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A KGB manual, published in English for the first time, reveals how Soviet spies infiltrated Western governments in an elaborate game of cat-and-mouse.

One Ukrainian soldier was KIA and 6 WIA in the last 2 days.

ON MY MIND They’ve been gunned down in their stairwells. They’ve been shot dead on Moscow streets. And one was even poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope in the heart of London. Political assassinations have become a regular feature of post-Soviet Russia — from television anchor Vladislav Listyev back in 1995 to Boris Nemtsov in […]

Two days ago, the discussion on social networks was about how people on the EU sanctions list could nevertheless travel to France and even give press conferences in Paris.  The fourth most powerful official in Russia, the Speaker of the Russian State Duma, Sergei Naryshkin, did just that. He found himself on the EU sanctions […]

John Wilson, a Scottish writer, is the author of The City of the Plague, a scary story from the 17th century which takes place in London. In Russian school, we don’t study Wilson, but we read Alexander Pushkin. Among Pushkin’s Little Tragedies, there is one called A Feast in the Time of the Plague, a […]

I had not been in Moscow for a year. The last time I came I was with the French president’s pool and so I could not investigate and take notes on how my city had changed. For a year, I waited to find its new energy. On the plane I was already upset when it […]

After reading the news about Francois Hollande, President Vladimir urgently convened his cabinet: “Yes, we can do the meeting without Dmitry at all.  Let him finished his game of Angry Birds” – growled the President before hanging up. Five minutes later everyone was already in the room with their documents and pencil cases, someone even came […]

The Interpreter’s Elena Sevettaz, a Russian-French journalist, has published a book about Sergei Magnitsky, whose death in prison, and post-mortem trial and conviction, sparked protests around the world, eventually leading to the Obama administration passing sanctions against Russian officials involved in the case. The Russian government responded by blocking American adoptions of Russian children. The new […]

Today is Vladimir Putin’s 61st birthday. As such, we have decided to republish this article, originally published on June 3, 2013. – Ed. Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, I’m 29 and I’ve been living for 14 years with the depressing thought that there will be nobody except you to rule the country forever. When thousands of Russians […]

There are things you cannot eliminate by changing the regime, boycotting the Winter Olympics in Sochi, or imposing international sanctions. These are human cruelty, indifference to others, and ignorance. In Russia, cruelty, indifference and ignorance are commonplace. Some people get used to them, others end up tolerating them. You will always come across someone who will find pleasure in humiliating, offending […]