Staunton, July 18 – The shooting down of the Malaysian plane yesterday became practically inevitable, Vitaly Portnikov says, when Vladimir Putin gave the pro-Moscow secessionists “modern arms and a sense that they could not be punished” because they enjoyed the Kremlin’s backing. In a Grani.ru commentary today, Portnikov says that Putin extended that sense of […]
Staunton, July 18 – As the horrific events of the last 24 hours confirm, “Ukraine is not fighting with Russia but with a much worse enemy, the Lubyanka Peoples Republic headed by a collective Putin,” an entity that is prepared to ignore all rules of decent and civilized behavior, according to Moscow historian Elena Galkina. […]
Staunton, July 18 – Moscow leaders often talk about the need for Russian firms to innovate in order to grow and become competitive domestically and internationally, but only one firm in 16 is currently committed to doing so over the long term. And most say they feel no need or interest to do so. According […]
Staunton, July 17 – Andrey Illarionov says that unless and until Russian openly invades Ukraine and a full-scale war between the two countries breaks out, “the West will not move to provide real assistance to Ukraine.” And thus the answer to the question – will there be effective sanctions? – is “simple and short.” In […]
Staunton, July 17 – Moscow’s actions in Ukraine not only have pushed Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings among Russians into the stratosphere but also have provided Moscow with the opportunity to take unpopular and previously unthinkable measures at home, according to Aleksey Polukhin, economics editor of Novaya Gazeta. If the first has attracted enormous attention, the […]
Staunton, July 17 – Vladimir Putin’s intervention in Ukraine appears to have united most Russians, but it has introduced or at least highlighted a deep split among Russian nationalists, some of whom support his actions and others very much oppose, to the point that people calling themselves “Russian nationalists” are now on both sides of […]
Staunton, July 16 – Because Vladimir Putin has chosen to turn toward the past rather than the future as shown most recently by his “having unleashed a war in Ukraine,” the Kremlin leader has become “the last soldier of the Empire, who will shoot his last bullet even as the Empire draws its last breath,” […]
Staunton, July 16 – The conflict in southeastern Ukraine is becoming like the Yugoslav war with the Russians and Ukrainians becoming like the Serbs and Croatians, developments which mean that “we cannot now even imagine the consequences” of this war for the region and the world, according to Valery Solovey of the Moscow State Institute […]
Staunton, July 16 – Western countries need to adopt a serious non-recognition policy concerning Russia’s illegal occupation of Crimea, including imposing real restrictions on firms Russian or otherwise which seek to use the ports and airports of the peninsula, according to Refat Chubarov, the Mejlis leader. In an interview with Mikhailo Glukhovsky of the Glavkom.ua […]
Staunton, July 15 – Vladimir Putin’s failure to carry out the policies in Ukraine that Moscow’s “hysterical anti-Ukrainian propaganda” had seemed to promise and require are likely to cost the Kremlin leader his current standing in the polls and prompt him to change his image from that of a tough leader to that of a […]
