Churchill’s famous line, ‘Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma,’ refers to Stalin’s totalitarian empire. Taken out of context it reinforces a national myth, etched in every Russian mind by the …
Tag Archive for: "Vladimir Putin"
First, the good news. The American and Russian-brokered ceasefire in Syria, the ‘cessation of hostilities’, which became effective on 27 February, has been holding. Sort of. The guns have certainly not fallen silent—far from it—but …
That Putinism is in trouble at home isn’t news. Russian economist and former vice chairman of Russia’s Central Bank, Sergei Aleksashenko, estimates that Russia’s GDP fell by 9% in 2015. In a recent poll by …
The 2014 annexation of the Crimea and subsequent ‘stealth invasion’ of eastern Ukraine by the Russian Federation, as well as Moscow’s commitment to Basher al-Assad’s regime in Syria, are indicative of a sweeping wave of …
‘Be vigilant, for the enemy never sleeps’ – Soviet propaganda slogan On the last day of 2015, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree approving a revised National Security Strategy. As the document contains the latest definitions …