Tag: Vladimir Putin

Staunton, September 11 – Despite a hard-won and well-deserved reputation for being able to outsmart Western leaders in pursuit of his goals, Vladimir Putin, as a result of his own recent actions, has left himself with only bad options for his next move in Ukraine, according to Vitaly Portnikov. In a commentary on Liga.net, the […]

Staunton, September 11 – Vladimir Putin wants to impose a North Korean-type of control over the Internet, according to Russian blogger Anton Nosik; but the costs such closure will impose on the Russian economy, the ability of Russian surfers to work around his actions, and, last but not least, the linguistic diversity of the country […]

Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. An archive of our liveblogs can be found here. For an overview and analysis of this developing story see our latest podcast. Please help The Interpreter to continue providing this valuable information service by making a donation towards our costs. View Ukraine: April, 2014 in a larger map For […]

Staunton, September 9 – In his latest update on Stalinism as “effective management,” Vladimir Putin has disbanded Russia’s Regional Affairs Ministry, yet another sign of his drive to further centralize the country, eliminate any serious discussion of Russia’s regions and their problems, and thus undermine any chance that Moscow will have an effective nationality policy. […]

Staunton, September 7 – Even though there is every indication that the ceasefire has already been broken and that Vladimir Putin had no intention of living up to its promise of a move toward peace, Ukrainians are confronted with the challenge of considering how best to use the time it may give them to strengthen […]

Staunton, September 8 – The current ceasefire ends one phase of the war between Russia and Ukraine making this a good time to consider the impact of the conflict in the broadest terms, as Moscow commentator Konstantin Gaaze does so in ten questions and answers. Gaaze’s first question is “Why did we (they) act as […]

Staunton, September 6 – That Vladimir Putin has won another round in his invasion of Ukraine seems clear: he has forced Kiev to reach agreements with Moscow-backed secessionists, he has effectively taken his Anschluss of Crimea off the table of discussion, and he has further undermined Western unity concerning the imposition of sanctions. In all […]

Staunton, September 6 – This month marks the 15th anniversary of the 1999 apartment bombings in Russia that sparked the rise of Vladimir Putin to the Russian presidency and the opening of a new Russian war against Chechnya. Moscow’s failure to investigate fully what happened means that suspicions about the authorship of these terrorist acts […]

Staunton, September 5 – Vladimir Putin’s plan to move several ministries from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk and to launch a massive investment program there reflects fears in the Kremlin that separatist attitudes in Russia east of the Urals are growing and that only such steps have the potential to quiet them, according to Anton Chablin. In […]

Staunton, September 3 – Kiev’s failure to take into consideration the opinions of part of the residents of the Donbass is Moscow’s fault because the Russian government has “done everything in order to discredit real and civilized protest by putting in its place banditry and armed aggression,” according to Russian commentator Kseniya Kirillova. In a […]