Russia has annexed four Ukrainian regions, saying they have always been part of the ‘motherland’. But Moscow’s territorial claim is as flimsy as the excuse it used to start the war
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Alla Pugacheva during a 2014 awards ceremony honoring the pop singer with the Order For Merit to the Fatherland.
Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images
In opinion polls over the past two decades, she’s routinely selected as one of the most popular Russians – often appearing second only to Vladimir Putin.
Turning their backs on home: thousands of Russian men, fearing conscription, have opted to flee to Georgia.
EPA-EFE/Zurab Kurtsikidze
Russians fleeing over the border into Georgia are encountering hostility as well as support.
The new Baltic Pipe natural gas pipeline connects Norwegian natural gas fields in the North Sea with Denmark and Poland, offering an alternative to Russian gas.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Russian men fleeing conscription are entitled to protection under international law – here’s why.
A group of Russians smile at the border crossing Verkhny Lars between Georgia and Russia on Sept. 23, 2022. Long lines of vehicles have formed at border crossings into Georgia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization to bolster his troops in Ukraine.
(AP Photo/Shakh Aivazov)
Russians crossing land borders into Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Georgia to avoid being drafted into the Ukraine war are experiencing very different receptions.
This Russian short-range cruise missile, the Iskander-K, can carry nuclear warheads for several hundred miles.
Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP
Tactical nuclear weapons were designed to be used on the battlefield rather than for strategic defense, but that doesn’t mean there’s a plausible case for using them.
Same app, same app store, different risks if you download it in, say, Tunisia rather than in Germany.
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Mobile apps are sometimes ‘regionalized’ to better serve the needs of users, functioning differently in, for example, China than in Canada. But some of those differences pose security and privacy risks.
The library at the Barockhaus Museum in Görlitz, Germany. Libraries play a vital role in preserving texts and challenging disinformation.
(Shutterstock)
Libraries play a crucial role in preserving texts, even controversial ones. They are responsible for teaching people how to evaluate the credibility and validity of information.
Russian police detain a protestor amid demonstrations against Putin’s partial mobilisation.
Maxim Shipenkov/EPA/AAP
This is policy on the fly. At best it will buy Putin time over another cold Ukrainian winter. At worst it will result in battlefield chaos and potentially mass slaughter.
RT, a Russian government-operated media outlet, is just one of the players in the global information war.
Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The west needs to understand the messages coming from Russia, not ignore them.
Vladimir Putin addressed the Russian people for less than 20 minutes to outline his plan for partial mobilisation and referendums in areas held by invading Russian troops.
EPA-EFE/Maxim Shipenkov
Moscow’s preoccupation with the war in Ukraine has opened up an opportunity for Azerbaijan to put military pressure on Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.