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Olena Starik

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Image of Kai Wegner, Berlin's Governing Mayor, Olekseii Makelev, Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany, and  Tobias Linder, Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, laying flowers in commemoration of the end of World War II.
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

What Will Justice For Ukraine Look Like? The Nazi Demise Offers A Clue

Russia has just celebrated its Victory Day over Nazism. It's a good time to reflect on what retribution means, and how it's not always black and white.

KYIV — In today's Ukraine, people often recalls the Germans of the 1930s-1940s, but there are two opposing historical narratives.

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According to the first narrative, the Germans of the past are compared the Russians of today. Just like the Russians, the Germans massively supported their Fuhrer. Just like the Russians, the Germans welcomed the invasion of their army in other countries. Just like the Russians, the Germans did not want to know about the atrocities of their compatriots and diligently tried to ignore the Holocaust.

It is believed that even without being a member of Hitler's Nazi party, millions of Germans passively participated in Nazi aggression and were collectively responsible for the crimes of the Third Reich — and therefore do not deserve compassion.

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Image of A serviceman is seen during a combat mission involving the use of a 240mm 2S4 Tyulpan self-propelled heavy mortar in Russia's special military operation in Donetsk
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Why Russia Is Now Betting On A Long War In Ukraine

After its initial blitzkrieg failed, and with Ukraine gearing up for a counteroffensive, Russia sees its best hope in holding out for a protracted conflict. Kyiv, instead, is trying to convince its Western allies that achieving victory as soon as possible is the only path forward.

-Analysis-

KYIV — There has been a lot of talk about prolonging the war in Ukraine and about who benefits from that situation.

British General Rupert Smith defined war as "collective killing for the sake of a collective goal" and advised focusing on political, strategic, territorial and tactical aspects.

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From this perspective, let's try to answer question "who benefits?"

First, we can exclude the U.S. and the "collective West" because they are not participating in the war.

The second important aspect is that Ukraine is not Iraq or Afghanistan. We are defending ourselves against aggression on our land; we are defending our sovereignty and our territorial integrity; we are not trying to spread the war to other territories or export it anywhere in the world. Our enemy, on the contrary, ignores all the existing norms of international humanitarian law, the laws and customs of war, and uses the practice of genocide both openly and covertly.

According to the founder and chairman of Genocide Watch, Gregory Stanton, “the Russian army actually intends to partially destroy the Ukrainian nationality.”

Two factors influence the duration of the war: Russia's ability to conduct sustained hostilities, which depends on whether there are temporal-spatial conditions to restore its ability to fight. Another factor is the ability of Russia to threaten the "collective West" and separately the United States, which depends on the achievements and losses of Russia in Ukraine.

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Image of Mikhail Bykov (L), director of Gazprom's Kasimovskoye Management of Underground Gas Storage, at the Kasimovskoye Underground Gas Storage Facility
Economy

Why Gazprom Is Still Russia's Single Greatest Weapon

Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom has lost access to the European market and is rife with inefficiencies. Still, it isn't going anywhere soon. The engine of Russia's vast resources are fed into Vladimir Putin's system for maintaining power.

-Analysis-

In February, Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom officially celebrated its 30th anniversary, which makes it a bit older than modern Russia itself. It was originally the brainchild in 1989 of the Soviet Minister of the Gas Industry Viktor Chernomyrdin, bound to absorb 50 enterprises and 16% of the world’s gas reserves. In Feb. 1993, it was simply transformed into a joint-stock company.

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Photo of Ukraine soldiers patroling at Avdiivka city of Donetsk
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

From The Trenches Of Avdiivka, Ukraine's Hell On Earth

Journalists from Ukrainska Pravda report directly from the trenches near Avdiivka, one of the oldest settlements in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, where troops are facing near-constant Russian fire.

“Get down!”

Machine gun fire whistling overhead is interrupted by the shout of a combat medic named Petro. Five people, including three soldiers and two journalists from Ukrainian publication Ukrainska Pravda fall to the snow.

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The sound of ringing bullets seemed distant to Petro's team and, as those under fire always hope, didn't come too close to hitting.

“Are you all good?” Petro asks after a few seconds.

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Photo of Vladimir Putin making remarks during a Victory Day military parade marking the 76th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, in Moscow's Red Square
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

The Tyrant's Solitude: How Dictators Lose Touch With Reality

The fundamentally irrational decision to invade Ukraine was the final proof that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been living in a world of illusions. He may be best understood by retracing the steps of history's other tyrants, and gauging how their stories ended.

-Analysis-

KYIVFeb. 21, 2022. This wasn't just the day when Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine became inevitable. This was also the day that two critical parts of Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime were made clear: his unconditional dominance even over his closest, highest-ranking associates, and his complete immersion in the world of his illusions, where even his associates are forbidden to enter.

When both of these features lined up, the result was his suicidal decision to attack Ukraine.

Tyrants and despots style themselves as the most knowledgeable among mortals. Supposedly, they have access to detailed reports from the omnipresent, omnipotent special services, who never miss anything. That is why the despot seems to know everything better than the average person. There is no need to ask the people anything: the giraffe is tall — it sees further.

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This could not be further from the truth.

In fact, each person has their own worldview. The more authoritarian a person is, the stronger the conviction that their view is correct; the higher the person, the more they are inclined to believe that they are doing everything right.

Having risen to the heights of power, the dictator falls into a vicious circle.

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How Crimea Was Carved Up And Sold At Auction To Putin's Oligarch Pals
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

How Crimea Was Carved Up And Sold At Auction To Putin's Oligarch Pals

After the annexation of Crimea, the peninsula's prized resources were identified and distributed among Russian oligarchs with connections to the Russian President, handing out everything from wine vineyards to hockey clubs to steelworks.

After Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia didn't just add land and people to its population. It also paved the way for oligarchs to dismantle the peninsula's state and private enterprises.

Russian independent news Vazhnyye Istorii (Important Stories) has conducted an in-depth investigation into the identities of Vladimir Putin’s friends who now own virtually the entire peninsula.

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Nationalization began in Crimea immediately after the annexation. Ukrainian state property became Russian, or rather Crimean, according to a resolution entitled “On the issues of managing the property of the Republic of Crimea.”

The list of what was taken over was long, and it is still growing. It includes thousands of businesses, apartments and land plots. The actual owners received no compensation, and any attempts to file lawsuits in Russia were in vain.

"In Crimea, the courts did not accept a single document on the right of ownership from people,” says Crimean lawyer Zhan Zapruta. “The law was placed in a compromised position, and they [the Russians] did with it what they wanted.”

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Photo of Ukrainian writer, Volodymyr Vakulenko
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Despair, Love, Betrayal — Then Death: A Ukrainian War Diary

Volodymyr Vakulenko was a Ukrainian writer killed by the Russians during the invasion. He left behind a diary that is intensely personal, yet encompasses much of the tragedy of his nation.

KYIV — Volodymyr Vakulenko lived in the Ukrainian village of Kapitolivka near Izyum, with his 14-year-old son who has autism. Volodymyr was abducted by the Russians back in March, in the weeks after the invasion. For months, his family, investigators, fellow writers, journalists and volunteers searched for him in vain.

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Volodymyr recounted in his diary, which was later found, the first weeks of the Russian invasion of the Izyum region in eastern Ukraine. Kyiv-based media Livy Bereg takes a look back at Volodymyr's life and publishes excerpts from his diary, the original of which is now kept in the Kharkiv Literary Museum.

This is his story:

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Photo of a Russian flag during Unity Day celebrations
Russia

No Putin, No Russia? Why Losing The War Wouldn't Destroy The Russian Federation

Predictions about the collapse of Russia are as old as the country itself. Yet a consistent centralization of power has gone on for decades, weakening Russia's territories and republics. The war in Ukraine changes everything and nothing.

-Analysis-

The prediction “Russia is about to fall apart” has been a mainstay of the political science-futurist genre for the 30 years since the end of the USSR and establishment of the Russian Federation.

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Now, the war with Ukraine has drastically reduced the time-frame for such apocalyptic forecasts to come true. First, because it turns out that Russia can very well lose the war; and secondly, a defeat would weaken Vladimir Putin’s regime — and who knows if he will retain power at all?

“No Putin, no Russia” is a more recent refrain.

This line of thinking says that the weakening of the central government will push the regions to act independently. Yet noted political scientist Alexander Kynev explained in an interview with Vazhnyye Istorii why he doesn't believe anything like this will happen. The collapse of Russia is unlikely even if Putin loses.

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photo of a gate opening to a light blue mansion
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Kremlin Kids, Inc: How The Children Of Russia's Elite Keep Busy Avoiding The War

The offspring of Russia's elite were used to luxury loft apartments, expensive cars and carefree living. So how did Putin's mobilization for new troops impact them? As independent Russian news platform Vazhnyye Istorii found out, life essentially continues as normal.

There's a famous quote about war by the late Russian General Alexander Lebed that is universally true: “Let me recruit a platoon of the children of the elite, and the war will be over in a day.”

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Vazhnyye Istorii, as one of the few remaining independent Russian news platforms, decided to investigate what the offspring of the Russian elite thought about Russia's "partial mobilization" that was announced in late September, and whether any of them had been called up.

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Photo of a Russian Army reservist​ in western Russia
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

One Russian Mother's Plea To Putin To Find Her Soldier Son

Thousands of Russian mothers exchange messages every day online in desperate bids to find their missing sons serving in the Russian army. This is the story of one such mother who has been looking for her son for seven months.

Irina Chistyakova lives in Petrozavodsk, Russia, a city about 300 kilometers northeast of St. Petersburg. Her 20-year-old son Kirill was called up on the eve of the war, signing the enrollment contract without his mother knowing.

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The last time he called her was on March 22 from a basement in Malaya Rogan, a village near Kharkiv, as his unit was getting ready to retreat.

Since then, Chistyakova has looked through hundreds of photos of corpses, and in several cases identified the sons of people she knew. But not her own. Kirill is neither on the lists of the dead, nor on the register of missing people.

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Belarus To Kazakhstan: Russia's Weakness Is A Powder Keg In Ex-Soviet Lands
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Belarus To Kazakhstan: Russia's Weakness Is A Powder Keg In Ex-Soviet Lands

Russia has always claimed to be a kind of sheriff on the territory of the former USSR, a zone the country considers as its "privileged interests." Now it has lost both strength and authority in the war with Ukraine.

Since the collapse of the USSR, thirty years ago, the post-Soviet regions regularly brought bad news to the world. This included everything from regional conflicts and civil wars to ethnic clashes and military coups. But until recently, this never had merged into one continuous stream.

In 2020 we began to see how the instability and simmering conflicts could converge and take a bloody turn: Hostilities resumed between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Belarus bubbling, with popular protests against strongman Alexander Lukashenko, border skirmishes turned deadly between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan; another coup d'état took place in Kyrgyzstan in October.

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Fast-forward to today: We are seeing how Russia's war with Ukraine has worsened the region's security.

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Russian traditional matryoshka nesting dolls depicting first Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union Vladimir Lenin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin, first President of USSR Mikhail Gorbachev, and first President of Russia Boris Yeltsin, and Russian President Vladimir Putin
Geopolitics

The 'Union State' — Inside Putin's Plans To Rebuild The USSR With A 1990s Treaty

What are Vladimir Putin's long-term goals in Ukraine? An overlooked treaty from the mid-1990s reveal that his ambitions go far beyond Ukraine to building a Russian Empire 2.0.

What does Vladimir Putin want?

One big clue is the “Union State”, a supranational organization consisting of Russia and Belarus that was founded in 1996. The union aimed to gradually create a single political, economic, military and cultural space.

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But Putin’s vision for the union doesn’t stop with Belarus. He has been quietly but diligently building the formations of the USSR 2.0 for decades.

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