Worldcrunch
The excitement with which the West watched Prigozhin’s failed uprising reveals the delusional hopes that somehow a Russian white (or black) knight will come to overthrow Putin. No, there’s still only one way to be rid of him, argues Ukrainian writer Anna Akage.
Alexander Lukashenko recounts how he took charge of the operation to defend Moscow from Yevgeny Prigozhin, and looks to shift the region’s balance of power. “I am as much a participant in these events as Putin. So if someone in Russia talks about Lukashenko mediating, there is no mediation!”
The recent revolt led by Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has opened the door to what Russia could become after Vladimir Putin is deposed.
Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s aborted coup against Russian President Vladimir Putin reveals the great confusion that reigns in Russia, and the weakness of the Kremlin’s leader — but it’s a weakness that makes him all the more unpredictable.
The fate of Prigozhin, Putin and Ukraine hang in the balance. And though much is still not clear, Russia is simply no longer under the reign of an all-powerful Vladimir Putin.
Much is still unclear about the reported insurrection by Wagner mercenary group forces against the Russian regular military troops. But one long-view scenario would have Yevgeny Prigozhin making a lot of noise to ultimately help Vladimir Putin stay in power. The story of Ivan the Terrible, the dreaded 16th century Tsar, and his brutal henchman, offers a blueprint.
Ukraine’s counteroffensive has been marked by grueling combat. Independent Russian news site Agenstvo spoke to military experts who explain why progress is slow and how worrying the situation is for Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine will have a lasting impact on the political landscape of both Russia and Ukraine, regardless of its ultimate outcome. Independent Russian publication Agents Media suggests that the ongoing conflict will shape the country’s future decision-makers.
As Russia loses in influence in Central Asia, Ukraine has an opportunity to take over a key role in relations between countries in the region and the European Union.
The ongoing show trial of prominent Putin critic Alexei Navalny continues. Yet even in the face of totalitarianism, Russia’s opposition cannot present a united front.
The Defense Ministry had pushed for a bill to adopt the same dubious method of recruiting volunteers from prisons begun by the Wagner Group private mercenary outfit. Parliament approved it on Tuesday, the latest sign of the Kremlin’s desperate search to recruit soldiers to stave off the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
In the secrecy that often surrounds wars, and in the realm of information warfare, losses are often deliberately underreported or completely omitted. But this case in Crimean port city of Sevastopol is pure paradox.
African leaders traveled to both Kyiv and Moscow to discuss a potential “peace plan” for the war in Ukraine. Predictably the envoys failed, and others will likely meet the same fate as Ukraine’s counteroffensive kicks into gear and Putin keeps digging in.
June 19 – June 25, 2023
The idea of “peacemaking” with Russia has been creeping into Western media, bolstered by fears that Putin could ultimately resort to nuclear weapons. But Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security Council of Ukraine, warns of the traps of this thinking.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has revealed fault lines in Georgia. Many in the country strongly condemn Russia, but some pro-Russian voices have positioned the country as a Kremlin ally. In an exclusive interview with Ukrainska Pravda, Georgian President Salomé Zourabichvili draws the line on what side of history her country will ultimately stand.
Military spending has increased dramatically worldwide, driven by war in Ukraine and Chinese-Tawian tensions. With $2.24 trillion spent globally in 2022, the amount looks likely to continue to increase.
Ukraine’s counter-offensive to liberate Russian-occupied regions has finally begun. Ukrainian news outlet Livy Bereg explains how it’s playing out over the first seven days, as the first villages are liberated.
Don’t believe each new twist, minute-by-minute, as information is a weapon that both sides handle carefully. But there are ways to begin to see how this possibly decisive battle will turn out.
Moscow quickly deleted an article detailing the mobilization process and the formation of new units, which made clear that potential Russian conscripts have two choices: flee or fight.
Global politics have gotten in the way of humanitarian aid when it comes to the flooding in Ukraine. Zelensky points the finger towards a deep, structural UN shortcoming.
In an exclusive interview with German daily Die Welt, Volodymyr Zelensky comments on the power struggles inside the Russian government. At the same time, he accuses Russia of firing on rescue workers after the dam explosion, and offers harsh criticism for the UN and the Red Cross.
The Nova Kakhovka dam explosion was undoubtedly carried out by Putin, putting both Ukrainian and Russian lives at risk. The explosion makes clear that there are no limits to how far Putin will go. That has been his message since Day One of the war.
When both sides of a conflict blame each other for something as important as the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam, there’s only one way to understand what’s going on: find out who benefits from the crime.
After significant sections of the Nova Kakhovka dam were destroyed in a Russian-controlled part of southern Ukraine, independent Russian media Agents.Media has pieced together Vladimir Putin declarations on May 30 that may have been a warning of a false-flag attack.
Today’s Russia is similar to Stalin’s USSR in more and more ways, including the constant search for enemies and the paranoia of betrayal. Some examples of this panic may be funny, but also help inform what Moscow might do next.
A diplomatic genius for some, a war criminal for others, Henry Kissinger has just turned 100. An opportunity for Dominique Moïsi, who has known him well, to reflect on the German-born U.S. diplomat’s roots and driving raison d’être.
The West is deceiving itself if it hopes for a quick end to the Ukraine war. Above all, it must consistently implement an energy transition — otherwise, it will remain at Putin’s mercy, writes prominent Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, in German daily Die Welt.
In another scenario, Putin could be bragging about Russia’s control of Bakhmut after nearly a year of fighting, and the bombing of the Ukrainian Intelligence’s headquarters, which was recently acknowledged by Kyiv. But instead he must retreat to the ultimate home front after drone attacks in the capital.
Tunis and Moscow have been increasingly close — at the cost of relations with the West, which had once looked to Tunisia as a model of democracy. The two countries are brought together by Kremlin’s efforts to woo African countries, but also a natural alliance of its strongman Presidents Putin and Saïed.
Russia failed to respond in time to an attack in the Belgorod region, close to the Ukraine border. Now, independent Russian news outlet Vazhnyye Istorii/Important Stories reveals hears from Russian security forces and military analysts about what this week’s brazen incursion reveals about the vulnerability country’s defenses.
While military attention was focused on the harshly contested city of Bakhmut, fights were reported on the other side of the border in Russian territory. But it was Russian groups that claimed responsibility.
A new report has done a deep dive into the support (or lack of opposition) of ordinary Russians for the so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine. Independent Russian media outlet Important Stories breaks down the findings, which don’t necessarily follow the rationale one might imagine.
Dmitry Glukhovsky, the Russian author of Metro 2033, is currently standing trial in absentia in Moscow for speaking out against Putin. He has gone into hiding in Europe, where Die Welt has met up with him in a secret location in Berlin.
A fourth physicist from the Novosibirsk Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences has been detained on treason charges. The scientists’ research is linked to the development of hypersonic missiles, and an open letter now warns that Moscow’s arrests of its top researchers will cause Russia to fall behind in the development of such weapons.
Pavlo Kazarin is a journalist for Ukrainska Pravda. He is also serving in the Ukrainian army: With the good and the bad, heroes and otherwise.
As Russia continues to suffer heavy losses in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to mandate training for military reserves, which human rights activists is meant to be used to force new recruits to the frontlines.
In the second year of the war, the Kremlin looks weak while Putin brags about defending the homeland from outside attacks.
Whether Ukraine or Russia is behind the clamorous attack on the Kremlin, which Moscow says was an assassination attempt against Vladimir Putin, it is bound to shape the imminent counter-offensive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accepted an invitation to attend the next NATO summit in July, but he will arrive with expectations that the alliance is ready to pave the way for the country’s accession to the military alliance, even as the state of the war itself remains crucial to the decision.