By insisting that Skripal deserved his fate rather than simply denying that Moscow had anything to do with it, Vladimir Pastukhov says, Vladimir Putin not only showed the way in which he views relations among states as the same as...
Many commentators are suggesting that Vladimir Putin may seek “a new Crimea” to salvage his ratings with the Russian people, but Vitaly Portnikov says that he “doesn’t think that anyone in the Kremlin was thinking about ratings...
The protests in Russia on Sunday were an unusual event, but they were not “the beginning of a Maidan but rather the beginning of ‘an Arab Spring,” something Vladimir Putin fears more than almost anything else and the reason he...
All too many people in Moscow view Ukraine as a fraternal republic that NATO is using against Russia, Aleksandr Khramchikhin says. In fact, Ukraine is Russia’s mortal enemy and will continue to constitute a serious threat unless and...
Over the last three months, the ratings of Vladimir Putin and the Russian authorities have fallen by almost 20 percent, down to a level not seen since the protest era of 2011-2012. His ratings then led him to invade Ukraine, Viktor...
Moscow’s announcement that it will soon conduct its largest military exercise since 1981 “means only one thing,” Pavel Felgenhauer says. “The Kremlin is actively preparing for a world war.” In fact, the independent Russian...
If Moscow isn’t compelled to return Crimea to Ukraine, a major pillar of the international system that has been in place since 1945 will be destroyed, Aleksandr Skobov says; and a drift toward a major war is inevitable,” one that...
Some anniversaries are marked because they are so important historically that one cannot understand the present without returning to them. Others are commemorated because they contain lessons that remain important for today. Marking the...
Despite suggestions by analysts like Sergey Markedonov that the 2008 Russian-Georgia war is over, Moscow’s aggression against Georgia which began long before 2008 shows no sign of ending anytime soon. Indeed, as the tenth anniversary of...
One of the fundamental weaknesses of liberal Russian thought and behavior, Irina Birna says, is Russian liberals are always ready to criticize the current regime but defend the basis of that regime as such, refusing to see the links...
On 11 October, a three-day meeting of the Synod, or church council, of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, finished in Istanbul. It gave further confirmation that Ukraine is on the path to receiving church independence from Moscow – and healing...
