What the Dugin assassination tells us about Russia
Car bombs used to be a fixture of gangland feuds in 1990s Russia but have since fallen out of fashion. This…
Ukraine has found Russia’s Achilles’ heel in Crimea
Another day, another Russian arms depot up in smoke. The latest attack, this time on an ammunition storage site near…
Ukraine’s Crimean strike marks a new stage of the war
For most Russians, the brutal realities of Vladimir Putin’s ‘special military operation’ have not really struck home. Ukraine’s attack on…
Why Zelensky is purging the security services of Ukraine
Could a general of the SBU, the security service of Ukraine, really have helped Russia take the city of Kherson?…
Russia is militarising its economy
The ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine isn’t a war – there’s a law and a possible maximum sentence (though no…
Does Putin’s ‘toxic masculinity’ really matter?
Apparently, if Vladimir Putin had been a woman, everything would be just tickety-boo. Speaking to German TV, Boris Johnson has said…
What Russia's military shake-up reveals about Putin's war in Ukraine
When General Alexander Dvornikov was made overall commander of Russia’s forces in April, it looked as if the amateurishness and…
How Russia’s cartoon heroine turned on Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin’s regime has a track record in building up public heroes whom it hopes to use, only to find…
Putin is no Peter the Great
Putin has a penchant for history, but only insofar it flatters him and his views. Last year, he gifted the…
How the West is helping Putin's propagandists
One might not think that J. R. R. Tolkien has much to do with the bitter war in Ukraine, but…
Does Putin have blood cancer?
Suddenly, we are all diagnosticians. Clips of a puffy Putin slurring his words, his hands twitching or clutching a table…
The real reason for Putin’s intelligence shake-up
It has been reported this week that Vladimir Putin is shifting responsibility for covert operations in Ukraine to a different…
How Ukraine rained on Putin’s parade
The Russians know how to put on a parade, and Victory Day is the showiest of the shows. It may…
Why Putin’s ‘Satanic’ missile launch matters
In some ways, it’s a headline-writer’s dream: Putin puts his faith in Satan. In reality, it’s actually Putin’s new RS-28…
Putin is devouring his children
Like the Greek titan Cronos devouring his own children, Vladimir Putin seems determined to turn against those he was once…
The terrifying neo-Nazi mercenaries being deployed in Ukraine
Given how the Kremlin is so determined to portray Ukraine as a hotbed of Nazis, it is tragically ironic not…
Good riddance to Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russia’s clown prince
He wanted to see the Baltic States bombarded with toxic waste. He brawled in parliament. He encouraged Vladimir Putin to declare…
Even Putin's Praetorian Guard is turning against him
You’d think a ruthless autocrat who believes he faces a West that wants to unseat him with people power would…
Russia’s best and brightest are fleeing Putin
News that Putin’s climate envoy Anatoly Chubais has quit his position and left the country is no great surprise and,…
Why is Putin firing a hypersonic missile in Ukraine?
Putin, like many other belligerent autocrats, does like his Wunderwaffen, or ‘wonder weapons.’ Now it appears he’s even used one…
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…
