A love letter to Turkey’s lost past
Patricia Daunt’s collection of essays is a fascinating exploration of some of Turkey’s most beautiful and evocative places, from the…
The hunger
In 1933 my aunt Lenina Bibikova was eight years old. She lived in Kharkov, Ukraine. Every morning a polished black…
Ukraine’s last best hope
Georgia’s former president may be a reckless narcissist, but he could change everything
Putin’s Syria problem
For Vladimir Putin, Syria has been the gift that kept on giving. His 2015 military intervention propelled Russia back to…
Only obeying orders
Spare a thought for the poor Gulag guard: the rifleman standing in the freezing wind on the outside of the…
Red faces
How to celebrate the centenary of the Russian revolutions of 1917? Modern Russians are deeply divided over the legacy of…
Russia’s puritan revolution
Last weekend a group of young activists turned out on a Moscow street to protest against western decadence. They were…
Russia’s dumping ground
Almost as soon as Siberia was first colonised by Cossack conquistadors in the 17th century, it became a place of…
Bear baiting
Oh those Russians. When they’re not beating up English football fans, they’re cheating at the Olympics. They occupy other countries…
Putin’s great game
In Syria, the Russian leader is on the verge of his biggest – and riskiest – coup yet
How Putin outwitted the West
His cynical statecraft in Syria has run rings around Britain and America
Putin and the polygamists
The Kremlin is tying itself in ideological knots as it tries to make new friends in the Muslim world
Diary
Moscow Here we go again. The rouble slides, then tumbles, and slides again. For those of us who remember the…
Letter from Donetsk
For what is technically peacetime, there’s a lot of shelling going on round here. Donetsk airport is still held by…
The frightening face of Russia’s future
Cuddly liberals aren’t going to displace Putin: his real challengers are ultra-nationalists like Igor Strelkov
Empire of deceit
Putin’s answer to the destruction of Flight MH17 has been more propaganda. In Russia, at least, it seems to be working
Will there be war in Ukraine?
Further Russian military intervention would be a disaster. But Putin might have to do it anyway
Forever on the march
On a recent weekend I was thinking of taking my sons to downtown Istanbul to do some bazaar browsing. ‘Bad…
Putin’s poison pill
Losing Crimea will be the making of Ukraine. And gaining it might well destroy the Russian president
Putin’s masterplan
Russia is returning as an ideological force in the world – to champion conservative values
Putin’s own Cold War
Russia is ever more hostile to the US. But the US no longer needs to care
