(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Simon Saradzhyan – Oct. 19, 2023) Simon Saradzhyan is the founding director of Russia Matters. BOOK REVIEW “Getting Russia Right” By Thomas Graham Polity, October 2023 Multiple books have been published since Vladimir Putin’s re-invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that explore the sources of Russia’s aggressive conduct. In fact, some of these books were […]
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(Moscow Times – Anastasia Tenisheva – Oct. 21, 2023) MOSCOW — Loud music, people dancing and faces covered with glitter — today, parties in Russia’s capital look like parties anywhere. “As long as there is an opportunity to enjoy life, then you need to do it,” Daria, a Russian in her 20s, told The Moscow Times at a techno music […]
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… [At this year’s Victory Day parade,] Putin was joined … by the leaders of seven other post-Soviet countries, including all five former Soviet Central Asian republics, plus Armenia and Belarus. After more than a year of severe stress, many of those countries have sought to distance themselves from embattled Moscow and find alternative avenues for trade, political connections, and […]
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“The War in Ukraine Hinges on One Man’s Thoughts and Feelings.” “Shortly after the West rebuked Russia for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine and imposed financial sanctions … Putin … put[] … nuclear forces on high alert. The Kremlin has issued many more nuclear threats, some oblique … some explicit …. Even before the war … Russia … reversed its […]
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“… If Russia suffered … defeat in Ukraine and … Putin were removed as president, by the end of 2027 core features of Russia’s state system would be recognizable on the basis of what we see today. But even a managed leadership succession would unleash considerable uncertainty, leading to a broad spectrum of plausible [political, economic and foreign policy] outcomes […]
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“The attacks may be part of the highly anticipated counter-offensive.” “Ukraine’s armed forces are turning up the heat. In the past two weeks our analysis … has detected 907 fires likely to be war-related in Russian-held territory in Ukraine. … more than four times as many as in the two weeks before …. The last time something like this happened […]
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(Moscow Times – Brawley Benson – May 31, 2023) When Ukrainian forces launch their long-awaited counteroffensive this summer, they will be up against multiple lines of Russian fortifications stretching hundreds of miles from the Black Sea to Ukraine’s northern border. The military hazards include trenches and anti-tank obstacles, but Russian soldiers have also been busy laying thousands of landmines. “What […]
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(Moscow Times – Kirill Ponomarev – May 28, 2023) When animation artist Varvara returned to Russia earlier this year for the first time since fleeing abroad after the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the main emotion she felt was surprise. Not by how much had changed in her homeland after over a year of war — but by how little. […]
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