Russia
To hurt Putin, go for oil and gas – not Swift
Both the British and the Americans have been explicit that it is the Europeans who are blocking Russia being cut…
Is Britain prepared for the cost of sanctions?
Sanctions hit both sides: this is a point that Joe Biden has made to Americans and Olaf Scholz is making…
Will the West shut Russia out of Swift?
You may never have heard of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications — or at least not by its…
The Ukraine invasion is good news for Wall Street
Don’t be fooled by the pictures that will shortly start to emerge of traders apparently tearing their hair out against…
Read: Boris Johnson’s address to the nation as Russia invades Ukraine
Shortly after 4 o’clock this morning I spoke to President Zelensky of Ukraine to offer the continued support of the…
Boris Johnson promises more sanctions
Following Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Boris Johnson has addressed the nation. Speaking from 10…
What is the point of the UN?
When all this is over, we will have to hold a grown-up and perhaps very difficult conversation about the United…
Europe is painfully reliant on Putin
Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine in the early hours of this morning, starting with a massive air attack from…
Two reasons Putin thinks he can weather sanctions
The nature of the Russian attack on Ukraine, striking across the country and not just concentrating on the territory claimed…
Why we shouldn’t ban Russia Today
Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary, has written to Ofcom urging it to keep the situation with Russia Today ‘very carefully…
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While the world is focused on Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron has withdrawn all French forces from Mali.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…
Putin’s next move
Budapest Russian troops, many apparently without insignia, began advancing into the disputed Donbas region yesterday. The question now is how…
Putin must look at the West and laugh
Whatever the West’s response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine’s sovereignty, the crisis demonstrates the limitations of western politics and policy…
Macron’s diplomatic failure in Russia was still a political success
President Emmanuel Macron may or may not have imagined that his mission to Moscow would head off armed conflict in…
Are the lights about to go out across Europe?
Today’s snap decision by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to halt Nord Stream 2 — the new pipeline intended to export…
It’s too late to break Europe’s gas reliance on Russia
So, Nord Stream 2 will not be plugged into Germany’s gas grid. A little surprisingly, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been…
Sanctions won’t stop Putin
The Lithuanian prime minister, Ingrida Šimonyte, put it well yesterday: ‘the way we respond will define us for the generations to…
Will Putin now roll on to Kiev?
The White House told us with absolute certainty that there would be an invasion of Ukraine this week — instead…
The seismic importance of Putin’s latest move
Vladimir Putin has tonight unilaterally recognised the two breakaway republics in Ukraine. In doing so, he has effectively ended the…
How the Ukraine crisis ends
Vladimir Putin does not think in the way the West does. Of course sanctions will hurt. But so what? He…
The Spectator’s Notes
When Sir Tony Brenton writes a letter to the Times, as he frequently does, it always says at the bottom…
What Russia really wants
You have the advantage over me. It may be that you are reading this now in your makeshift fallout shelter,…
Why should we save Putin from himself?
‘Never interrupt your enemy,’ said Napoleon, ‘when he is making a mistake.’ A Russian invasion and occupation of Ukraine would…
War games
Is Putin playing with the western press?
War and peace
How Putin bewilders the West
