Russia

Jailed for being too political, Mikhail Khodorkovsky says it will take a generation for Russia to recover from his former friend’s vicious and disastrous rule

He used to organise Vladimir Putin’s meals. How did he become such a threat to Russia's dictator?

In death as well as in life, the Rasputin story is shrouded in an awed mythology

The deflated dictator is playing mind games with the west as his war in Ukraine lurches into a stalemate

The thought of appeasing Putin is terrible - but the men who could replace him might be even worse

The strange allure of the old communist states remains strong today

The lives of the early 20th-century gentry who fled to safety – but also to poverty – in Paris

Named after its creator, the theremin became one of the sounds of the 20th century, from The Day the Earth Stood Still to Scooby Doo

Russian draft-refusers crossing the Georgian border are bringing back uncomfortable memories for locals

The former Soviet Union countries are full of Russian speakers… surely they don’t all need Putin’s protection?

For all the remarkable events and achievements of his life, Brynner was always content for mythologies to propagate around him

Whatever comes next for Russia, it will not be liberal democracy

Putin's aggression is not just aimed at Ukrainians, it's aimed at the West too. But, time is on our side

Having spoken out against the war in Ukraine, Alla Pugacheva could influence the next chapter in Russian history

We need to tell Putin that if he uses nukes, the West will destroy Russia's military in Ukraine

Politicians love them, but they don’t work and unless you’re a tyrant, they’re unenforceable

His sabre-rattling is a sign that the invasion of Ukraine has misfired - but what happens next could be even worse

Mary Dejevsky, who wrote a piece in The Independent headlined “Putin should have been invited”, believes so

The Kremlin has been meddling in Italian politics and will be pleased with what it sees

The man who oversaw the breakup of the Soviet Union was an apparatchik who wanted to keep the Communist Party in power, says former head of MI6

It’s hard to put in words how much my country owes him. Danke, Gorbi

Putin blames Zelensky for the fatal car bomb that killed an ally’s daughter. Whatever the truth, the Kremlin’s dictator should be worried

What happened when pianists from Ukraine and Russia met at a competition set up by a Texan who wowed Moscow at the height of the cold war?

Humiliated over its Ukraine response, the country is again debating its position in Europe and the wider world

Both Tory leadership contenders clearly want to be tough on immigration to appease the many ultras in their party, writes one reader

The torture and destruction of Ukraine is just a practice run for the same routine to be used against Europe

An emphasis on Russian culture has left the languages of many small, semi-nomadic peoples vulnerable to extinction

Could understanding contemporary Russian literature have given the west an insight into Putin’s intentions?

Kaliningrad encapsulates Russia’s psychosis – from glory days to aggrieved isolation. It is also perilously close to Nato’s weakest link

The government has the chance to show the world the days of London being Russian oligarchs' playground are over, but that would involve action by Boris Johnson

When Teffi grew sceptical of the revolution, she headed for Paris, writing a masterpiece on the way