Vladimir Putin.
AP/Alamy
Putin is busy consolidating his alliances while the west keeps dithering.
Facing charges: Russia’s deputy defence minister, Timur Ivanov.
EPA-EFE/Moscow City Court Press Handout
The constant jockeying for power among Putin’s subordinates serves the Russian president’s purpose.
Ukrainians face hardship and loss, but hope remains.
AP Photo/Francisco Seco
A selection of our coverage of the conflict from the past fortnight.
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
Russian propaganda and talking points on Ukraine continue to be repeated, without being challenged, two years after the war began.
A makeshift memorial for the head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in August 2023.
Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images
Will the Wagner Group under new leadership uphold the ruthless modus operandi that propelled it to the spotlight in Africa?
EPA-EFE/Maxim Shipenkov
Navalny survived poisoning only to be arrested and sentenced to more than 30 years in jail. Now he has disappeared.
People carry a body bag away from the wreckage of a crashed private jet near the Russian village of Kuzhenkinoi on Aug. 24, 2023. Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, reportedly died in the crash along with nine other people.
(AP Photo)
The core members of the Wagner Group, who are loyal to the late Yevgeny Prigozhin, will likely seek revenge against Vladimir Putin for his death. Is the Russian leader now living on borrowed time?
Ukrainian soldiers head toward the strategic town of Bakhmut on 20 may 2023, days before the start of the counteroffensive launched in early June.
Sergey Shestak/AFP
Ukraine’s recapture of villages in the Donetsk region in early June raises a myriad of questions.
Security: the Kremlin has banned the use of drones in the centre of Moscow ahead of the May 9 ‘Victory Day’ celebrations.
EPA-EFE/Yuri Kochetkov
The drone ‘attack’ on the Kremlin remains shrouded in mystery. Here are some of the possible explanations.
Russian dIssident Vladimir Kara-Murza has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for ‘treason’ among other charges.
The Moscow City Court via AP
Opposing the Russian president appears as dangerous in today’s Russia as back in the days of the Stalin purges and show trials.
Court hearing: an artist’s impression of Jack Teixeira being charged.
Margaret Small via AP
The leaks have revealed much about shortcomings in the way the US intelligence community operates.
In for the long haul: Ukrainian troops digging in around Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.
EPA-EFE/Oleg Petrasyuk
A selection of the best of our coverage of the conflict from the past fortnight.
Maxim Shipenkov/EPA/AAP
More than 5,000 documents were leaked by an anonymous whistleblower.
Marina Tauber, vice-president of Moldova’s Russia-friendly Shor Party, leads a demonstration in the capital, Chisinau, against the pro-western government and low living standards.
AP Photo/Aurel Obreja)
There are fears that Russia might try to compensate for its poor performance in Ukraine by upping its meddling in neighbouring countries.
While communists make up the bulk of portrait carriers in Russia, officials are also increasingly putting in a good word for Joseph Staline.
Alexey Borodin/Shutterstock
Stalin, who died on March 5, 1953, was partially rehabilitated in the decades that followed. These days, he is in some respects a source of inspiration for Vladimir Putin.
Pavlovsky as dissident at a rally to commemorate the murdered Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.
Alexander Miridonov/Kommersant/Sipa USA
Pavlovsky became the ultimate insider – until he fell out with the boss he had helped make all-powerful.
Getty Images
The Wagner Group has become a tool to further Russian objectives in Africa without attracting the scrutiny that regular military units would.
Fierce fighting has devastated the town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine.
REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Russia appears to have refocused on the land war with the aim of taking more territory.
Powerful politicians in the US once called for the dissolution of the CIA. How relevant is it today?
Anelo via Shutterstock
The audio version of a long form article on the history of the CIA and its relationship with Russia.
In charge: his war may be increasingly unpopular, but Vladimir Putin still enjoys complete power in Russia.
EPA-EFE/Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/Kremlin pool
Public approval of the war has declined significantly, but the president himself appears safe, for the time being.