Revelation contained in former press secretary’s new book US president joked with Putin about ‘fake news’ journalistsDonald Trump told Vladimir Putin he had to act tough next to the Russian president for the cameras, according to the former White House…
Putin’s crackdown: how Russia’s journalists became ‘foreign agents’
Will an oppressive new law stifle independent media outlets – or lead to a weakening of the president’s authoritarian regime?Usually the bad news is dumped late on Friday when most Muscovites are heading out for the evening: a new list of names of jour…
Has Covid ended the neoliberal era? | Adam Tooze
The year 2020 exposed the risks and weaknesses of the market-driven global system like never before. It’s hard to avoid the sense that a turning point has been reachedIf one word could sum up the experience of 2020, it would be disbelief. Between Xi Ji…
Vladimir Putin warns west to stop meddling in Afghanistan
During ‘farewell summit’ with Angela Merkel, Russian leader says US-led campaign cannot be called a successVladimir Putin has demanded that countries not interfere in Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul, saying the west “must stop the irresponsible pol…
UK imposes sanctions on seven Russians over Navalny poisoning
FCDO says the individuals, said to be FSB members, will be subject to travel bans and asset freezesSanctions have been imposed on seven Russian nationals accused of involvement in the nerve agent poisoning of the key Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the …
Only action against corruption can solve the world’s biggest problems | Alexei Navalny
In a message from his prison cell, the jailed Russian opposition activist calls for the west to take sanctions against oligarchsExactly one year ago, I did not die from poisoning by a chemical weapon, and it would seem that corruption played no small p…
Wildfire smoke in Siberia causes ‘stay at home’ instruction
Yakutia leader declares ‘non-work’ day over health concerns as 22m acres burn in east Russia regionThe leader of a Siberian region has declared Friday a non-working day and urged residents to stay at home as smoke from raging forest fires raised health…
Jonathan Steele: ‘I came to Russia a political correspondent and left a crime reporter’
The veteran journalist, who moved to Moscow in 1988, charted the collapse of a superpower. But, he tells his successor, the Gorbachev revolution has been poisonedWhen Jonathan Steele moved to Moscow for the Guardian in 1988, the story of Mikhail Gorbac…
What is it about Viktor Orbán that attracts so many rightwing sycophants? | Nick Cohen
Hungary’s leader and Fox News are natural bedfellows in peddling paranoia politicsTucker Carlson is not much to look at. A little man with a face screwed into the scowl of a junior manager passed over for promotion, you might walk by him in the street …
Abramovich was not ‘directed’ to buy Chelsea FC by Putin, court hears
Author accused of repeating ‘lazy inaccuracies’ about businessman’s role in Russian politics and societyRoman Abramovich’s lawyer said it was defamatory to describe the businessman as having “a corrupt relationship” with the Russian president, Vladimir…