The magic of seeing in the new year in Sydney
Also this week: leaving the BBC and why koala bears need a seat at the diplomatic table.
ByVladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin is the president of Russia and has been the country’s leader, with an interlude as prime minister, for more than 22 years. Putin was born in 1952, studied law at Leningrad State University and served for 15 years as a KGB officer before becoming a politician in 1991.
Could Donald Trump end the war in Ukraine this year?
It is best to approach any peace negotiation without high expectations of success.
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Europe’s Ukraine delusion
With Donald Trump returning to power, the continent’s foreign policy experts must face reality.
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The Kremlin’s new calculus on Syria
Vladimir Putin bet on Bashar al-Assad’s murderous rule. Now Russia is shifting course.
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Russia’s economy is doomed
Vladimir Putin is paying heavily for the illusion of economic success. In the long run, it can’t last.
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The dark reality of Putin’s nuclear rhetoric
The Russian president’s threats of a coming world war are not meaningless.
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The new special relationship
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump may together upend what remains of the current global order.
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The combat zone
How the Trump-Putin relationship could remake the world.
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Alexei Navalny’s chronicle of a death foretold
The enemy of Putin survived the first attempt on his life. His memoir Patriot reveals why he returned to Russia…
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Is Vladimir Putin bluffing?
He controls the world’s largest nuclear arsenal. The West can’t easily discount his threats.
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The Russian ultra-nationalists defying Putin
Ukraine's Kursk incursion has sparked a wave of attacks on the regime.
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Vladimir Putin’s enemy within
The president’s betrayal of his conscript army is creating a generation ready to sow chaos in Russia.
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Who’s winning now?
With an incursion into Kursk and drone strikes in Moscow, Ukraine has brought the war to Russia.
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Why Putin gave up his hostages
In releasing Evan Gershkovich and others before November, the Russian president has denied Trump a diplomatic victory.
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Is there a peace plan for Ukraine?
Donald Trump has said he would end the war if he wins the White House. But at what cost?
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Europe’s Iron Lady: Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas
The Baltic leader has become the EU’s strongest advocate for an uncompromising response to Russia.
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Russia, North Korea and the axis of autocracies
Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un’s dangerous pact makes even China uneasy.
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The end of the pariah state
What Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin’s deepening relationship reveals about the emerging international order.
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The rise of a new axis
China, Russia, North Korea and Iran are all deeply hostile to the US and its allies – and they could…
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What the West gets wrong about the war in Ukraine
If Kyiv’s allies had identified Putin’s invasion as an act of colonisation, they might have won more support from the…
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