The appointment to the Security Council of Alexander Linets, head of the Main Directorate of Special Programs of the President... more

Putin's at it again, raising nuclear fears to unsettle the West. Or is the new revision to Russian nuclear doctrine... more

While the Security Council itself is having its time wasted with trivia, new Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu has been... more

I still haven't decided how/if to continue with these mid-week quickfire podcasts picking up on some news stories that catch... more

What may a misadventure from 17th century Russian imperial history tell us about modern Russia? Why, about the perils of... more

As promised, a quickfire interim episode covering some of the past week's stories, from drones over Moscow and reactions to... more

I spin off two recent books, Elena Kostychenko's, I Love Russia. Reporting from a lost country and Sergei Medvedev's A... more

Empty rumours of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's death on the internet yesterday, got me thinking about his shrinking role,... more

After another armed hostage taking by inmates (and bloody response), I consider what’s going on in Russia’s prisons, and what... more

As Ukraine's Kursk incursion rumbles on, what does it tell us about the political processes in Russia behind the warfighting?... more