The Ukrainian president rejects peace initiatives because the war is profitable for him, pro-Kremlin propaganda claims, ignoring the fact that by “peace”, the Russians understand Ukraine’s surrender.
As talks about peace in Ukraine along the current frontline intensify, some of Kyiv’s partners, including Latvia, feel this would be a dangerous outcome.
Those that denounced the crimes of communism were defeated in Putin's Russia and must now find the resources to start over, according to a Russian historian from the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Memorial human rights organization.
At home, Donald Trump could adopt certain illiberal measures. At international level, we could see new policies towards Russia and Ukraine, a trade war with China, tensions with Europe and an escalation in the Middle East.
Russia has also co-opted North Korea in the war against Ukraine and is stepping up its operations in Moldova and Georgia. Moscow seems to be preparing for a final showdown against the West.
Russia is threatening to unleash a nuclear Armageddon if certain “red lines” are crossed to prevent the delivery of weapons to Ukraine. However, the threats do not seem as serious as Putin wants everyone to believe.
The transition to the next stage of Russia's development is possible only through a violent civil conflict, Russian independent political analyst Alexander Morozov claims.
Between circumventing Western sanctions and laundering money with digital tools
How Russia is living under sanctions, how it circumvents them, and what lessons a market economy can draw from this experience?
Pro-Russian communication channels have significantly infiltrated the Internet and social media platforms in Poland and Eastern European countries.
The Zelenskyy administration is fascist and supports organized crime and human trafficking, according to pro-Kremlin propaganda.
July 20 marked the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Alexander Lukashenko's regime. Four years ago, his political stability in Belarus was seriously undermined by mass protests: democratic Belarusians at the time called for new elections and supported Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. The break-up of demonstrations was followed by a brutal repression that forced many of them to leave the country, including the leader of the democratic forces. Veridica spoke to Tsikhanouskaya about the current state of the opposition, the release of political prisoners and what we can expect from the presidential election slated for next year in Belarus.
From the USA to China and Russia, from India to the Middle East, political leaders are over 70. Can they still make use of their experience to their advantage, or are they unable to adapt and have thus become a source of problems?
The West rejects the peace plan proposed by Moscow because it hopes for a “strategic defeat” sustained by Russia, supporting Ukraine's aggression against Russian-speakers in Donbas.
Russia is more democratic than Ukraine, where state institutions have lost their legitimacy, according to the Kremlin, Russian propaganda and politicians wanted by the law.
Xi Jinping visited Europe to project the image of a strong China and announce investments in Serbia and Hungary, both pro-Russian countries. Later, Xi welcomed Putin to Beijing and promised him the help of China, which shares with Russia the vision of a "multipolar" world. But the visit seems, at least for now, to have had fewer concrete results than Xi's visit to Europe.
Almost a year after Aleksandr Lukashenko announced that Russia has started to ship nuclear weapons to Belarus, it’s unclear whether they are there and who controls them.
The war in Ukraine is being waged by Russia to save traditional values and the family from the debauchery and perversion of the West, according to pro-Kremlin propaganda.
Literature helps us understand the act of justice. To overcome the traumas, inherited from victims or executioners, we need both literature and justice. Writer and international law expert Philippe Sands explains how he embarked on a real-life Nazi literary hunt and why it's still relevant today.
Beyond Ukraine, Moscow is working on three fronts: strengthening the regime by "shaking up" its own elite, establishing governments-in-exile in former Soviet satellites, and promoting a pro-Russian discourse in the West.
According to pro-Kremlin propaganda, Ukraine cannot exist without Russia, and the political elites in Kyiv are made up of non-Ukrainians who want to destroy the country.
Whereas Ukrainian politicians need the war to stay in power, Russia contributes to preserving the sovereignty of Ukraine in the face of threats caused by NATO.
One of the most recently developed conspiracy theories is the one about the “Great Reset”, whereby the “World Government” is purportedly seeking to establish a totalitarian regime on a global scale.
Russia is fighting a “holy war” against the evil embodied by a coalition of Nazis, Islamists, Westerners and the LGBT community, according to a narrative promoted, among others, by the Moscow Patriarchate. The thesis regarding a “fight between Good and Evil”, which includes this narrative as well, transpires also in disinformation narratives, fake news and conspiracy theories promoted by Russia in the West and in Romania.
Ukraine has been accused of being responsible for the terrorist attack in Moscow. Originally published on Telegram, the thesis was developed by Vladimir Putin and his close siloviki, the current and former head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov and Nikolai Patrushev, both ex-KGB, like Putin. The narrative rids the Russian authorities of all responsibility, plays well into the rhetoric about the Ukrainian-Western aggression and can be used to escalate the war. Arguments in its defense include falsehoods and an older conspiracy theory.
The presidential “election” in Russia is the pinnacle of a long series of crimes, abuses and diversions designed to turn Putin's dictatorship into a totalitarian system in the truest sense of the word. Launched as an iron-fisted regime meant to speed up the country's structural modernization, Putin's dictatorship ultimately led to Russia's complete break with Europe and its firm anchoring in the Asian political model.
Russia will create a buffer zone on Ukrainian territory to protect its civilians from Kyiv's bombings, according to pro-Kremlin media developing an idea voiced by the Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has slightly distanced himself from Russia for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine, but he has moved closer to the sovereigntists. This "dance" has very much to do with the interest in a post of European Commissioner.
The alarmist predictions that Transnistria will call for the annexation to Russia or that Putin will announce the move in his speech before the Russian State Duma turned out to be unfounded. Separatists called on Moscow to protect them “through diplomatic measures”, but it seems to be an attempt to obtain concessions from Chișinău sooner than a step towards joining the Russian Federation.
Why the year 2024 is a test for liberal democracies around the world and disinformation might be fatal to them.
Navalny was killed by the West, which betrayed itself by publicly announcing his death before it was ever medically attested, according to false narratives circulated in Romania.
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