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The world’s failure to contain the nuclear threat is frighteningly evident in the potential risk of war in Ukraine spinning out of control.
Vladimir Putin receives Marine Le Pen at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 24, 2017.
Mikhail Klimentyev/AFP
A victory of the far-right presidential candidate would be good news for Moscow, which has a long-standing history with Le Pen and her party.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his speech during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, on May 9, 2021, marking the 76th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe.
(Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russia’s take on the Second World War is not merely for nationalist consumption. The actions of the Soviet Union in defeating Nazi Germany appear to be a blueprint for the Russian attack on Ukraine.
EPA-EFE/Anatoly Maltsev
A new CNN documentary about jailed opposition figurehead Aleksei Navalny offers insights into Putin’s challengers.
Generation ‘Z’: members of Russia’s Young Army Military Patriotic Movement at a rally in 2021.
Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS/Alamy Live News
Russian schoolchildren are being mobilised in a patriotic movement which encourages military service.
Aggressors: Vladimir Putin and his army.
Bai Xueqi/Xinhua/Alamy Live News
When it comes to Russia’s invasion and violence against Ukraine, language matters.
AAP/AP/Mikhail Klimentyev
Much of what is happened in Russia right now can be traced back to changes to the constitution in 1993.
Russia sees itself as a perennial target.
Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images
As Western sanctions seek to isolate Russia, they also perversely reinforce the country’s mythic view of itself as a special place that outsiders want to destroy.
Replacing ships like the Moskva will be pricey. The flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet recently sank after suffering damage.
Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
Russia is on the verge of defaulting on its foreign debt, which not only could have severe economic consequences but could also complicate Putin’s ability to wage a prolonged war in Ukraine.
To the nationalist right, Vladimir Putin embodies similar qualities to Donald Trump’s: determination, virility and attachment to traditional values.
Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP
Former US president Donald Trump continues to wield an important influence within the Republican Party. Notwithstanding the war in Ukraine, he and his supporters continue to look up to Vladimir Putin.
A forensic worker exhumes several bodies from a grave in Bucha, Ukraine, on April 12, 2022.
Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images
A Russian journalist and political operative reveals that Russian leadership is planning for the complete destruction of Ukraine
Peace activists demonstrate outside the European Commission building on March 22, 2022, in Brussels.
Thierry Monasse/Getty Images
Russia and Ukraine have held several rounds of failed peace talks. Understanding the challenges to successful peace talks helps illuminate the struggle for peace in Eastern Europe.
A person shops at a supermarket in Moscow in April. War-related sanctions have caused inflation to soar – 2% per week in the first three weeks of the war and 1% per week thereafter, equivalent to 68% per year.
Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP
While the country’s Central Bank may have managed to offset some of the tougher sanctions, the West’s economic broadside has caused long-term damage to “Fortress Russia”.
EPA/Alexei Drushinin/Sputnik/Kremlin pool
Many Russians hanker for the old USSR, but it has more to do with cultural and economic nostalgia than wanting the old Soviet empire back.
Russia’s indiscriminate war in Ukraine has caused a large-scale humanitarian crisis.
EFE-EPA/Sergey Dolzhenko
Instead of drawing on the lessons of its own negotiated settlement and its rich history of peace-making in Africa, Pretoria chose to appease Russia.
The Wagner Group: highly trained mercenaries linked to a supporter of Vladimir Putin.
Adeline Fjodorowitsch/Alamy Stock Photo
A lot of the fighting in Ukraine is being done by non-state militias, some with a chequered history.
Ukrainians walk in the besieged city of Mariupol, where there are reports of a possible chemical attack.
Victor/Xinhua via Getty Images)
There are unconfirmed reports that Russia has used chemical weapons in Ukraine. Syria’s recent chemical weapons use offers context for understanding this tactic. Chemical weapons terrify civilians.
People bought the last remaining groceries at a Finnish PRISMA store that was closing down in in St. Petersburg in March.
AP Photo
Despite the ruble’s recovery, sanctions have actually dealt a punishing blow to the Russian economy. But changing Putin’s mind is another matter.
Truth-teller: Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian TV producer who dared to interrupt programming to tell viewers they are being lied to.
EPA-EFE/DSK
‘Vranyo’ is the Russian word for a lie that you tell to make yourself look good, whether people believe it or not.
Cut off: a Ukrainian soldier takes shelter in a trench near the village of Luganske in the Donetsk region of Donbas, eastern Ukraine, 2016.
EPA/Vadim Kudinov
Ukraine and Russia have already been facing off in Donbas for eight years. Now the stage is set for a crucial confrontation there.