Russia has tied its currency to gold to evade sanctions. Shifting the ruble away from a pegged value and into the gold standard itself is aimed at making it a credible gold substitute at a fixed rate.
A centralised system of government has allowed Putin to project power, but the country’s health care, schools, infrastructure and general quality of life have sharply deteriorated.
While Putin is all but guaranteed to win, war fatigue, electoral engineering and extreme risk-aversion suggest that the Kremlin is anxious to get these elections over and done with.
Polish public support for resettling Ukrainian refugees has slipped in recent months, while many new arrivals have had difficulty finding work that aligns with their qualifications.
In addition to destroyed buildings, there’s an entire underground world – filled with untold numbers of artifacts, bones and ruins – that are exposed and damaged by the digging of trenches.
Sylvain Barbot, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Satellite photography of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut shows block after block of destroyed buildings. Satellite radar provides a different view – a systematic look at the destruction of the whole city.
The erasure of Ukrainian nationhood in occupied territories and frequent denial of Ukraine’s right to exist is evidence the Russian invasion has been genocidal in nature.
Ukraine has fought off relentless waves of Russian attacks over the past two years, but if its Western support dries up, its resistance will be very hard to sustain.