Kremlin coverage for Kremlin watchers

Ukraine’s survival and security can only be ensured in one of two ways: either with NATO membership or with nuclear weapons. Continue reading

Georgia and Moldova choose between Europe and Russia in critical elections. Continue reading

Europe or Russia. It’s really that simple. That’s the choice Georgian voters face as the strategically vital Black Sea nation elects a new parliament and a new government in two weeks time. Continue reading

Ukraine’s defenses in the Donbas are buckling in the face of a ferocious Russian assault as the strategic town of Vuhledar falls following months of resistance. Continue reading

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he has a plan for victory against Russia — and he was in the United States this week trying to sell it to U.S. President Joe Biden.  Continue reading

The dirty little secret of autocratic regimes like those of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping is that they can’t really operate effectively without the services provided by willing Western collaborators.  Continue reading

Ukraine’s bold incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast two weeks ago has boosted Kyiv’s morale and changed the narrative of the war. Continue reading

Turnaround, as they say, is fair play. We now live in a world where Ukraine has invaded Russia and controls territory roughly the size of New York City. Continue reading

The recent prisoner exchange that freed U.S. hostages, Russian political prisoners, and other wrongfully detained people from Vladimir Putin’s gulag served as a stark reminder about the nature of the Kremlin’s so-called criminal justice system. Continue reading

A summer of political crisis winds down with a critical election looming in Georgia as a restive and pro-Western civil society seeks to oust an entrenched pro-Kremlin oligarch from power.  … Continue reading

It was the day Moscow’s dreams of empire ended up costing European lives. It was the day the Kremlin lost its last vestiges of credibility. And it was the day when it became impossible to continue even pretending that Vladimir Putin’s regime was anything close to respectable. Continue reading

It has been nine months since Russian authorities arrested my friend and former colleague Alsu Kurmasheva, a dual US-Russian citizen and a journalist with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir Service. Continue reading

Russia’s summer offensive appears to have stalled.

As NATO leaders meet in Washington to mark the alliance’s 75th anniversary and as Russia’s war against Ukraine approaches its 900th day, U.S. officials say it is highly unlikely that Moscow will make any significant territorial gains in the coming months. Continue reading

Russia’s war against Ukraine and Ukraine’s spirited defense of its sovereignty and independence have been framed in various ways over the years, including as a battle between democracy and autocracy and a geopolitical showdown between Russia and the West. Continue reading

After centuries of neutrality, Sweden this year became the 32nd member of NATO, a decision triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In addition to adding a highly capable military force to the transatlantic alliance, the move fundamentally changes the security equation in the Baltic Sea region and northern Europe.

It also adds a new member state that has been a leading force in supporting Ukraine’s defense, resisting Russian aggression, and assisting democratic forces in Belarus.

So how does the West’s standoff with Russia look from Stockholm as Sweden becomes NATO’s newest member? Continue reading

Vladimir Putin is reshuffling his war cabinet, reassigning both his long-serving defense minister and his top security advisor. 

A government shakeup has long been expected following Putin’s inauguration for a fifth term as Kremlin leader, and more changes are apparently looming on the horizon. Continue reading

Like all politics, war is based to a degree on myths. And Russia’s war against Ukraine is no exception. It is based on Russian myths about itself, myths about Ukraine, and myths about the West.

Likewise, the Western response to Moscow’s aggression has also been constrained and limited by a series of its own myths – about Ukraine, about Russia, about NATO, and about the post-Cold War order. Continue reading

Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s efforts to restore Moscow’s imperial might have their roots in a series of deep seated – and deeply flawed – myths about history. Proponents of these myths include early 20th century White Russian thinkers such as Ivan Ilyin and contemporary Eurasianists like Aleksandr Dugin. Continue reading

Ukraine tries to hold off Russian gains on a stalemated front in the east amid manpower and artillery shortages. A defiant Ukraine continues to strike at energy infrastructure inside Russia despite U.S. objections. And a waiting game continues as a vital $60 billion in U.S. defense assistance to address Ukraine’s vital needs finally appears to be moving in the House of Representatives. Continue reading

Russia suffers its deadliest terrorist attack in two decades after ignoring a warning from U.S. intelligence – a warning that Vladimir Putin dismissed at the time as “blackmail.” Continue reading

In Vladimir Putin’s Russia, where institutions are weak and the rule of law nonexistent, all politics are essentially court politics. Continue reading

Two years ago, Vladimir Putin launched a war of aggression and a war of choice against Ukraine — and he expected it to be a cakewalk. It wasn’t. Rather than a quick shock-and-awe assault that would spark regime change in Kyiv, Ukraine instead fought Russia to a draw – driving its forces away from the capital and fighting them to a standstill in the Donbas. Continue reading

The president has sacked his top general. After months of behind-the-scenes tension and after days of intense speculation and rumors, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has fired General Valery Zaluzhny as chief of the country’s armed forces. Continue reading

What will Russia look like in 10 years, or 20? How much longer will Vladimir Putin’s two-decade-plus rule last? Who — and what — will come after him? Will Russia continue its expansionist and anti-Western course? Or will it seek rapprochement? Will Russia remain intact, or will it disintegrate like the Soviet Union before it? And how should the United States and its allies prepare for all of these contingencies? Continue reading

As 2024 dawns, there is palpable trepidation in the air. Continue reading