Staunton, November 24 – No one can deny that Western sanctions and the declining price of oil have had a negative impact on Russia, but few recognize the other side of the coin: Western sanctions saved Vladimir Putin by allowing him the opportunity to shift blame for what has gone wrong in Russia away from […]
Staunton, November 24 – Loose talk by Vladimir Putin and others in Moscow about using nuclear weapons has not only united the West in ways that nothing else, including Russian aggression in Ukraine, could, but it is spreading fear among those near Putin about their future prospects in such a brave new world, according to […]
Staunton, November 14 – The fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago did not end the division between East and West as some imagine. Instead, that division, although it now runs along a line several hundred kilometers further east, has turned out to be far more significant and longer-lasting than many want to believe, […]
Welcome to our new column, Russia Update, where we will be closely following day-to-day developments in Russia, including the Russian government’s foreign and domestic policies. The previous issue is here, and see also our Russia This Week. Russia has expelled four Polish and one German diplomat in tit-for-tat action against the EU countries’ expulsion of […]
Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. An archive of our liveblogs can be found here. For an overview and analysis of this developing story see our latest podcast. Please help The Interpreter to continue providing this valuable information service by making a donation towards our costs. View Ukraine: April, 2014 in a larger map For […]
Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. An archive of our liveblogs can be found here. For an overview and analysis of this developing story see our latest podcast. Please help The Interpreter to continue providing this valuable information service by making a donation towards our costs. View Ukraine: April, 2014 in a larger map For […]
Staunton, July 27 – Having taken the measure of the West and found it wanting, Vladimir Putin has expanded his aggression from the military occupation of Crimea to the organization of irredentist insurgencies in eastern Ukraine to the shooting down of the Malaysian jetliner to the shelling of Ukrainian targets from the territory of the […]
Staunton, May 27 – The Moscow and Western media have devoted enormous attention to the few dozen Russian officials who have been blocked from visiting a few countries in the West, but they have largely ignored the terrifying plans of the Putin regime to keep some five million Russian citizens from travelling outside the Russian […]
Staunton, May 15 – Separatist and pro-German sentiment among ethnic Russians in Kaliningrad reflects not only German revanchist efforts but the threat of “the alienation of young from the Russian world” if they are “cut off” for a lengthy period from Russia and if Moscow acts as if “’there are no problems’” with such people, […]
Staunton, May 15 – A survey of Russian parliamentarians present and past shows that they are nearly unanimous in believing that the OSCE proposal about Ukraine shows that “the West is retreating” from its earlier positions on the conflict there but wants to do so in a “face-saving way.” As it often does on political […]
