Imagine you are a Ukrainian citizen who fled Crimea in 2014 after Russia occupied the peninsula. You left behind your apartment, your parents’ house, maybe the little plot of land where your family planted grapes. But your family was safe, and that mattered most. As for the property, you hoped to return one day. After…
Russia currently has around 720,000 troops committed to the war against Ukraine—more people than the entire population of Boston. Who are these men? What brings them to the recruitment office? Do they believe Ukraine is ruled by Nazis? Do they still believe Putin after seeing the front? Or are they there because the state…
When Ukrainians see another apartment building destroyed, another family killed, or another city attacked, the question feels unavoidable: How could 140 million Russians allow this to happen? Why did they not stop Putin? Why did they not fill the streets, sabotage the war, overthrow the government—or at least speak openly against it? And if they…
For most English-speaking viewers, the North Caucasus appears only as a handful of disconnected images. Perhaps you know Khabib Nurmagomedov, the undefeated UFC champion from Dagestan. Or Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruler of Chechnya, usually seen surrounded by armed men and declaring his loyalty to Vladimir Putin. You may remember the Beslan school siege, one of…
A Russian oligarch seems to have everything: private jets, enormous yachts, villas in several countries, companies worth billions, and access to the Kremlin. From the outside, he looks powerful enough to influence presidents. That is why many people in Russia and the West assumed that oligarchs were the true rulers of the country—that Putin depended…
You have probably seen them before: young Russian men in tracksuits squatting beside an apartment block, smoking, drinking cheap beer, and watching everyone who passes as if the courtyard belongs to them. These are Russian gopniks. They occupy the opposite end of the country’s cultural spectrum, far removed from ballet, classical music, and literature. In…
Russia looks like a country governed by law. It has a constitution. It has courts. It has prosecutors, investigators, ministries, regulations, permits, forms, stamps, signatures, inspections, and procedures for every imaginable part of life. But when real power enters the room, the law often quietly leaves. A poor person may be crushed by a missing…
Every army has deserters. But when thousands of soldiers begin leaving, hiding, escaping across borders, choosing prison over the front, or disappearing into civilian life, this is no longer just a discipline problem. It is a crisis. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has pulled hundreds of thousands of men into the trenches. Some are defending…
