Tag: Putin, Vladimir V

Putin Urges Russians to Unite on Ukraine War

His most beloved crooner sang a nationalistic ballad with an appeal to Russians: “The Motherland is calling. Don’t let her down.” His favorite band belted out a moody song about wartime sacrifice. And then he took the stage, under a banner celebrating the 10th anniversary of Crimea’s seizure from Ukraine, to remind thousands of Russians […]

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Putin’s Orchestrated Election Leaves Russians With No Other Choices

The Kremlin stage-managed Russia’s presidential vote over the weekend to send a singular message at home and abroad: that President Vladimir V. Putin’s support is overwhelming and unshakable, despite or even because of his war against Ukraine. From the moment the preliminary results first flashed across state television late Sunday, the authorities left no room […]

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Five Takeaways From Putin’s Win in Russia

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia emerged from the three-day, stage-managed presidential vote that ended Sunday declaring that his overwhelming win represented a public mandate to act as needed in the war in Ukraine as well as on various domestic matters, feeding unease among Russians about what comes next. Mr. Putin said the vote represented […]

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Putin Wins Russian Presidential Election

President Vladimir V. Putin on Sunday extended his rule over Russia until 2030, using a heavily stage-managed presidential election with no real competition to portray overwhelming public support for his domestic dominance and his invasion of Ukraine. Some Russians tried to turn the undemocratic vote into a protest, forming long lines at polling stations at […]

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Putin Breaks Silence on Navalny’s Death, Calling It an ‘Unfortunate Incident’

President Vladimir V. Putin described the death of the imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny as an “unfortunate incident” and claimed he had been ready to release him in exchange for Russian prisoners held in the West. Mr. Putin, in a news conference after Russia’s presidential election, said that “some people” had told him before […]

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Long Lines of Russian Voters Signal Discontent With Vladimir Putin’s Rule

Long lines of voters formed outside polling stations in major Russian cities during the presidential election on Sunday, in what opposition figures portrayed as a striking protest against a rubber-stamp process that is certain to keep Vladimir V. Putin in power. Before he died last month, the Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny had called […]

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Little Suspense Over Russian Vote. What Comes Next Is Less Certain.

Maria and her husband, Aleksandr, are certain that President Vladimir V. Putin will secure a fifth term as Russia’s leader in the presidential election this weekend. But the couple, who live in Moscow with their three children, are not so sure about what will follow. Foremost in their minds are fears that Mr. Putin, emboldened […]

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Russians Know Putin Will Be Re-Elected, but Many Worry What Comes Next

Maria and her husband, Aleksandr, are certain that President Vladimir V. Putin will secure a fifth term as Russia’s leader in the presidential election this weekend. But the couple, who live in Moscow with their three children, are not so sure about what will follow. Foremost in their minds are fears that Mr. Putin, emboldened […]

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Rebellious Russians Stage Daring Attacks From Ukraine on Russian Soil

Gathered in a Ukrainian farmhouse, soldiers checked their kits: rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers, spare batteries for radios, red and white flashlights, all that would be needed for a stealthy and daring night assault across the border into Russia. The soldiers are Russians who have turned against the government of their country’s president, Vladimir V. […]

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Trump’s Alternate Reality Pitch, Examined

Aside from falsely insisting that he did not lose the 2020 election, former President Donald J. Trump has peddled a related set of theories centered on one question: What would the world have looked like had he stayed in office? Mr. Trump, in rallies and interviews, has repeatedly asserted — more than a dozen times […]

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In Occupied Ukraine, Casting a Vote (for Putin) as Armed Soldiers Watch

A new sign went up a few miles from the front line recently on the main billboard of an occupied town in Ukraine’s Luhansk region. “Vote for our president. Together we’re strong,” read the sign in the white, blue and red colors of the Russian flag, according to Anastasiia, a resident. The message was clear […]

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16 Killed in Russian Missile Strike on Odesa, Ukraine Says

A Russian missile attack on Odesa killed at least 16 people and injured 55 others, Ukrainian authorities said on Friday, the latest in a series of deadly air assaults on the southern Ukrainian port city. Ukraine’s state emergency services said a first missile hit several houses late in the morning, prompting rescuers to rush to […]

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A Journey Through Putin’s Russia

Fact-checking by Susan Lee and Milana Mazaeva. Translations by Milana Mazaeva. The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike […]

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As Putin Pitches His Vision, Voters Avert Their Gaze From the War

Vladimir V. Putin’s vision of Russia — successful, innovative and borderless — is on display at one of Moscow’s biggest tourist attractions, a Stalin-era exhibition center that currently houses a sleek showcase called Russia 2024. The exhibition promotes what the Kremlin portrays as Russia’s achievements in the past two decades, roughly the period Mr. Putin […]

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Russia’s Persecution of L.G.B.T.Q. Ukrainians Should Be a Crime Against Humanity

Oleksii Polukhin’s 64 days in detention began when Russian soldiers stopped him at a checkpoint. They found that he’d been gathering information about Russian military positions to share with Ukrainian forces; they also discovered he was gay. Mr. Polukhin gave a detailed account of his detention to Projector, an Odesa-based human rights organization. He also […]

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Russia Strengthens Its Internet Controls in Critical Year for Putin

Russia is ratcheting up its internet censorship ahead of elections this weekend that are all but assured to give President Vladimir V. Putin another six years in power, further shrinking one of the last remaining spaces for political activism, independent information and free speech. The Russian authorities have intensified a crackdown against digital tools used […]

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Orban Endangers Hungary’s Status as an Ally, U.S. Diplomat Says

Prime Minister Viktor Orban is jeopardizing Hungary’s position as a trusted NATO ally, the U.S. ambassador to Budapest warned on Thursday, with “its close and expanding relationship with Russia,” and with “dangerously unhinged anti-American messaging” in state-controlled media. The ambassador, David Pressman, has for months criticized Mr. Orban for effectively siding with President Vladimir V. […]

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E.U. Removes Russian Tech Tycoon From Sanctions List

The European Union has lifted sanctions against a Russian technology tycoon, in a rare break from a policy of punishing the country’s elites for the invasion of Ukraine. Arkady Volozh, who co-founded Russia’s largest tech company, Yandex, was taken off the list of sanctioned individuals after condemning the invasion of Ukraine and taking public steps […]

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Putin Plays Down Threat of Nuclear War in Pre-Election State TV Interview

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia tried to play down fears of nuclear war in an interview released on Wednesday and denied having considered using weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine, aiming to bolster his domestic image as a guarantor of stability before the Russian presidential election this weekend. In a lengthy interview released by […]

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In Russia, There Is Something Putin Can’t Control

According to “The Master and Margarita,” Mikhail Bulgakov’s celebrated novel about the devil’s visit to Stalinist Moscow, “manuscripts don’t burn.” This famous phrase became a shorthand for art’s supposed ability to triumph over repression. Today, Bulgakov’s formula is being put to the test once again in Russia, where a new film adaptation of the book […]

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Russia Pivots South for Trade Following Western European Sanctions

For centuries, trade with Europe was the main pillar of Russia’s economy. The war in Ukraine ended that, with Western sanctions and other restrictions increasingly cutting Russia off from European markets. In response, Moscow has expanded ties with the countries more willing to do business with it — China to the east, and, via a […]

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Top Navalny Aide Attacked With Hammer Outside Home in Lithuania

The chief of staff to Aleksei A. Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died last month in an Arctic penal colony, was attacked with a hammer and tear gas outside his home in Lithuania’s capital late Tuesday, according to Mr. Navalny’s press secretary, who said the police and an ambulance had been called to the […]

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Ukraine Faces Losses Without More U.S. Aid, Officials Say

Senior intelligence officials warned on Monday that without additional American aid, Ukraine faced the prospect of continued battlefield losses as Russia relies on a network of critical arms suppliers and drastically increases its supply of technology from China. In public testimony during the annual survey of worldwide threats facing the United States, the officials predicted […]

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The Prophetic Academic Emmanuel Todd Now Foresees the West’s Defeat

“If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not,” President Biden said during his State of the Union address on Thursday night. Europe is “at risk,” he added, as he welcomed Ulf Kristersson, the prime minister of Sweden, the newest member of NATO. But Mr. Biden also […]

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Navalny’s Heirs Seek a Political Future in Russia

Aleksei A. Navalny built Russia’s largest opposition force in his image, embodying a freer, fairer Russia for millions. His exiled team now faces the daunting task of steering his political movement without him. The movement has found a leader in Mr. Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, who has presented herself as the new face of the […]

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On Foreign Policy, Biden’s Agenda Faces Multiplying Challenges

Two years ago, just six days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Biden opened his State of the Union address by vowing to stop Vladimir V. Putin in his tracks. The response in the House chamber was a series of standing ovations. On Thursday night Mr. Biden again opened his address by repeating his […]

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Opposition Blasts Macron for Risking Escalation in Ukraine

Attacked at home and abroad for his statement last month that sending troops to Ukraine “should not be ruled out,” President Emmanuel Macron faced a torrent of outrage from the left and right on Thursday when he met with leaders of major political parties to hammer home his new position. Mr. Macron’s remark startled his […]

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Dark Brandon in the House

Enough already: It is time to unleash Dark Brandon on this soul-sucking downer of a presidential race. And the most obvious place to begin is to invite him to the State of the Union address. President Biden is set to deliver his annual address to Congress Thursday night, just two days after Donald Trump effectively […]

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Russians Flock to Navalny’s Grave as They Grapple With His Legacy

Marina, a Moscow lawyer, decided to stay home when the Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny was buried last Friday. She had expected a big crowd and widespread arrests at the Borisovsky Cemetery, given Russia’s current climate of repression, and thought it would be better to pay her respects another day. She wasn’t alone in […]

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Putin’s Nukes in Space Are Back to Scare Us Again

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan was considering what became known as “Star Wars,” a plan to shield America from Soviet missiles by deploying up to thousands of weapons in space. At the same time, as a young science writer, I was reporting on how the rays from a single nuclear detonation in orbit could wipe […]

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