Russia
‘Putin may be prepared to go to the limits’
Antony Beevor and Serhii Plokhy in conversation
Letters
Russian misrule Sir: Your editorial (‘Sanction Schroder’, 21 May) laments that western sanctions may be harming ordinary Russians, given that…
The EU’s oil ban is a damp squib
When Putin’s tanks rolled into Ukraine on 24 February there was a conceit that this might be the first war…
Germany is failing Ukraine
‘A giant step for German and European security,’ is how Chancellor Olaf Scholz described his government’s €100 billion cash injection…
How Russia wins
It is still too early to predict the outcome of the war in Ukraine. Russia has certainly solidified its position…
The West is watching the war in Ukraine like it’s sport
Every time I hear a politician speak of Munich, I suspect that something is amiss. Last week, President Zelensky accused…
Are sanctions working?
As oil prices surge, Putin’s billions are soaring
Could Putin be toppled?
The former head of MI6 on where Russia has gone wrong – and what happens next
A short history of dogs in war
In his own inimitable way, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has unleashed his dogs of war on Vladimir Putin and once…
Inside Russia’s military collapse in Ukraine
The Russian military has performed far worse in Ukraine than anyone could ever have predicted. After failing to take Kyiv,…
Letters
Don’t ban Russia’s culture Sir: It is uncouth, illiterate and actually beneficial to Putin when theatres, opera houses and other…
Portrait of the week
Home The annual rate of inflation, impelled by energy costs, rose to 9 per cent, its highest since 1982. Unemployment…
Roman myths
Ravenna, Italy The war in Ukraine has caused an unholy convergence of the left and right in Italy.…
Cold Turkey
Why is Erdogan resisting Nato’s expansion?
Sanction Schröder
From the start of the war in Ukraine, the democratic world has shown striking unity in the economic boycott of…
Russia and the death of the Golden Arches theory
Ah, well, it was a lovely idea, born of the age of liberal-democratic triumphalism that was the 1990s: the ‘Golden…
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…
Theatre of war
Russians must mobilise their own culture against Putin
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…
Why the new Anglo-Swedish pact matters
Boris Johnson will arrive in Stockholm tomorrow to sign a defence agreement with Sweden to tide the country over until it…
Putin’s cult of war
This idolisation of the Soviet military is Russia’s modern tragedy. Not least because it is crucial to Putin’s way of…
Read: Vladimir Putin’s victory day speech in full
The following is The Spectator’s translation of Putin’s speech for victory day 2022. Most respected citizens of Russia, dear veterans,…
Is Putin preparing for total war on 9 May?
Ahead of Russia’s annual Victory Day celebration on 9 May – which marks the date the Soviet Union defeated Nazi…
No, BP’s profit hasn’t boosted Starmer’s windfall-tax call
BP’s ‘underlying’ first-quarter profit of $6.2 billion, compared with $2.6 billion in the first quarter of 2021, was a direct…
Wild life
Yet again, millions of civilians across the Horn of Africa are starving. The world blames the crisis on drought and…
