If the Kremlin can’t control all of Ukraine anymore, it will do everything it can to turn the country’s political and economic life upside-down.
Conflict
Putin’s Phony War
Convinced that the new authorities in Kiev will finally pull Ukraine out of Russia’s orbit, Vladimir Putin is hacking off as much of the country as he can get away with.
Why Putin Took Crimea
Russia’s seizure of Crimea wasn’t an act of an expanding empire but of an archaic regime throwing up a last line of defense against Westernization.
Obama’s Response to Invasion of Crimea Is ‘Pathetic’
“The Sixth Fleet should be here,” said Ali Hamzin. “Today only the U.S. can preserve the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine.”
At Night in Crimea, Residents Await Move from Russia
“They’re occupying us,” said Ruslan Temirkayayev, as an unmarked military truck trundled by. “We don’t need weapons. We’ll use our fists to defend ourselves.”
Does Russia Really Want Crimea — And Does Crimea Want Russia?
The phantom of Crimean separatism has spooked Ukraine since the country’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Is Crimea Ukraine’s Next Ticking Time Bomb?
In the sleepy Crimean capital Simferopol, tension is building between supporters and foes of the central government in Kiev.
The Baddest Town in Russia
I ask my driver about the “bandits” who hide out in the mountains and attack the police. “The bandits are in Moscow,” he replies. “The boys in the woods are just regular guys. They don’t touch us. They’re against Russia.”
Proxy Warlord Interview
“You’ll be forced to write what’s expected,” Alvi Karimov says. “If it’s raining, you’ll write the sun is shining. Who wants to know that it’s peaceful in Grozny and that women don’t wear headscarves?”
Fables of the Reconstruction
The ambitions of Chechnya’s pro-Moscow ruler Ramzan Kadyrov, inflated by billions of rubles from Kremlin coffers, have transformed Grozny into a glittering monument of hero worship and mass amnesia.
