Russia

Happy birthday, Mr President? With Vladimir Putin turning 72 on Monday, this has become an opportunity for the Kremlin’s spin doctors to present their ideal notion of the septuagenarian sovereign. Ambitious courtiers have been competitively performing their sycophancy, as if in an over-the-top production of King Lear. Posters were anonymously pasted up in Kyiv, vowing that ‘Putin will come and restore order’ The ponderous official paper of record, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, offered up a portrait of the diligent chief executive: ‘Russian President Vladimir Putin will celebrate his birthday in a working environment. On October 7, the head of state will meet with CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States‘) leaders who will arrive

Many were killed. Others hid in the fields, forests and basements, sometimes for days, before surrendering to the Ukrainian forces. Frightened, ill-equipped and with very little – if any – training, hundreds of Russian conscripts (prizyvniki) have been captured in the two months since Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region began. Yet another of the innumerable tragedies of Putin’s criminal war, the plight of conscripts is a window into Russia’s ability to conduct a ‘long war’. When neither the army’s relentless press-ganging nor its exorbitant sign-up bonuses and soldiers’ salaries appear to attract enough men to make up for the staggering casualties on the front, it is these boys who

It is a little unsettling that the merchant ship MV Ruby is anchored off Margate, carrying 20,000 tonnes of Russian ammonium nitrate. This is seven times the amount of ammonium nitrate that caused the Beirut explosion in 2020, which killed 218 people and injured 6,000. While ammonium nitrate is usually sold as plant fertiliser, it can also be used in explosives. Some worry that there is a bomb a third of the size of the one detonated over Hiroshima within striking distance of London. Since leaving the White Sea port of Kandalaksha in July, the 23,760-tonne MV Ruby has exhibited unusual behaviour. Sailing under a Maltese flag, she was grounded during a storm, damaging

‘Whatever happens, Vladimir Putin must not be allowed to win the war in Ukraine’. For the first time since being released from a Russian prison in August, the politician Vladimir Kara-Murza arrived in London this week for a series of high-profile meetings to discuss Russia’s future.  Kara-Murza, who holds both Russian and British citizenship, was sentenced for 25 years in Russia’s penal system last year for speaking out against the war in Ukraine. He was set free alongside the journalist Evan Gershkovich and US marine Paul Whelan last month in the largest prisoner swap held between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War. ‘We have no

Vladimir Putin, it seems, is procrastinating. Just when the war in Ukraine was going his way and the Russian army doing what it does best – pummelling its way forward like a leaden-footed but seemingly unstoppable heavyweight boxer – Kyiv has sneaked in a powerful side punch. By launching an incursion into the Kursk region, Ukraine has not only breached the borders of Mother Russia – the inner sanctum of what is still a regional empire of control and influence – but also opened a second front. For days Ukrainians braced for a spiteful rejoinder. Perhaps Putin would lash out with withering rocket attacks, a devastating bombing raid against a

As Ukrainian forces continue to gain ground in the Russian region of Kursk, the humiliation for Vladimir Putin is growing. Faced with a mounting crisis, the Kremlin is responding in the only way it knows how: deflection and disinformation. A briefing by Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR) published this morning argued that ‘Zelensky is taking crazy steps that threaten to escalate far beyond Ukraine.’ The SVR claimed that there is growing unhappiness in the US with the Ukrainian president over the incursion and that they are looking to replace him with a more malleable candidate – supposedly one who will better represent the West’s interests at future peace negotiations. The intelligence

It has been seven days since Ukraine began its attack on the Russian region of Kursk – with Ukrainian soldiers launching the first successful cross-border invasion of Russia since the second world war.  Still, Ukraine is showing no signs yet of slowing down. This morning, local authorities in the neighbouring Russian region of Belgorod announced that the evacuation of civilians from the area had begun. This is the second Russian region to evacuate since Kyiv’s invasion began last Tuesday. It is not just Russian resources that are being spread more thinly Addressing the escalating situation in a video on his social media channels, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote: ‘This morning is an

It’s four days into Ukraine’s surprise offensive in the Russian region of Kursk and Moscow is only just sending reinforcements to repel the advance. Multiple launch rocket systems, artillery guns and armoured vehicles – which were probably redeployed from other parts of the front line – have been sent to shore up defences, according to the Russian ministry of defence. The delayed response has reportedly allowed Ukrainian forces to advance as far as 10 kilometres inside Russia’s territory, forcing Moscow to declare a ‘federal emergency’ in the region and tell several thousand of civilians from districts around the town of Sudzha to relocate. It’s the deepest cross-border advance by Kyiv