Tag: Russia

‘Someone will fall victim’: insiders reveal elite anguish as Russia’s war falters

by Pjotr Sauer and Andrew Roth in Moscow Friends, rivals and enemies took their seats in the Grand Kremlin Palace as Vladimir Putin gathered the country’s elite to formalise Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine. The ceremony was meant to portray strength and unity, but within 24 hours had been overshadowed by Russia’s failures on the battlefield. These… Read More ‘Someone will fall victim’: insiders reveal elite anguish as Russia’s war falters

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‘I won’t go and kill my brothers!’: Russians set fire to draft centres

More than 50 Russian draft centres have been targeted in arson attacks since the invasion of Ukraine Olya Romashova There have been 18 attempts to set fire to draft centres and state administrative buildings across Russia since the Kremlin announced that it was mobilising Russian citizens to fight in Ukraine last week. They are the… Read More ‘I won’t go and kill my brothers!’: Russians set fire to draft centres

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The nuclear threat might change the mood in Russia itself, stoking widespread fear

Peter Pomerantsev Do you want Total War?” Goebbels demanded of the Nazi faithful as the Second World War went south for Germany in 1943. He depicted a Reich surrounded by evil Jewish cosmopolitan conspirators bent on its destruction and he advocated for total mobilisation and to embrace a glory-in-death ideology. Vladimir Putin delivered his own (partial)… Read More The nuclear threat might change the mood in Russia itself, stoking widespread fear

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Vladimir Putin’s ship of fools is sinking fast. Will he take everyone down with him?

Simon Tisdall More than ever, Vladimir Putin resembles the captain of the Titanic: steaming full speed ahead towards disaster, deluded by inaccurate assumptions about his ship’s invincibility, and blind to darkly looming hazards. Everything the captain thinks he knows is wrong, the modern-day treasure hunter, Brock Lovett, says in the 1997 movie. And like the Titanic’s lookouts,… Read More Vladimir Putin’s ship of fools is sinking fast. Will he take everyone down with him?

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CALL BY THE PETROGRAD SOVIET TO THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD; March 28, 1917

Comrade-proletarians, and toilers of all countries: We, Russian workers and soldiers, united in the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, send you warmest greetings and announce the great event. The Russian democracy has shattered in the dust the age-long despotism of the Tsar and enters your family of nations as an equal, and as… Read More CALL BY THE PETROGRAD SOVIET TO THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD; March 28, 1917

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Protests in Russia against mobilisation – in pictures

NB: The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a popular protest against war. It began spontaneously on International Women’s Day, February 23 (March 8); and was led by women. Soldiers of the Petrograd 66,000 strong garrison refused orders to shoot the protesters, leading to the collapse of the Tsarist regime and the emergence of the Petrograd… Read More Protests in Russia against mobilisation – in pictures

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The manuscript that was arrested: Linda Grant on Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate

First posted July 28, 2017 Life and Fate was written in the late 1950’s & confiscated by the Soviet authorities. It was published in the West in 1980, and in Russia in 1988. Grossman died in 1964. Linda Grant says of it: ‘Novels fade, your immersion in their world turns into a faint dream, and then is forgotten. Only… Read More The manuscript that was arrested: Linda Grant on Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate

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