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Putin

This Happened

This Happened — March 4: Putin Is President Again

Vladimir Putin was re-elected as president of Russia on this day in 2012.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Anna Akage

That Man In Mariupol: Is Putin Using A Body Double To Avoid Public Appearances?

Putin really is meeting with Xi in Moscow — we know that. But there are credible experts saying that the person who showed up in Mariupol the day before was someone else — the latest report that the Russian president uses a doppelgänger for meetings and appearances.

Have no doubt, the Vladimir Putin we’re seeing alongside Xi Jinping this week is the real Vladimir Putin. But it’s a question that is being asked after a range of credible experts have accused the Russian president of sending a body double for a high-profile visit this past weekend in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

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Reports and conspiracy theories have circulated in the past about the Russian leader using a stand-in because of health or security issues. But the reaction to the Kremlin leader's trip to Mariupol is the first time that multiple credible sources — including those who’ve spent time with him in the past — have cast doubt on the identity of the man who showed up in the southeastern Ukrainian city that Russia took over last spring after a months-long siege.

Russian opposition politician Gennady Gudkov is among those who confidently claim that a Putin look-alike, or rather one of his look-alikes, was in the Ukrainian city.

"Now that there is a war going on, I don't rule out the possibility that someone strongly resembling or disguised as Putin is playing his role," Gudkov said.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Anna Zafesova

Don't Underestimate How Much More Putin Needs Xi Than Xi Needs Putin

Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Moscow was a much-needed favor Vladimir Putin. But make no mistake, Beijing is there to serve Beijing — and holds virtually all the cards.

-Analysis-

Chinese president Xi Jinping’s much-anticipated visit to Moscow begins with a diplomatic mystery. In the first minutes of formal greetings at the Kremlin, Xi congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin: “Russia has achieved significant successes under your leadership. Next year you have elections coming up, and I am convinced that the Russian people will give you their support.”

The Russian president’s candidacy in 2024, officially, is one of the biggest mysteries in Russian politics, as Putin has not yet declared his intentions, even though it is extremely unlikely that he would voluntarily move out of the Kremlin, and even less so after amending the constitution in 2020 to allow himself to enjoy two more six-year terms.

Still, the fact that Russians learned that their president will run again from Xi is extraordinary enough that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters they had "misunderstood."

According to Moscow, the Chinese president said more generally that his Russian “friend” would continue to be supported by Russians next year.

It was hardly a gaffe — not at this level of politics, where every blink is weighed and measured. Maybe it was a translation error, or a courtesy Xi wanted to show Putin, in response to his host's compliments. Putin's welcome speech included the phrase "We envy you a little bit” (for China’s rapid pace of progress), which must have truly pained the Russian leader to say.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Roman Anin

Inside Russia's "Game Of Thrones" To Succeed Putin

As Vladimir Putin's end increasingly seems near (political or physical), the battle to replace the Kremlin strongman heats up. Here are the main characters in this very Russian blood sport.

Today, Russia deservedly ranks among the most isolated and inhuman regimes in the world. And it's not just because of the war — this is the result of two decades of political and moral degradation of the Russian state.

The clans surrounding Vladimir Putin today resemble organized crime groups.

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Some of them command their own armies, like Wagner Group owner Yevgeny Prigozhin and the head of the Rosgvardia, Viktor Zolotov. Others, like Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Security Council, have security units.

And each clan has its financial resources — banks, state corporations and large companies. Some clans own entire regions, like Ramzan Kadyrov in Chechnya.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Benjamin Quénelle

At A Hinterland Cemetery, Russians Mourn Their Sons And Stand By Putin

This is the other side of the Kremlin's "special operation" in Ukraine. The human cost of the Russian side remains unclear. The reportage takes place in the capital of one of the poorest regions of Russia, in the heart of the Caucasus, where a growing number of soldiers are buried.

VLADIKAVKAZ — Throughout Russia, military cemeteries continue to fill up and expand. Looking at the dates on the graves, one begins to gauge the scope of the Kremlin's so-called special military operation in Ukraine.

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"We will win this war," says Taïmouzar, 65. "It will be long. But we will make it all the way." .

At the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, Vladikavkaz is one of the poorest regions of Russia — a fertile ground for recruiters looking for volunteers to fight in Ukraine.

Looking at the grave of his son David, 21, the grieving father speaks with certainty: "He didn't want to fight this war," Taïmouzar says. "But he was right to go and fight there. A year ago, the Ukrainians were preparing to attack us. Russia had to defend itself."

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Cameron Manley

What To Know About Putin's Hypersonic Missiles

Vladimir Putin has used what's believed to be the world’s only bonafide hypersonic missile battery, which are capable of evading air defenses. So, what are the missiles, and what do they mean for the war?

This article was updated on Friday March 7, 2023, to reflect recent developments.

Russia's launching of six hypersonic missiles against Ukraine is a major development in the war. Critical infrastructure and residential buildings were hit Thursday in at least 10 regions and six people were killed in the Lviv region, some 440 miles from the front line. The missiles were launched from Russian aircraft and carriers in the Black Sea.

During January's announcement of the activation of the so-called "Zircon" missiles (it is not clear how many exist), Putin boasted that "It has no analogues in any country in the world,” according to TASS.

But what exactly is the Zircon missile? Why is Russia deploying it now, and what are the implications of its use?

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Igar Ilyash

Alliance Or Annexation: What Are Putin's Ultimate Plans For Belarus?

Putin has stated in the past that Ukraine and Belarus should be a part of the Russian Federation. But his plans in Belarus have been postponed by war on the other neighbor, and the shrinking room for maneuver of Minsk's strongman Alexander Lukashenko

-Analysis-

MINSK — A document was recently leaked to the press that was reportedly commissioned two years ago by the Russian presidential administration: "Strategic Goals of the Russian Federation on the Belarusian Direction."

This plan provides for the complete subordination of Belarus's political, economic, and cultural life by 2030. Belarusian laws are to be brought in line with Russian regulations, the Russian language is to dominate over the Belarusian language, and the influence of "pro-Western nationalist forces" is to be limited.

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A separate section is devoted to "passportization" — that is, the issuing Russian identity documents to Belarusians under a simplified procedure. At the final stage, the plan envisages forming a common legal system, introducing a single currency, total control over the information field, completely unifying the customs and tax space, and creating a common command system of the armed forces.

Interestingly, Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko did not deny the reality of the document, adding that he didn't see anything outrageous in the Kremlin's plans.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Anna Akage

How Putin Is Striving To Emulate Stalin In The Kremlin — And In Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin is often compared to Stalin, the Soviet leader responsible for the deaths of millions. In the West, it's not a compliment. For Putin, it's encouragement. Meanwhile, some Russian nationalists ask if he's "Stalin enough."

-Analysis-

Infamous Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who died 70 years ago this week, pushed millions of people toward the furnaces of World War II, built gulags where hundreds of thousands were tortured and perished — he also launched a veritable genocide in Ukraine.

His place in history is securely on the wrong side.

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His current successor in the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin, instead thinks Stalin is overdue for a reevaluation.

After Stalin died, his successor Nikita Khrushchev had torn apart his legacy in a secret 1956 speech given to Communist Party delegates — an intervention so shocking to the party faithful steeped in the "Cult of Stalin" that some reportedly suffered heart attacks, and others took their own lives after the speech.

Condemned for his decades of murderous repression and scrutinized for his political and military decisions during the war, which led to countless deaths — Stalin was finished.

Monuments were torn down, portraits removed. What was left to talk about?

Then, eight years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a young, unassuming KGB officer became president and sought to restore the dictator's legacy. Vladimir Putin had decided to resurrect Stalin.

History is not hard to rewrite. It is enough to repeat the new truth endlessly, and erase all sources of the old truth.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Pierre Haski

A Critical Putin Miscalculation: The West's Support Of Ukraine Holds Firm

Vladimir Putin thought the West would wind up divided over the backing of Ukraine. Yet a year later with new survey numbers out, and more aid flowing to Kyiv, this appears to be one of the most crucial errors in launching his invasion.

-Analysis-

PARIS — Among the many miscalculations of Vladimir Putin in this conflict don't forget his poor evaluation of European public opinion. The sudden rise in energy prices in the early weeks of the war led the Kremlin — and its political allies — to hope for the emergence of a popular movement opposed to support for Ukraine. This did not happen anywhere in Europe.

Where Russia was not wrong, however, was in gauging the reaction in what we call the Global South, where Westerners are paying the price for so much arrogance of the past. In these countries, the rulers are in line with a popular opinion that does not have the same critical view of Russian action.

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Multiple studies support this observation, where the West's stance is supported at home, but continues to be weakened on the global stage.

In Europe, things are clear.

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Geopolitics
Pierre Haski

Putin's Nuclear Scare Tactics Come With Real Consequences

Russia has announced its withdrawal from a post-Cold War nuclear arms control treaty it signed with the U.S. The decision risks re-launching a global arms race.

-Analysis-

PARIS — It began as just another violent diatribe against the West, guilty of both wanted to destroy Russia and of moral decadence. But then Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled a major announcement: suspending Russia's participation in the "New Start" nuclear arms control treaty.

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Only a small crowd of experts is generally interested in these issues, but the context of the war in Ukraine obviously makes the subject alarming.

The question everyone has a right to ask is whether this announcement makes a nuclear war possible? In other words, did the world become incrementally more dangerous on Tuesday?

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In The News
Emma Albright, Inès Mermat and Anne-Sophie Goninet

Xi To Meet Putin, Paris Pensions Protests, 40 Hours Surfin’

👋 Dia dhuit!*

Welcome to Friday, where Xi Jinping has confirmed his meeting with Putin next week, protests rock France after the government forces through pension reforms, and duuuude, that’s a long surf session. Meanwhile, Jan Schulte in Berlin-based daily Die Welt focuses on a sustainable solution to the shortage of building materials: “urban mining.”

[*Gaelic]

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In The News
Emma Albright, Ginevra Falciani Anne-Sophie Goninet and Bertrand Hauger

Putin State Of Nation Speech, New Turkey Quake, iPhone Antique

👋 اسلام عليكم*

Welcome to Tuesday, where Russian President Vladimir Putin lambasts the West in his much-awaited state of nation speech, a new 6.4-magnitude earthquake kills at least six in Turkey, and you’ll wish you’d held onto that old iPhone. Meanwhile, for Portuguese-language digital magazine Questão de Ciência, Natalia Pasternak gauges whether The Last of Us and its fungus-linked zombie apocalypse is actually so far-fetched.

[*Ssalamū ‘lekum - Darija, Morocco]

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