There are tactical reasons for threatening an invasion, but the real cause may lie in the Kremlin’s fixation with righting what it sees as a historical injustice.
Author: Anton Troianovski
Putin and West Spar Over NATO’s Military Ties to Ukraine
Tensions over Ukraine escalated as Russia’s leader demanded “legal guarantees” that the Western military alliance would not expand to the east, a position NATO regards as untenable.
Lithuania Welcomes Belarusians as It Rebuffs Middle Easterners
People fleeing repression in Belarus are processed quickly and given visas. Middle Eastern migrants passing through Belarus to the E.U. face a harsher fate.
On Putin’s Strategic Chessboard, a Series of Destabilizing Moves
In the stretch of Europe from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, where Moscow and the West have competed for influence for decades, the threat of a new military conflict is growing.
Migrant Crisis in Belarus Tests Putin’s Uneasy Alliance With Lukashenko
Last year Vladimir V. Putin helped save Aleksandr G. Lukashenko’s Belarusian regime. But Russia now has an ever-more-erratic ally and risks entanglement in a dangerous crisis.
Russia Reacts to Belarus-Poland Border Crisis
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said that Russia was doing all it could to resolve the situation, but he also warned of the possibility of a military escalation, according to the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
What’s in a Name? For the Koreans of Sakhalin, an Anguished History
Stranded for decades on the island in Russia’s Far East, some bear three names, Japanese, Russian and Korean, representing different historical chapters. Now, many are planning their return.
Kremlin Steps Up Media Repression Hours After Russian Wins Nobel
Within hours of the Nobel Peace Prize news, Russia labeled nine more people “foreign agents,” part of its most intense post-Soviet media repression campaign.
Navalny Deserved Peace Prize, Russian Nobel Winner Says
Supporters of the jailed Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny say he should have won the Nobel Peace Prize. The Russian journalist who won, Dmitri A. Muratov, agrees.
Daily Covid Deaths Hit New High in Vaccine-Hesitant Russia
The government’s numbers are widely regarded with suspicion, but Russian officials appear to be issuing more urgent warnings about the virus.