History shows that Donald Trump is making a serious error in appeasing Vladimir Putin: The policy of appeasement – strategic concessions to an aggressor that are designed to avoid war – is generally most closely associated in the UK with the Conservative leader Neville Chamberlain, prime minister between May 1937 and May 1940. When Chamberlain …
Putin mulls over US-Ukrainian ceasefire proposal – but the initial signs aren’t positive: While Donald Trump’s special envoy was en route to Moscow to talk about a possible ceasefire deal with his opposite numbers in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin enjoyed a meet-up with his old friend Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, and the atmosphere …
Ukraine recap: Putin on top as Kyiv scrambles to play catch-up on the battlefield: Vladimir Putin has been looking pretty chipper of late. Two weeks ago saw him wearing his trademark vulpine smile as he presided over the Victory Day commemorations in Moscow. It was a rather more upbeat occasion than in the two years …
Ukraine recap: Russia won’t attack Nato countries says Putin, believe it or not: Vladimir Putin says he has no intention of attacking any Nato members. Visiting an airbase in Torzhok, on the road between Moscow and St Petersburg, the Russian president told a group of pilots he didn’t plan to spark a war with any …
Ukraine recap: Russian election special – and the winner will be … Vladimir Putin: Russian voters have been heading to the polls this week. But it would be misleading to say they were voting to choose a president. That’s already been done for them – it’ll be Vladimir Putin. If there had ever been any …
Tucker Carlson’s Putin interview gave Russian leader a platform to boost his own cause – and that of Donald Trump: Former prime time Fox News host Tucker Carlson – long known as a public cheerleader for Donald Trump – has conducted a wide-ranging two-hour interview with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Carlson, who has consistently …
Alexei Navalny disappears from jail – another in the long line of Russian dissidents to fall foul of Vladimir Putin: There is growing concern about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny who is reported to have disappeared from the Russian prison colony in which he has been serving a lengthy sentence. Lawyers for the 47-year-old dissident …
Do claims that Crimean Tatars are worse off under Putin than Stalin stand up? An expert examines the evidence: The deportation of at least 240,000 Crimean Tatars to central Asia by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1944 is forever ingrained in the memory of the people of that region. Stalin used claims, later disputed by …
Putin and Xi: Beijing Belt and Road meeting highlighted Russia’s role as China’s junior partner: The third Belt and Road Forum held in Beijing recently attracted fewer heads of state or senior officials than the previous forums in 2017 and 2019. There were 11 European presidents and prime ministers at the 2019 forum. But last …
Ukraine recap: what war in the Middle East means for Putin and Ukraine: For some people it was a week when they forgot that the Ukraine war was happening. As news from the Middle East took up longer and longer slots on news programmes and websites, reports from Ukraine were pushed off the front pages, …
Israel-Gaza conflict: an opportunity for Putin while the world is distracted: Time is an ally of Russia in the Ukrainian conflict. Russia needs to reduce its rate of battlefield deaths and remain militarily active in Ukraine for as long as possible. A great aid to Vladimir Putin would be a disruption in the supply of …
Ukraine war: Putin avoids further mobilisation while Kyiv suffers manpower shortage: When Vladimir Putin called for a partial mobilisation in September 2022 it was a sign to ordinary Russians that – despite all the Kremlin’s denials – this was no longer a “special military operation” but a real war. In response to Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive …
Andrey Rublev has been called the ‘greatest Russian artist who ever lived’ – but one of his most famous works is at risk under Putin: Andrey Rublev (or Rublyov – nobody is sure how his name was pronounced) has been described as “the greatest Russian artist who ever lived”, whose work had “a clarity of …
Ukraine recap: Kim Jong-un visits Putin for arms-for-tech talks while Kyiv urges west for longer-range missiles to aid counteroffensive: Vladimir Putin spent a few pleasant hours this week with one of his friends and allies – an increasingly exclusive club these days. Putin met up with North Korea’s supreme leader, Respected Comrade Kim Jong-un, who …
Yevgeny Prigozhin: Wagner Group boss joins long list of those who challenged Vladimir Putin and paid the price: Two months after challenging Vladimir Putin’s leadership in an apparent but abortive “mutiny”, Yevgeny Prigozhin – the former owner of the mercenary private military company Wagner Group – has joined a long list of prominent Russians to …
These are the latest trending searches on Google right now: Putin in South Africa: Putin, Xi Jinping: Daily Search Trends Have you tried: Travelling to South Africa?
Russia-Africa summit: Putin offers unconvincing giveaways in a desperate bid to make up for killing the Ukraine grain deal: The second Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg on July 27 and 28 was predictably overshadowed by the war in Ukraine – and especially Russia’s refusal to agree an extension of the Black Sea grain deal, which …
Failed Wagner Group coup leaves Putin humiliated and Belarus dictator Lukashenko more secure — for now: For Vladimir Putin, the abortive Wagner Group coup has been a humiliating affair that exposed his lack of control over military units ostensibly fighting for Russia. It was an episode that the Russian president is unlikely to forgive in …