Category Archives: Vladimir Putin

Russian court orders closure of country’s oldest human rights group

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Supreme court ruling on Memorial is watershed moment in Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on independent thought

Analysis: Closure is part of rapid dismantling of civil society

Russia’s supreme court has ordered the closure of Memorial International, the country’s oldest human rights group, in a watershed moment in Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on independent thought.

The court ruled Memorial must be closed under Russia’s controversial “foreign agent” legislation, which has targeted dozens of NGOs and media outlets seen as critical of the government.

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Why Putin is acting like a man who has run out of time

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Analysis: As Ukraine drifts from the control he desires, disdain for potential negotiating partners leaves the option of force

Vladimir Putin has deployed his troops to the border with Ukraine, delivered impossible demands on Europe and appears ready to launch a new offensive to establish his domination over Kyiv.

Putin is said to feel a “historical mission” to reverse Ukraine’s drift towards the west, despite his own role in creating a rift by annexing Crimea and fuelling a war in Ukraine’s south-east. But his current fast pace raises questions of why he appears to feel the moment to act is now, as if he is running out of time.

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‘They keep telling us: war, war, war’: Putin accuses west of expanding towards Russia – video

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Vladimir Putin has accused the west of 'coming with its missiles to our doorstep' as he reiterated demands for no further Nato expansion in Europe. 'They keep telling us: war, war, war,' Putin said on Thursday.

The Russian president did little to reduce tensions over Ukraine as he spoke at a televised press conference, saying he would be prepared to launch an intervention if he felt Ukraine or its western allies were preparing an attack on Russia’s proxies in the country

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Putin accuses west of ‘coming with its missiles to our doorstep’

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Russian president again voices anger at Nato expansion and says he would be prepared to intervene in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin has accused the west of “coming with its missiles to our doorstep” as he reiterated demands for no further Nato expansion in Europe.

The Russian president did little to reduce tensions over Ukraine as he spoke at a televised press conference, saying he would be prepared to launch an intervention if he felt Ukraine or its western allies were preparing an attack on Russia’s proxies in the country.

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Putin warns of possible military response over ‘aggressive’ Nato

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Russian leader’s speech to top commanders comes as tensions grow with the west over Ukraine

Vladimir Putin has said he will consider a military response if Russia feels threatened by Nato, in a sign that he is not ready to de-escalate tensions over a potential invasion of Ukraine.

In a combative speech on Tuesday, Putin – who has demanded “security guarantees” from Nato – told his top military commanders that the west was to blame for the rising tensions. It came against a backdrop of a Russian buildup of tanks and artillery for what could constitute an invasion force within weeks.

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Russia issues list of demands it says must be met to lower tensions in Europe

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Contentious security guarantees Moscow is seeking include a ban on Ukraine from entering Nato

Russia has put forward a highly contentious list of security guarantees it says it wants the west to agree to in order to lower tensions in Europe and defuse the crisis over Ukraine, including many elements that have already been ruled out.

The demands include a ban on Ukraine entering Nato and a limit to the deployment of troops and weapons to Nato’s eastern flank, in effect returning Nato forces to where they were stationed in 1997, before an eastward expansion.

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On the Ukraine frontline: ‘Only the dead aren’t afraid’ – video

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With tensions escalating along the border with Russia, Luke Harding visits troops in Ukraine's Donbas region to gauge the mood ahead of a possible invasion. The war here has continued since 2014, when pro-Russian separatists seized Ukrainian cities. But in recent weeks large numbers of Russian troops have gathered on Ukraine's border, while talks between Vladimir Putin and US president, Joe Biden, have not provided the diplomatic solution many had hoped for

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Germany urged to use pipeline threat to deter Russia over Ukraine

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Olaf Scholz faces calls from some EU leaders to threaten Moscow with termination of Nord Stream 2

Germany’s new chancellor, Olaf Scholz, faced pressure from fellow leaders at his first EU summit to include the future of Nord Stream 2 as part of the “massive price” to be paid in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Arriving in Brussels, Scholz, who replaced Angela Merkel last week, said his government was committed to protecting Europe’s borders, as Nato warned that the number of Russian troops being mobilised by the Kremlin was continuing to grow.

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Putin assures Xi he will go to Winter Olympics in show of unity

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Russian leader defies western boycott and forms ‘new model of cooperation’ with Chinese leader

Vladimir Putin has confirmed he will attend the opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, an event that Boris Johnson and other western leaders have boycotted in protest at human rights abuses in China.

Putin made the pledge during a video call with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, as he said that a “new model of cooperation has been formed between our countries, based on other matters of principles such as non-interference in [each other’s] internal affairs”.

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EU to warn Vladimir Putin of ‘massive consequences’ of invading Ukraine

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European leaders to tell Kremlin further aggression will carry ‘severe cost’, leak reveals

EU leaders will unite in warning Vladimir Putin that there will be “massive consequences and severe cost” if Russia invades Ukraine, a leaked draft has revealed.

The message will be sent to the Kremlin via a post-summit communique on Thursday, although EU officials decline to flesh out what measures could be taken.

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Putin tells Boris Johnson urgent talks needed over Nato’s plans for Ukraine

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Kremlin wants legal agreement that alliance will not expand into disputed territory

Vladimir Putin has told Boris Johnson that he wants immediate talks to secure clear legal agreements that Nato will not expand eastwards. According to a Kremlin readout of the two leaders’ phone call on Monday, Putin said talks were needed to discuss Nato’s future intentions, and to clarify Ukraine’s plans for the east of the country.

The call marked the first time the two men had spoken since October before the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow. Johnson expressed the UK’s “deep concern over the buildup of Russian forces on Ukraine’s border”, and warned him “that any destabilising action would be a strategic mistake that would have significant consequences”. The British prime minister also called for the issues to be resolved through diplomatic channels.

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Vladimir Putin says he resorted to taxi driving after fall of Soviet Union

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Russian leader says it is ‘unpleasant to talk about’ his cab work in that period as he laments Soviet Union’s demise

Russian president Vladimir Putin has said the collapse of the Soviet Union spelled the end of “historical Russia”, revealing that he drove a taxi to make ends meet after the fall of the USSR.

Putin, a former agent of the Soviet Union’s KGB security services, has previously lamented the USSR’s fall but this time said the disintegration three decades ago remained a “tragedy” for “most citizens”.

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Biden says he won’t send US troops to Ukraine to deter Russian threat

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President’s comments come after he said the US would provide ‘defensive capabilities’ to Ukraine

Joe Biden has said that he is not considering sending US troops to defend Ukraine in response to a Russian military buildup on the country’s borders.

“That is not on the table,” he told reporters on Wednesday, one day after speaking directly with Vladimir Putin in an effort to avert a military crisis.

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Putin’s Ukraine rhetoric driven by distorted view of neighbour

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Analysis: Russian president believes it his 'duty’ to reverse Kyiv’s path towards west

Even as Vladimir Putin has built up an invasion force on his borders, he has repeated a refrain that Russians and Ukrainians are one people, bemoaning a “fraternal” conflict that he himself has provoked.

As Putin speaks on Tuesday with Joe Biden, western analysts have likened his focus on Kyiv to an “obsession” while Russians have said Putin believes it his “duty” to reverse Ukraine’s path towards the west.

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Biden holds virtual summit with Putin amid fears of Ukraine invasion – live

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Russian state television shared a clip of the start of Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden’s virtual summit this morning, which started about 45 minutes ago.

The clip shows the American and Russian leaders greeting each other before beginning their discussion about the situation in Ukraine.

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What sanctions could the US hit Russia with if it invades Ukraine?

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Biden enters talks with Putin armed with a wide range of economic measures at his disposal – what are those options?

Joe Biden goes into Tuesday’s virtual summit with Vladimir Putin, after days of close consultation with European allies on a joint response to an invasion of Ukraine, armed with a wide range of punitive measures at his disposal.

There would be increased military support for Kyiv and a bolstering of Nato’s eastern flank, but the primary focus would be on sanctions. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said they would include “high-impact economic measures that we’ve refrained from taking in the past”.

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US says it will send troops to eastern Europe if Russia invades Ukraine

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Official says Washington would also impose economic measures in warning to Moscow on eve of talks between Biden and Putin

The US has said it would send reinforcements to Nato’s eastern flank in response to a Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as imposing severe new economic measures, in a warning to Moscow on the eve of talks between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin.

Biden will also make clear to Putin that the US will not rule out future Ukrainian membership of Nato, as the Russian leader has demanded, a senior US official said.

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The Observer view on Russia’s threat to Ukraine | Observer editorial

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Putin regards Ukraine as stolen territory and as the US focuses on China and Covid, Moscow is waiting to strike

Vladimir Putin is an old-fashioned sort of guy. He yearns for the days when the Soviet Union was a great power. He still views western democracies as adversaries, to be confounded whenever possible. And he has never reconciled to the post-Soviet loss of cold war-era satellite republics in eastern Europe. This is especially true of Ukraine.

The Russian view that Ukraine is stolen territory to which it has a natural right has roots in tsarist times and before. Ukrainians (and Belarusians) were habitually called “little Russians”. Indigenous narratives stress a common history and common faith indissolubly linking two brotherly eastern Slavic races. Putin has repeatedly stated that “Russians and Ukrainians are one people”.

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Joe Biden pledges to make any Russian invasion of Ukraine ‘very, very difficult’

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Washington and Kyiv say Moscow has massed troops near border ahead of planned US-Russia video summit

Joe Biden he said he would make it “very, very difficult” for Russia to launch any invasion of Ukraine, which warned that a large-scale attack could be planned for next month.

Washington and Kyiv say Moscow has massed troops near Ukraine’s borders and accuse Russia of planning an invasion.

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US warns Russia has plans for ‘large scale’ attack on Ukraine

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Secretary of state says Nato is ‘prepared to impose severe costs’ on Moscow if invasion attempted

The US says it has evidence Russia has made plans for a “large scale” attack on Ukraine and that Nato allies are “prepared to impose severe costs” on Moscow if it attempts an invasion.

Speaking at a Nato ministers meeting in Latvia, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said it was unclear whether Vladimir Putin had made a decision to invade but added: “He’s putting in place the capacity to do so in short order, should he so decide.

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