Russian President Vladimir Putin watches through binoculars as Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu sits nearby during military exercises east of Moscow in September 2021.
(Sergei Savostyanov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
No state in the global community should have to earn Russia’s compliance with the law. If the rule of law is not respected, the entire global community becomes as vulnerable as Ukraine is now.
Repression: thousands of Russians are being arrested in anti-war protests.
Nikolay Vinokurov/Alamy Stock Photo
Vladimir Putin has a history of flattening cities in time of conflict. But alleged war crimes in Chechnya and Syria never resulted in charges, let alone prosecutions. Will Ukraine be any different?
Russian President Vladimir Putin uses words to mean the opposite of what they really mean.
Sergei Guneyev/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images
Putin often uses words to mean exactly the opposite of what they normally do – a practice diagnosed by political author George Orwell as ‘doublespeak,’ or the language of totalitarians.
The monument to Catherine II (Catherine the Great) in Pushkin, Russia.
(Shutterstock)
Is Catherine the Great a source of inspiration to Vladimir Putin? Her actions in Poland throughout her reign are remarkably similar to Putin’s designs on Ukraine.
A military historian and U.S. Army veteran explains how wars are not easy to win – something political leaders often forget when looking at the calculus of conflict.
Russian disinformation, amplified by China, is raising fears that the war in Ukraine could escalate.
AP Photo/Vincent Yu
The Russian government used disinformation to fabricate a justification for invading Ukraine. A new campaign focused on biowarfare claims threatens to escalate the conflict.
Ukrainian emergency workers at a maternity hospital damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 9, 2022.
(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine includes NATO policy gambles that have left Ukraine standing alone against Russia.
People in the Russian city of St. Petersburg stand in line to withdraw U.S. dollars and euros from an ATM. Ordinary Russians faced the prospect of higher prices as western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine sent the ruble plummeting.
(AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
Over-reliance on sanctions and economic warfare measures have led to strategic complacency and the avoidance of negotiations on the part of the western governments.
Europe’s options of alternative sources of oil are limited,
There are lots of official photos of Russian President Vladimir Putin shirtless, including this one from August 2017.
Alexey Nikolsky/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images
A leader’s machismo can lead to war, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has long displayed his version of hyper-masculinity. A historian says that for America’s founders, wars never fed their egos.
The relationship between South Africa and the West, especially the US, has a complex history. Not least because the US designated those fighting the apartheid regime, as terrorists.
Vladimir Putin: is the Russian leader guilty of war crimes?
EPA-EFE/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin/Sputnik
The Conversation’s weekly round-up of some of the best articles about the war in Ukraine.
This intercontinental ballistic missile was launched as part of Russia’s test of its strategic forces in 2020.
Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats have the world on edge, but so far, long-standing arms control measures have helped keep the situation from getting out of control.
A friendship far from flagging?
Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
Joseph Torigian, American University School of International Service
Beijing and Moscow have had a cozy relationship of late. A scholar of China-Russia diplomacy explains how Ukraine might affect that.
A meme showing Adolf Hitler caressing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s face, tweeted by the official Ukraine state account on Feb. 24, 2022, the day Russia invaded.
Official Ukraine Twitter account
How do a country and its citizens deal with the trauma of a deadly invasion by an enemy? Memes, cats and TikToks are emerging – most recently in the Ukraine war – as a way to cope with tragedy.