Putin talks, Russia listens.
EPA/Yuri Kochetov
To his home audience, Vladimir Putin’s strategy in Syria appears to be sound.
EAP/Russian Defence Ministry
Despite a fierce exchange of rhetoric over Russia’s airstrikes in Syria, it makes sense for Moscow and Washington to coordinate their military intervention.
Mikhail Klimentiev/Ria Novosti
Why has Vladimir Putin stepped up his Syrian game so radically – and is it really all as sudden as it seems?
EPA/Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
The West has condemned Moscow’s ongoing support for Bashar al-Assad. But perhaps it is the least-worst option.
The Face of War by Ukrainian artist Daria Marchenko.
EPA
While the case of Lyudmila Savchuk might have highlighted a major push by the Kremlin to control online opinion, the reality on the ground does not look good for Putin.
Virgin territory. Sunrise over the Arctic resources battleground.
NOAA Photo Library
The economic viability of extracting oil from the frozen north might be doubtful, but the geopolitical significance could be massive.
No place to live.
Stringer/Reuters
The US is making common cause with Ukraine, but national security concerns are affecting the human rights of the most vulnerable trying to flee the fighting.
Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko with Barack Obama in 2014.
EPA/Jacek Turczyk
Washington would do well to leave the Cold War rhetoric in the past.
‘The sorest stroke any Cavalry Regiment has suffered at one day’s fighting since the memory of man.’
Scotland forever! – Elizabeth Thompson
From Belgium to Moscow to Helmland: how one battle helped shape how we think of war.
Learn from the master.
EA/Yuri Kochetkov
Russian readers are unlikely to believe a narrative that is paid for by Western governments.
Still a beautiful game?
EPA/Alexey Nikolsky/Ria Novosti
Russia sees last week’s FIFA arrests as politically motivated mischief-making by the US. A UEFA boycott would add to this paranoia.
Weaker than he seems.
EPA/Yuri Kochetkov
Putin is superficially more popular than ever, but his extravagantly militaristic policy and Russia’s economic isolation mean he’s walking a tightrope.
Will Russian science return to the bad old days of Stalin?
Reuters photographer
Some Russians are looking back admiringly to a tyrannical scientist from Stalinist times – and using the new field of epigenetics to bolster their case.
Chilling. The Kremlin in Moscow.
Pavel Kazachkov
Russia should be an exciting opportunity for global business, but the president’s “sistema” means the back room rules of the game are king.
Vladimir Putin has his own geopolitical priorities.
EPA/Alexei Druginyn/RIA Novosti/Kremlin Pool
Reports that Russia would use nuclear weapons if NATO continues to push into the Baltic states are misleading.and mischievous.
Maybe they just haven’t noticed I’m here…?
EPA/Tatyana Zenkovich
Vladimir Putin burned a lot of bridges in Ukraine, so he’s finding new sources of international support wherever he can.
Vladimir Putin appears on the Kremlin-backed news network Russia Today. The multi-platform channel has already garnered more than 2 billion views on YouTube, making it the most-watched news network on the video-sharing website.
Kremlin.ru/Wikimedia Commons
The airwaves arms race is on, and the Kremlin has taken a page from the playbook of its Cold War nemesis.
Putin’s pals are pushing his buttons.
EPA/Maxim Shipenkov
Rivalry between the Russian president’s allies could be making his life hard.
Backstairs politics: Kevin Spacey and Lars Mikkelsen.
Netflix
The West’s most popular political drama has finally started taking Russia seriously – a measure of how much Putin has changed the game.
The face of a Russia that could have been.
Sergei Ilnitsky
For Russia to make peace with its troubled post-Communist history, it needs a 1990s hero to remember. Boris Nemtsov could be just that.