Russia is becoming harder to see from the outside. Independent websites are blocked. People can be prosecuted for saying the wrong thing about the war. That leaves foreigners with official media — and their heavily censored picture of the country. In that picture, Russia is remarkably stable. Moscow restaurants are full. New apartment towers go…
The Russian bureaucratic machine works very hard to convince both the outside world and its own citizens that Putin remains overwhelmingly popular and that the country is united behind the war. If you follow the media that is still allowed to operate inside Russia, the population appears remarkably obedient. People do not protest. They cooperate…
Russia’s ruble has done something many people did not expect. After the invasion of Ukraine, sanctions, the departure of foreign companies, exploding government spending, and growing trade problems were supposed to crush the currency. Instead, the ruble has remained surprisingly strong. That strength is easy to misread. It can look like proof that sanctions failed…
Where is the resistance to Putin’s war? If you look only at the streets of Moscow, you might conclude that it doesn’t exist. There are no enormous anti-war demonstrations. No opposition leader is addressing a crowd of half a million people. Most Russians go to work, shop for groceries, complain about prices, and continue with…
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…
