts of Putin’s war on Ukraine. However, war…
Has Ukraine just carried out another assassination in Moscow?
The Alye Parusa (Scarlet Sails) apartment complex in Moscow’s north-western Shchukino suburb bills itself as an exclusive place to live,…
Britain is taking a punt on Ukraine’s future
There is a perverse congruence of interests between the British and Russian governments, as both sides seek to talk up…
Where have Russia’s Zs gone?
A social media post on 30 December: photographs of admittedly-splendid new year decorations in Moscow, archly captioned ‘back to 2021.’…
Russians are feeling the pinch as Putin’s war rumbles on
The Russian Orthodox Church or state calendar doesn’t recognise 25 December as a special day: their Christmas is 7 January…
Vladimir Putin’s four-and-a-half-hour troll
Every year, Vladimir Putin gives a marathon town hall event that lasts for hours. Every year, I feel compelled to…
Why Ukraine killed Igor Kirillov
Another one down. This morning, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, head of RKhBZ, Russia’s Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence Troops, was heading…
How Putin will make Assad pay for his exile
‘Brave Assad fled to Putin. Where will Putin flee?’ asked Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky after the Syrian dictator escaped embattled…
Russia’s sabotage campaign against the West
When a DHL cargo plane crashed while approaching Vilnius airport on Monday, killing one of the crew, it looked like…
Putin’s mind games still have power over Ukraine
The air raid sirens sounded yesterday, the American embassy in Kyiv closed, as did the Italian and Greek. The British…
Could Trump save Ukraine?
One thousand days into Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, three facts seem to be evident. First, Russia is losing.…
Can Russia really ban smoking?
The UK isn’t the only place which has been toying with the idea of introducing a ‘generational’ tobacco ban. Rishi…
The Novichok inquiry raises some big questions for MI5
The inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess as an innocent victim of the attempt to murder Russian double-agent Sergei…
Why MI5 is so worried about Russia’s GRU
Ken McCallum, head of the Security Service (MI5), has warned of the serious threat to Britain posed by the Russian…
