Putin’s totalitarian turn
Putin, of course, can never be wrong. Hence the desperate struggle, familiar to other personalised authoritarianisms, to find suitable scapegoats,…
The West needs to prepare for guerrilla war in Ukraine
Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov warned this week that convoys of weapons being sent to Ukraine would be considered…
Is Russia becoming a dictatorship?
Is Russia heading for dictatorship? Some would think it is already there, but even today there are still some remnants…
Putin's propaganda machine is breaking down
As protests continue against the war in Ukraine, and as Russian casualties mount, the Kremlin has launched the predictable two-prong…
The war in Ukraine has divided Putin’s court
It is striking how little enthusiasm there is in Russia for Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine – but for some, it has…
Putin is deluded if he thinks Ukraine will quickly fold
So it’s war. For all Vladimir Putin may want to call it a ‘special military operation,’ as missiles rain down…
Has Putin outplayed Macron in Africa?
While the world is focused on Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron has withdrawn all French forces from Mali. Last weekend, thousands of…
Russia's Ukraine invasion is an own goal for Putin
Vladimir Putin does like to keep us guessing. While Western governments were warning in increasingly apocalyptic terms of a full-scale…
Putin has created a Schrödinger’s war in Ukraine
In his famous thought experiment, Schrödinger’s cat was both dead and alive in potential, until its box was opened to…
Putin and Xi’s Potemkin alliance
Vladimir Putin very rarely travels abroad these days – and Xi Jinping has not met a foreign leader in person…
Britain's fiery relationship with Russia could help Ukraine
Britain last night sent soldiers and hi-tech kit to bolster up Ukraine’s defences amidst the threat of a Russian invasion.…
No, Putin isn't trying to bring the Soviet Union back
On Christmas Day 1991, in his last act as president, Mikhail Gorbachev signed away the existence of the Union of…
Is Vladimir Putin really willing to invade Ukraine?
Is Putin preparing to invade Ukraine? It certainly looks that way, with western intelligence agencies estimating this week that around…
Britain's duty to the Black Sea
With Russian troops massing on Ukraine’s borders, the Black Sea is looking choppy. While that may seem to have little…
Is Russia ready for a Romanov restoration?
Hail the tsar! Georgy Romanov, great-grandson of Grand Duke Kirill, cousin to Nicholas II, the ill-fated final Emperor of Russia,…
Why Russia’s Olympic punishment backfired
The Tokyo Olympics are over and fifth place in the medals table went to the ‘ROC’, the Russian Olympic Committee.…
Why Joe Biden’s Russia-bashing is a tactical mistake
You might not think that Geoff Norcott, the self-proclaimed conservative comedian, has something to contribute to western relations with Russia,…
The Soviet spectre haunting Afghanistan
As US and British forces pull out of Afghanistan, further victims of the ‘grave of empires’, Russia is experiencing a mix…
Lukashenko’s migrant warfare against the EU
When you have already forced a plane down with spurious claims of a bomb threat, just to arrest one dissident…
Why an EU-Russia summit was always going to fail
When Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel unilaterally proposed a European Union summit with Vladimir Putin, they managed to open deep…
The real reason Putin targeted HMS Defender
When military personnel talk of ‘theatres’ they mean a zone of conflict. Moscow seems to take the term increasingly literally,…
It's time to kick out Lukashenko's KGB thugs
While the EU agonises about whether to boycott Belarusian potash or state-owned oil companies, there is one very easy measure…
Alexei Navalny's big gamble
Alexei Navalny seems to undergoing a metamorphosis. Yesterday, we saw him attending another trial by video, looking gaunt after 24…
Putin steps back from the Ukrainian brink
After weeks building up forces in Crimea and close to the Ukrainian border — over 100,000, all told — Moscow…
The rules of Putin's game
What does Putin want? It’s more straightforward than you might think: usually the answer is ‘what he says’. It’s worth remembering…
