Tag: Russia’s war on Ukraine

Nearly a third of the Russian population is under 25, and many support President Vladimir Putin.

Fighting in southeastern Ukraine has intensified, with the use of Grad missiles by Russian-backed militants recorded,

Whether Vladimir Putin will launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the near future or simply continue to engage in destabilizing sabre-rattling to undermine Kyiv and distract Russians from their problems at home in advance of the Duma elections and the international community from his actions is far from clear.

Three of the four leaders of the “Normandy Quartet” — French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin — will not have a trilateral meeting in Beijing, but only bilateral meetings, the Kremlin announced.

The Russian and Ukrainian media are avidly investigating the claims made by Russia’s Federal Security Service regarding two alleged Crimean border clashes. The opinion is that war will escalate due to the Kremlin’s vow to respond to the clashes and other factors.

As the world’s attention shifts, many Russians and many in the West are telling themselves that Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine has been a war like any other regardless of whether they support it or not. But in fact, as Arkady Babchenko points out, this has been something else, “a point of bifurcation” and a fundamental turning point in Russian history.

Staunton, October 22 – Vladimir Putin has decided to listen to Russia’s hawks and intensify his confrontation with the West, a clear defeat for the so-called “peace party” in Moscow but quite possibly a good thing for Ukraine, according to Russian commentator Andrey Piontkovsky. By receiving Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, Putin indicated that he has […]

Staunton, July 12 – One of Moscow’s greatest propaganda successes has been its ability to convince even its opponents in Kyiv and Western capitals to speak of what Russia is doing in Ukraine as “a hybrid war,” as if by adding that adjective Vladimir Putin’s actions were somehow less appalling and illegal, Yury Feltshtinsky says. […]

Staunton, June 2 – The West has been far more united and tougher about Russia’s intervention in Ukraine than anyone would have expected only a year ago, but “one must understand that the West having adopted a tactic about this conflict all the same has not yet elaborated a strategy,” according to Liliya Shevtsova. As […]

Last week we reported how volunteer Russian fighters from the Ural Mountains region went to fight in the Donbass alongside the Russian-backed militants in the Prizrak Brigade there, but came back somewhat underwhelmed by the living conditions and lack of combat opportunity. These were the people sent by the Sverdlovsk Fund for Spetsnaz Veterans and […]