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While the world is focused on Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron has withdrawn all French forces from Mali.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…
Will Iron Felix scare Moscow’s protesters?
While in the West, the debate seems to be about which statue to topple next, in Russia it’s rather different.…
Putin's poisonous prisoner
Alexei Navalny, the man Putin tried to poison, has been sent to prison for two years and eight months — conveniently…
Alexei Navalny is getting under the Kremlin's skin
Only half a year ago the opposition leader Alexei Navalny was a non-person on Russian state media, and Putin’s opulent…
Will Navalny's gamble backfire?
For years, Alexei Navalny had been – barely – tolerated by a Kremlin that was willing to permit very limited…
Putin's New Year's resolution: survive
Even in tough times, Russia tends to put on a show to welcome the New Year, and 2020/21 is no…
Putin’s festive message: the world’s naughty, but I'm nice
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. When a reclusive figure comes bearing gifts, when the air is full…
