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Russia’s pro-war influencers, or so-called ‘Z’-bloggers, have sought to blame those responsible for Ukraine’s breakthrough into the Kursk region. Yet Russian President Vladimir Putin’s name never comes up. Fear of reprisals is only one reason; another is belief in Putin’s infallibility.
France has accused Telegram CEO Pavel Durov of complicity in managing an online platform to allow illicit transactions by an organized group. But should businesses be left responsible for making decisions about the costs of risks?
Following the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov near Paris on Aug. 24, independent Russian-language media Important Stories looks into the claims Western authorities have made against Durov since the messaging application was launched in 2013, always keep its door open to the internet’s darkest corners.
More than 200 Russian missiles and drones rained down on Ukraine in one of the heaviest bombardments since the start of the Russian invasion. A response to the Ukrainian incursion into Russia, and a desire to break Ukrainian morale before possible negotiations.
The arrest in Paris of Telegram founder Pavel Durov raises a lingering question about who actually controls the Russian messaging and social platform. Some say it’s Vladimir Putin’s most powerful (not-so) secret weapon in the global hybrid war aimed at spreading backward ideology and destabilizing the world.
Ahead of the U.S. presidential election, Ivan Timofeev of the Russian International Affairs Council, considers which candidate would be better for Russia. While it’s often thought that Moscow should hope for Donald Trump to win, his first term as president shows his “transactional” nature and otherwise minor impact on foreign policy.
The global fight against climate change is essential, but the solutions are not universal. Measures must account for the local realities of the Global South, where economic development is equally important and where the imposition of strict environmental standards by the North has devastating social and economic consequences.
Fighting in the Kursk Oblast — following Ukraine’s incursion into the region — is not abating, and volunteers from across Russia are coming to help: bringing goods and food, evacuating residents and providing medical assistance. Kommersant correspondent Alexander Chernykh visited a makeshift clinic and observed how volunteer doctors are saving wounded soldiers near the front line.
The Ukrainian attack on the strategically important Kursk region has taken Russia’s military and residents by surprise. But experts doubt whether the operation makes sense for Ukraine’s depleted military forces.
Following the death of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition is in a serious crisis, and must look at the fundamental mistakes it’s made the past two years, including calls for destroying the nation and desecrating the flag. It’s not clear what impact the prisoner swap could have, but activist Timofey Martynenko says it’s time to have a pro-Russia, anti-dictator opposition.
Alexey Sokolov is being tried for showing the logo of Facebook, which Russia has classified as an extremist organization. But his human rights activism and opposition to the regime show how the social media is used by the regime to persecute opponents.
In Kazakhstan, prison sentences are regularly handed down for separatist activity. Yet the defendants in such cases are overwhelmingly “online separatists” — people far removed from politics and activism. Who are they and why does the state consider them such a threat?
Rodents in the trenches are making life difficult for both Russian and Ukrainian soldiers on both sides, and leading authorities and activists send house cats to the front lines.
Disappointed by poor gains over the past three years in Ukraine, Russia’s pro-war Z community is blaming a new scapegoat. Russian writer and historian Ivan Philippov explains why a society that just wants to live and to work is now their main enemy.
In its final communiqué of the Washington summit, NATO severely criticized Chinese support for Russia in Ukraine, drawing a strong reaction from Beijing. China fears that the Transatlantic military alliance is now a tool for the U.S. in its global showdown with China.
As the alliance’s 32 countries celebrate their 75th anniversary at a summit in Washington, uncertainties over the possible reelection of Donald Trump in November, and dark clouds over Europe and France are raising serious questions about NATO’s future.
After more than two years of war, Russia’s bombing of a children’s hospital in Kyiv on Monday was among the most violent. What does Vladimir Putin aim to achieve with this escalation of horror — which came just 48 hours before the NATO Summit in Washington in the presence of Volodymyr Zelensky?
At just 18-years-old, Daria Kozyreva sits in a pre-trial detention center. She is facing five years for “repeatedly discrediting the Russian army.” Here is her letter to all Russians, trying to convince people of good will to denounce the Kremlin regime.
The canceled rapper who’s praised Hitler and Putin’s Russia are a perfect match, writes music critic Nikolay Ovchinnikov
Through quiet diplomacy, Russia may be courting the rising star of Latin American populism, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele. In time, he must decide between international respectability and a bear hug from Vladimir Putin.
Vladimir Putin threatened major escalation if Ukraine was allowed to strike into Russian territory with Western weapons. Once the West crossed that red line, the escalation did not happen. The West knows that bluffing is Putin’s favorite way of conducting foreign policy, so why does it keep playing this game?
Aggressive lending is undermining Russia’s economy, and citizens’ incomes are not keeping up with expenses. It’s the clear sign of a looming economic crisis.
Russia announced a ban on 81 European media — in retaliation to the EU’s ban of Russian state media. The move is indicative of the prevailing Cold War climate, which limits the exchange of information between hostile worlds.
Vladimir Putin presents himself as the leading advocate for multipolarism, but continues to reveal his true world view, where we are divided among those that respect nothing but personal power — and fools.
This spring, Kharkiv has been under almost daily shelling. Yet cafes, beauty salons, theaters and shops are still open in Ukraine’s second-largest city, and residents are spending time in parks, jogging and maintaining elements of a normal life.
As the U.S. presidential election draws closer, independent Russian-language media Vazhnye Istorii spoke with American politics specialists about the possibility of a second Trump term and what it would mean for the Russia-Ukraine war, traditional U.S. allies and China.
As the upcoming French and American elections show, the Western democratic model is being put into question — both externally by revisionist powers, and internally.
The G7 countries meeting in Italy are examining a proposed $50 billion loan to Ukraine, a way of preempting possible future obstacles: Trump in the U.S. and the far-right in France. The wildcard is Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Comparisons between the wars in Europe and the Middle East tell us a lot about the standpoint of those who compare. They also signal to a new world order that has yet to be shaped.
Over the past two weeks, Vladimir Putin has stated four times that Russia is ready for peace talks with Ukraine, but that those negotiations would be based on “current realities at the front,” by which he means maintaining occupied territories under his control.
The French president wants to convince Vladimir Putin to halt military deployment around Ukraine. But some in Moscow believe the Russian president is only interested in negotiating with the U.S. about the wider global balance of power.
Russia is on the offensive, bombing the northern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv almost every day. Visiting the city over the weekend, President Zelensky again called for stronger, faster Western aid.
Paris has accused Azerbaijan of meddling in the unrest in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia. But in this new hybrid war of influence, external actors don’t create problems, they amplify them.
The Russian president is in Beijing on Thursday and Friday, his first foreign trip since his re-election. Beijing and Moscow have their differences, but share the same long-term objective of changing the international order.
Boris Yeltsin had a technique for not stopping certain top Russian officials from eliminating their opponents. Vladimir Putin refined the practice. So ingrained in the country’s politics, it’s a formula for murder borrowed from mafia dons.
After going on humanitarian missions in Kenya and Rwanda, Ukrainian surgeon Evgeniy Tkachev returned home in 2014 when the Donbas war broke out. He recounts his experiences as a medical volunteer then and now, as his hometown of Chasiv Yar is being stormed by Russian troops.
The competing May 8 and May 9 World War II victory celebrations, and an upcoming D-Day snub to Vladimir Putin, show how uncertain the future appears right now. Perhaps even more uncertain than the Cold War.
Russia’s investment in the Arctic continues with reports of a new joint project with India. This comes with the development of a Siberian station called Snezhinka (Snowflake), at the center of both scientific and economic development of the Northern territories in the times of global warming.
Demonstrations suppressed by the forces of order are taking place daily in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi around a draft law on “foreign interests”, considered by the protesters to be a “Russian law.” At stake is Georgia’s future, between the European Union and Putin’s Russia.
In an ominous speech in Paris, the French president warned that Europe is in mortal danger. Macron also suggested he may be just the man to save it.