Vladimir Putin
Has Putin resurrected the West?
I think Putin will have been surprised. I mean: I was surprised. Weren’t you? Not, necessarily, that Ukraine should have…
A new Europe is emerging from this crisis
With every hour that Kiev holds out, the geopolitics of Europe changes more. Germany, which so values its prohibition on…
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…
Boris Johnson needs even tougher sanctions to deter Putin
Boris Johnson has just outlined a series of further sanctions on Russia. They are considerably more substantial than the ones…
Read: The Prime Minister'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…
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While the world is focused on Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron has withdrawn all French forces from Mali.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…
Would Trump have prevented the crisis in Ukraine?
‘I know Vladimir Putin very well,’ said Donald Trump yesterday, speaking of the Ukraine crisis, ‘he would have never done…
Putin's next move
Budapest Russian troops, many apparently without insignia, began advancing into the disputed Donbas region yesterday. The question now is how…
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…
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…
Viktor Orbán or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Putin
Viktor Orbán first came to prominence when in 1989 he declared on live TV that Hungary must put an end…
Was the Kazakhstan uprising an attempted Jihadi takeover?
The Kazakh uprising is over. The stench of burnt-out vehicles and bombed out buildings in Kazakhstan’s most populous city and…
Glasnost merely confirmed Russia’s deep-seated suspicion of democracy
Thirty years ago the Soviet Union was guttering to its close. Those of us who were there remember the exhilarating…
Is Russia preparing to invade Ukraine?
I can still hear the battlefields of eastern Ukraine. Just a mile or so from us, thousands of Russian troops…
The mystery of Vladimir Putin’s mistresses
There’s an odd thing about 18-year old Luiza Rozova’s instagram feed. You can see photos of her breakfasts (sliced exotic…
Ella Pamfilova and the dismantling of Russia’s democracy
Vladimir Putin’s Russia is hardly known for its free and fair elections. But a purge of the field ahead of…
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,…
Inside a dictator's playground
Armed soldiers guard the barbed-wire compound. Helicopters buzz around the parameter, drifting above families on tandem bicycles. Groups of giggling…
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…
The Kremlin's plan to destabilise the West
On Sunday, Russia releasedits new National Security Strategy. In many ways, it picked up from where the 2015 version left…
Biden and Putin have left Britain out in the cold
It would probably be wrong to say that Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin got on like a house on fire.…
Why sanctions against Putin and his allies don’t work
Sanctions against Putin and his allies don’t work
