Russia Decoded
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May 18, 2026: The Boy Who Cried Sarmat
May 18, 2026: The Boy Who Cried Sarmat On May 12, Russia test-fired the world’s largest missile, the 208-ton Sarmat ICBM. That same week, Ukrainian drones penetrated Moscow’s heavily-defended airspace to strike industrial plants and oil refineries. Against the backdrop of this asymmetry, Sergey Karaganov has returned to state television to argue that Russia must
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May 11, 2026: “The Matter Is Coming to an End”
May 11, 2026: «The Matter Is Coming to an End» During his lengthy press conference following the May 9 Victory Day parade, Vladimir Putin slipped in an almost offhand remark that “the matter is coming to an end” — a phrase Western outlets quickly seized on as a signal that the war in Ukraine may
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May 3, 2026: Murky Signals From Moscow
May 3, 2026: Murky Signals From Moscow Last week, Vladimir Putin held a 90-minute phone call with Donald Trump, ostensibly to express concern over a recent assassination attempt and to revive the “spirit of Anchorage.” Yet for all the warm headlines, Russian state media’s coverage of the call and other top news stories has been
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April 19, 2026: Turning the Screws on Europe
April 19, 2026: Turning the Screws on Europe Is Russian state media prepping its audience for a showdown with Europe? Recent broadcasts have framed European drone factories as legitimate military targets and accused Kyiv of deliberately dragging the continent into conflict with Moscow. Beneath the rhetoric, a quietly advancing Duma law (reportedly drafted inside Putin’s
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April 12, 2026: Moscow Loses Its Hungarian Trump Card
April 12, 2026: Moscow Loses Its Hungarian Trump Card On Sunday, Péter Magyar’s Tisza party secured a historic victory in Hungary’s parliamentary election, ousting current prime minister Viktor Orbán and depriving the Kremlin of its most reliable tool for blocking European assistance to Ukraine. While muted on the election results, Russian state media has continued
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