Sophie Mahdavi
An 82-metre column in the capital of imperial Russia commemorates Peter the Great’s victory in the Great Northern war and the establishment of the Russian empire.
Vladimir Putin lays flowers at a monument to Peter the Great in Baltiisk, western Russia.
AP/Alamy
The forthcoming March election in Russia is likely to mean another victory for Vladimir Putin, who remains popular, for now.
Pope Francis with Vladimir Putin in 2019: the Pope has angered Ukrainians with a speech that seems to back Putin’s idea of a ‘glorious Russian empire’.
EPA-EFE/Alexei Druzhinin/Kremlin/Sputnik POOL
Francis I’s message seemed to unwittingly echo some of Vladimir Putin’s historical justifications for invading Ukraine.
Screenshot at.
Putin’s imperial ambitions have led him to refer to himself as a latter-day Peter the Great.
Vladimir Putin speaks at a rally in Moscow in March 2022, according to this Kremlin image, with a banner that says “For the world without Nazism! For Russia!”
Kremlin Press Office/Handout/Andalou Agency via Getty Images
For hundreds of years, Russia has elevated its political leaders as figureheads. That’s part of what makes its propaganda so convincing.
Most of Greenland is covered by Arctic ice.
AP Photo/John McConnico
In 1867, the US bought Alaska from Tsar Alexander II for a tidy sum of $7.2 million. Trump probably wouldn’t be able to get that kind of bargain for Greenland.
Denali is the highest peak in North America, and the tussle over its name symbolizes the U.S. relationship with Alaska’s Natives.
Al Grillo/AP Photo
The tale of how and why Russia ceded its control over Alaska to the U.S. 150 years ago is actually two tales and two intertwining histories.