• What does Putin want?

    Ian Hill     |      January 31, 2025

    Donald Trump has urged Vladimir Putin to end the fighting in Ukraine but a long-term, durable settlement in Ukraine will require Washington and its European allies to face up squarely to Moscow’s more confrontational and expansive ambitions.

  • Understanding Russia

    Paul Dibb     |      January 25, 2025

    This essay examines the sources of Russian power and aggressive outlook from an historical, cultural and geopolitical perspective to help predict Russia’s future behaviour.

  • Hey, Vlad! China is not your friend

    Fergus Neilson     |      November 30, 2024

    China has positioned itself as an ally of Russia in Putin’s brutal war of conquest in Ukraine, but over time demographic, economic and strategic realities suggest it will be China that dominates Russia.

  • The trial of Vladimir Putin

    Rowan Nicholson     |      April 21, 2024

    In his new book “The Trial of Vladimir Putin”, barrister Geoffrey Robertson dramatises what might happen within the walls of a future courtroom if the Russian dictator and war criminal was ever brought to justice for his imperialist assault on Ukraine.

  • The martyrdom of Alexei Navalny

    Andreï Kozovoï     |      March 20, 2024

    The murder of Alexei Navalny was designed to intimidate Russia’s opposition before Russia’s fraudulent election but merely confirmed Navalny’s status as a martyr in the eyes of the world and Russian history.

  • A sham election in a hollow state

    Matthew Sussex     |      March 15, 2024

    Having murdered or imprisoned anyone who dared stand up to his murderous rule, Vladimir Putin will install himself for yet another term as Russian President this weekend, driving his country ever further down a dark road of repression, aggression and decay.

  • Under his thumb

    Ostap Kushnir     |      March 4, 2024

    Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has never understood why Ukrainians want to control their own destiny or choose a free democratic future as part of Europe rather than cling to the memory of Soviet suppression.

  • Keep on fighting

    Stephen Hall     |      February 28, 2024

    Stalinist show trials and the murder of opposition figures show the depth of Soviet-style repression in Putin’s Russia but the death of Alexei has not dimmed the resolve of his wife and other dissidents to ‘keep on fighting’.

  • The man who scared Putin

    Robert Horvath     |      February 19, 2024

    The death of Alexei Navalny in an Arctic labour camp is a blow to all those who dreamed he might emerge as the leader of a future democratic Russia.

  • A light went out in Russia

    Mark Nicol     |      February 19, 2024

    The death of Russian dissident and opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison is a tragedy for Russia and hopes for a more peaceful and democratic world.

  • Do Russians believe Putin’s propaganda?

    Theodore Horowitz     |      September 24, 2023

    Do Russian people, restricted from the global internet and fed a relentless diet of propaganda, really trust their state media? To understand the answer requires a proper understanding of the Russian concept of “vranyo”.

  • Russia’s war on journalists

    Kelly Bjorklund     |      September 21, 2023

    Along with targeting civilians, hospitals, schools, orphanages, residential buildings and churches in Ukraine, Putin’s henchmen have also been gunning down journalists, just as they do in Russia itself where almost 50 journalists have been murdered since his criminal regime came to power.