Georgios Giannakopoulos, City, University of London The war in Ukraine has put Turkey into the geopolitical spotlight. One of Nato’s earliest member states, with a special relationship with Russia, Turkey is attempting to balance its competing interests, as well as increasing its own influence. Meanwhile, Turkey is in the middle of launching a
Ross Bennett-Cook, University of Westminster and Christoph Bluth, University of Bradford Russia has announced plans to begin direct flights to Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, a state recognised only by Turkey. This will make Russia the only nation outside of Turkey to fly directly to the territory since it declared independence from the Republic of
Ukrainian firefighters battling flames at a power station hit by Russian missiles. Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images Benjamin Jensen, American University School of International Service In response to massive battlefield setbacks, Russia has increased its attacks in Ukraine on everything from power plants and dams to railways, pipelines and ports. These
This Russian short-range cruise missile, the Iskander-K, can carry nuclear warheads for several hundred miles. Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP Nina Srinivasan Rathbun, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Tactical nuclear weapons have burst onto the international stage as Russian President Vladimir Putin, facing battlefield losses in eastern
Barbara Yoxon, Lancaster University Russia is planning to buy “millions” of Soviet-era weapons from North Korea, a recent US intelligence report revealed. Britain’s defence intelligence has also confirmed that Russia is already using Iranian-made drones in Ukraine. The revelations follow a series of diplomatic exchanges between Russian president Vladimir Putin and North Korean
A Ukrainian soldier inspects a residential building after it was damaged following a Russian shelling attack In Kyiv. Mykhaylo Palinchak/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Liam Collins, United States Military Academy West Point As Ukrainian forces fight a late-summer counterattack to wrest the southern province of Kherson from Russian control, Russian President Vladimir Putin
Jennifer Mathers, Aberystwyth University Mikhail Gorbachev was only Soviet leader for a little over six years, from 1985 to 1991, but they were six years that changed both his country and the world. His policies of perestroika (reconstruction) and glasnost (openness) gave ordinary citizens the opportunity to exercise real political freedoms, including freedom
Matthew Sussex, Australian National University Russian President Vladimir Putin habitually rattles his nuclear sabres when things start looking grim for Moscow, and has done so long before his ill-advised invasion of Ukraine. In February 2008, he promised to target Ukraine with nuclear weapons if the United States stationed missile defences there. In August
Getty Images Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato The recent assertion by Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s security council (and former president), that the invasion of Ukraine will “achieve all its goals” and that peace will be “on our terms” raises an obvious question: what are those terms? History suggests the answer may
Christoph Bluth, University of Bradford Russian president Vladimir Putin’s increasingly explicit imperial ambitions to reconstitute a Russian empire from the ashes of the Soviet Union has raised considerable fears among former members. The only former USSR state that has fully endorsed and supported the Russian campaign against Ukraine is Belarus, where President Alexander