For years, Russia has built its entire story of this war around one simple idea: sooner or later, Russia will win. After Ukraine’s dramatic successes in 2022, Russia mobilized hundreds of thousands of men, expanded military production, poured enormous amounts of money into the army, and gradually regained the initiative. The advances were painfully slow,…
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…
A Russian general celebrates his birthday at an expensive restaurant in central Moscow. His family is there. His guests are there. Security is outside. Then a woman approaches carrying a package. Seconds later, the package explodes. The general survives. Others do not. And suddenly one of the most important privileges of Putin’s ruling class begins…
Imagine that tomorrow the war in Ukraine ends on Putin’s terms. Russian television interrupts its programming. Putin addresses the nation. Fireworks explode over Moscow. Commentators announce that Russia has defeated not only Ukraine, but the entire collective West. For a few days, the country celebrates, and then comes the much more interesting question: What happens…
The Russian government is constantly fighting corruption. At least, officially. Officials are arrested. Criminal cases make the news. Putin regularly demands that state money be protected from theft. Every few years, another anti-corruption campaign begins. And yet corruption remains everywhere. The reason is not that the Kremlin has been trying to defeat it and somehow…
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…
