If Putin’s Russia is as strong and successful as the Kremlin says, why has so much ordinary information become harder to see? I’m not talking about troop movements or intelligence operations. Every country keeps real military secrets. What interests me is something else. Over the last few years, Russia has become increasingly reluctant to let…
After more than four years of war, Putin is still behaving as though time is on his side. Russia has lost enormous numbers of men and equipment. Its economy is slowing. The federal budget deficit is growing. Ukrainian drones are reaching deep inside the country. And yet Putin is still not substantially reducing his demands….
Several million rubles can change the scale of a person’s life overnight. For a Russian man who has spent decades living on an ordinary salary, such money does not feel like a bonus. It feels like an escape hatch. Debts that seemed permanent can disappear. A neglected apartment can finally be repaired. A family that…
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…
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…
