Top two: Dmitry Medvedev took over from Putin as Russian president in 2008 before handing power back in 2012. He remains closer to the centre of power.
AP Photo/Mikhail Klimentyev, RIA Novosti Kremlin
Russia is threatening to disrupt the world’s undersea data infrastructure. This should be taken seriously.
Facing harder questions at home.
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Putin was put on the defensive during an increasingly rare Q&A over the war’s progress. Meanwhile, disquiet among potential rivals is growing.
President Joe Biden meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2021 at the Oval Office.
Sarahbeth Maney-Pool/Getty Images
The Biden administration is courting Indian leader Narendra Modi in part to deter China’s rise. But India’s decline in democracy could complicate relations.
LGBT activists in Moscow protest against anti-gay legislation in 2020.
Nikolay Vinokurov /Alamy
Putin’s anti-queer campaign is just part of his continued manipulation of information.
A screen grab shows the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant after a blast on June 6, 2023.
Zelenskyy Social Media Account / via Getty Images
The ongoing war in Ukraine has forced the Russian military to reassess its ability to defend its territorial gains. The flooding of the Dnieper River gives the Russians a natural defense.
View of Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant from right banks of Dnipro river.
Sipa/Alamy
International nuclear experts are due to visit Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant in the next few days to assess threats from the nearby dam attack.
AP Photo/Roman Hrytsyna
A selection of the best of our coverage of the conflict from the past fortnight.
Streets are flooded in Kherson, Ukraine, after the Kakhovka dam was destroyed. While the war in Ukraine is largely conventional, the use of paramilitary forces by both sides could escalate hostilities in the months to come.
(AP Photo/Libkos)
Both Russia and Ukraine are using paramilitary forces in their enduring conflict. But employing such forces poses serious risks for both countries.
Ukraine's Presidential Office via AP
The destruction of this massive dam is a huge blow to Ukraine’s plans for a counter-offensive in the south.
Drone strikes in Moscow shocked and scared local inhabitants.
EPA-EFE/Maxim Shipenkov
Now Russians may start feeling the fear that has afflicted ordinary Ukrainians since February 2022.
‘Be a man’: Russian marine conscripts at a departure ceremony at Trinity Cathedral in St Petersburg.
EPA-EFE/Anatoly Maltsev
The Kremlin’s appeals to Russian masculinity will miss the mark. Russian men have changed over the past two decades.
Investigators inspect a building after a Ukrainian drone reportedly damaged an apartment building in Moscow on May 30.
AP/Alamy
Drone strikes in Moscow are just one sign of an intensifying air war ahead of Ukraine’s offensive.
President Vladimir Putin, left, and President Cyril Ramaphosa in Sochi, Russia, in 2019.
Sergei Chirikov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images.
It’s clear that South Africa is aligned with the Russian Federation.
Meeting old friends and making new ones: Volodymyr Zelensky addressing the 2023 G& summit in Hiroshima.
Pool Photo/G7 Hiroshima/Alamy Live News
A selection of the best of our coverage of the conflict from the past fortnight.
Trostyanets, site of fierce battle and Russian occupation in Ukrainein March 2022.
Chris McGrath/Getty Images
If the African delegation could convince the belligerents to find a peaceful solution, they will make a critical contribution to the climate for mediation.
Prigozhin Press Service/AP
The infighting is dangerous for the Kremlin. It’s becoming harder for Vladimir Putin to dissociate himself from serious errors of judgement on the battlefield in Ukraine.
A satellite image shows burning homes in Chernihiv, Ukraine, in March 2022.
Satellite image (c) 2022 Maxar Technologies.
Digital evidence is becoming a routine fixture for war crimes investigations, including the one focused on Ukraine, changing the landscape for international tribunal investigations.
Asatur Yesayants/Shutterstock
The UK’s proscription of Wagner would be an important global signal, but is not without risks.
Experts expect the war in Ukraine to be a lengthy, grinding conflict similar to what is playing out in Bakhmut.
AP Photo/Libkos
The author was part of a delegation to Kyiv of military, intelligence and diplomatic experts. Here are his impressions.
EPA-EFE/Yuri Kochetkov
Interviews with Russian men found most no longer see military service as a marker of masculinity.