Tag: RUSSIA

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  June 29, 2026: Putin Takes the Wheel

  Russia Decoded This week’s Vesti Nedeli broadcast was especially Putin-centric. Acknowledging fuel shortages, reciting battlefield details by heart, and personally steering the response to Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refineries, the Russian leader appears not just in command but energized by the continuing confrontation with the West. However, recent events — from Ukrainian drone strikes on

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  June 15, 2026: Putin’s Magic Wears Off

  Russia Decoded On Sunday, a devastating missile strike hit Kyiv’s Pechersk Lavra, one of the most sacred sites in the Orthodox world. The attack points to a Kremlin that is now burning through its own foundational myths, chiefly Russia and Ukraine’s shared Orthodox heritage. Days earlier, news coverage of Russia Day celebrations highlighted a different

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  June 8, 2026: Putin Says ‘Nyet’ to Zelensky’s Offer

  Russia Decoded At this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Vladimir Putin delivered a resounding “nyet” to Volodymyr Zelensky’s open letter proposing a face-to-face meeting, even as Ukrainian drones struck mere kilometers from the conference. SPIEF 2026 was equal parts economic summit and political theater, with Putin exuding confidence before an eclectic cast of

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  May 25, 2026: The War Goes on and on and on…

  May 25, 2026: The War Goes on and on and on… On May 22, a drone strike tore through a student dormitory in Starobilsk, leaving dozens of civilians dead or wounded, and Moscow wasted no time casting blame on Kyiv. In “retaliation,” the Kremlin launched one of the largest missile and drone barrages on the

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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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