- analysis 15
- opinions 14
- interview 8
- politics 6
- book 3
- history 3
- documents 2
- tribune 2
- editorial 1
- electoral watch 1
- human rights 1
- investigation 1
- justice 1
- media 1
- news briefs 1
- pearls 1
- tribute 1
analysis
Ukraine, the frontline of Russia’s hybrid wars
The current situation on the borders of Poland and Latvia, neighbours of Lukashenko’s Belarus, underscores the topicality…
The Ukrainian geopolitical pivot and the new cold war
It took years for the expression “new Cold War” to become obvious. Still, one would like to reserve its use…
Strategy of the absurd
A lot of recent information about Russia can be disconcerting for a reasonable reader. It is absurd. It is incomprehensible.
Can the European Union build its future without Russia?
There is little room for maneuver in relations between the European Union and Russia, especially since the latter…
“Wagner” in Mali: the tree must not hide the forest
During the night of September 30 to October 1st, a Russian jumbo jet landed at the airport of Bamako (Mali). On its sides were four MI-171 helicopters.
How the Putin regime bets its legitimacy at the electoral casino
In Russia, the election is a dirty game. The whole process is controlled by the bureaucracy, the information system, and intelligence services.
Russia, Afghanistan and Central Asia: a geopolitical overview
The evaporation of the Afghan National Army and the collapse of a state carried at arm’s length by the United States and its allies will have surprised Russians…
The Taliban against Russia? Neither alliance, nor fight
The victory of the Taliban was carefully prepared by Moscow: for a long time already, the Kremlin had been maintaining communication channels with this group…
Russian military power: a seasoned army serving a revisionist geopolitical project
In the West, the primacy of domestic objectives, the “long war” against Islamic terrorism and the perception of international rivalries through the prism of geo-economics…
Russia’s Ukraine according to Putin: how this propagandistic narrative risks reaching the West
In a July 12, 2021 essay that caused a stir among security analysts, Vladimir Putin considered the Russian and Ukrainian peoples to be one.
Putin and his courtiers: a cavalier relationship with history
In an interview with the Financial Times on June 20, Vladislav Surkov, the architect of Putin’s regime, compared the Russian president to Octavius…
A perspective on the Russian-Iranian alliance
In September 2015, when Russia intervened militarily in Syria in order to save the regime of Bashar Al-Assad, guarantor of its strategic “assets” in situ…
Putin-Biden: a double-edged summit
In Geneva on June 16, the American and Russian presidents, each in their own way, acknowledged that they had agreed on nothing, except that they should seek to get along better.
The United States / Russia / China triangle and the improbability of a reversal of alliances
The priority given by American diplomacy to the Chinese threat sometimes leads to fears of a shift in favor of Russia, the objective being to drive a wedge…
The Karabakh war: how Russia’s image has deteriorated in both Armenia and Azerbaijan
There is no evidence that an economically weakened Russia has stopped viewing unresolved conflicts as a tool for keeping control on what it considers its sphere of influence.
opinions
The return of utopia to power: The turning point of Putin’s regime
At the Valdai meeting, Putin drew attention when he said: “The existing model of capitalism is outdated”
The destruction of the soul in Putin’s Russia
In no Russian regime has propaganda held such a large place as it does in the Putin regime. Propaganda was very visible…
Why do some Russian opponents of Putin’s regime criticize the awarding of the nobel peace prize to Dmitry Muratov?
Among Russian opposition, opinions are divided: some congratulate the winner, Dmitry Muratov, Editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, while others accuse…
The “energy partnership” with Russia: lessons from the past, dangers for the future
Today the trap patiently built by Moscow against Europe for 20 years is closing. Russia has never hidden its desire to abuse its dominant position…
Nordstream-2, an economic project, did you say?
Until very recently, Chancellor Merkel kept repeating that Nordstream-2 was a purely commercial project, devoid of any political implications.
From the Afghan withdrawal to the foundation of the AUKUS: the bright future of European defense?
If we are to believe the optimists, the withdrawal of the United States from the Afghan theater last August and the subsequent decision by Washington…
Resist the Homo putinoidus!
Desk Russie recently published an article about the lawyer Ivan Pavlov, who is currently the victim of judicial persecution.
Deciphering the European policy of the Kremlin
Putin’s article published in Die Zeit on June 22 marks the Kremlin’s return to a European policy pursued since the Gorbachev years…
“Soft” propaganda: an invisible and invasive threat
Many analysts of the current Russian regime are only focused on the hard propaganda of the Kremlin and its relays in the West…
Despite strong words, the European Parliament fails to tackle agents of malign russian influence
The European Parliament’s resolutions tend to be critical of Putin’s Russia. One of the most recent resolutions on Russia adopted at the end of April…
The senator and the fraud
On June 21, in the Senate, Senator Nathalie Goulet organized a “press briefing” with Vadim Rabinovich, a Ukrainian press magnate and leader of the pro-Russian party…
Putin’s setbacks and the fight for his succession
If we look at the news of the last few months, we see that a series of seemingly disparate events all point to a decline in Russia’s influence.
Sputnik V: The missed promise of a messianic vaccine
The Russian leadership boasted that it was the first to invent an anti-Covid vaccine, in August 2020. The vaccine, called Sputnik V, is supposed to embody “victory”…
Russia: the banality of crime and its strategic consequences
Independently of any moral dimension, the practice of war crimes also says something about the strategy of the master of the Kremlin. If one can debate…
interview
Josef Zissels : “Putin is sending us a Trojan horse”
For several years, Ukrainian civil society has been protesting against the “Russian” project of a memorial at Babi Yar, a place of Holocaust remembrance…
The mass graves of Odessa: Stalin’s crimes in Ukraine
While Ukraine mourns the victims of Stalinism, Russia is rehabilitating Stalin. On August 30, mass graves containing the remains of victims of the Great Stalinist Terror…
Sergei Medvedev: “Russia might cut itself completely off from the West”
Sergei Medvedev is a Russian scholar, a specialist of the post-Soviet period. In his analysis of Russian society, he uses sociology, geography…
Svetlana Gannushkina: “We are citizens, not subjects of Mr. Putin”
Svetlana Gannushkina is one of the most famous Russian human rights activists. For more than thirty years she has dedicated herself to the defense of refugees and migrants.
Putin’s Russia: a protean ideology
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Eurasianism among Russian political emigrants — a philosophical and political theory…
Mairbek Vatchagaev: “We must learn not only to defend our rights, but to live according to French law”
The presence of Chechens in France intrigues and worries. In June 2020, Paris-Match headlined on its cover: “Alert to Chechens.
“Putin’s regime represents the West’s greatest existential threat”
The Biden-Putin summit, the core nature of Russia’s current regime, corruption among western elites, the fate of Ukraine and Navalny…
« The USSR deliberately provoked the May 1967 crisis that led to the Six-Day war »
The Six Day War (5-11 June 1967) won by Israel against a coalition of Arab countries - and leading to the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip…
politics
Will there be a new war?
In the international community there is a growing talk of a new attack from Russia and Belarus on Ukraine.
The migration crisis: the other side of the hybrid war against Europe
In May 2021, as Putin began to implement his strategy of strangling Europe with gas deprivation…
Does Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin vote in Europe?
The question of a possible preference of the Russian regime for a certain potential French far-right candidate has fueled recent debates…
Special operation “elections” in Russia. User guide
Thirty years after the failed putsch against Mikhail Gorbachev, and the victory of universal suffrage and people’s sovereignty, Vladimir Putin has launched a new SpetsOperatsia…
A Dr Strangelove in the Kremlin?
In his big election speech on March 1, 2018, to thunderous applause, Putin catalogs the new doomsday weapons Russia is working on.
Russia: facing the Afghan wasp nest
“Among our enemies, the most to be feared are often the smallest,” said Lafontaine. Russia, which has strenuously worked for the advent of “multipolarity”…
book
The Russian diaspora, a “battlefield”?
In his recent interview with Desk Russie, the academic Sergei Medvedev pointed out that “the Kremlin is actively working with emigration”…
Russian-Soviet history: the march backwards
The new book of Françoise Thom, La marche à rebours. Regards sur l’histoire soviétique et russe, Sorbonne université presses, 2021…
The irresistible attraction of authoritarianism
“When the conditions are favorable, any society can turn against democracy” The seduction of authoritarianism seems irresistible today.
history
Journalist Geneviève Tabouis: Soviet funding and influence
A 1965 documentary shows her: a very dignified lady, first in front of her microphone…
Thirty years since the August coup
The August, 1991 Moscow coup was a desperate attempt to save the Soviet Union. When it collapsed, the will to preserve the socialist system disappeared and the Soviet Union…
Why Stalin refused to believe in a German attack?
During the night of June 21-22, 1941, Germany attacked the USSR. In spite of the warnings coming from all sides, Stalin did not believe Hitler would strike.
documents
“Memorial” in danger : not to remain silent!
The General Prosecutor’s Office of Russia sued the Supreme Court to liquidate the International Society “Memorial”.
A new East European university must be established in an EU member state
OPEN LETTER to the European Commission and national governments - from scientists and cultural figures. In the face of the repression…
tribune
Sowing chaos
The Russian president is known for his professional habit of disguising the truth, but he is sometimes surprisingly frank.
Covid19: how Russia lost the Third World War
It is already possible to recognize that Russia has lost the Third World War, it is a medical diagnosis. The demographic losses…
editorial
They tortured Raman: will European and American leaders be up to the challenge of history?
Raman Protasevich was kidnapped by the Belarusian security services in an act of air piracy that must be considered a terrorist action.
electoral watch
Zemmour or the fascination for Putin
For several weeks, Eric Zemmour has been at the forefront of the media scene. When it comes to East-West relations…
human rights
The Russian prison system is built on violence
The practice of torture in prisons and penal colonies in Russia has long been widespread. Prisoners are tortured and raped…
investigation
Operation chancellery: Russia’s asymmetric war against Germany
At the September 26, 2021, Bundestag elections, Germany will decide on its new political leadership. The Chancellor, justly considered hostile to Putin…
justice
The lawsuit brought against Catherine Belton by Russian oligarchs: a red alert for Europe
The lawsuit brought against Catherine Belton, a British investigative journalist, by four Russian oligarchs and a Russian state company has not attracted enough…
media
The consequences of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan as seen from Russia: the impact in Europe, the fate of NATO
The precipitous withdrawal of the Americans from Afghanistan was initially welcomed with jubilation in Moscow. Russian media were not only gloating…
news briefs
Why such a surge in mortality in the land of Sputnik V?
Russia is facing a new wave of coronavirus. According to official data, the death rate is increasing…
pearls
Putin — “A modern philosopher on the throne”
The Valdai Discussion Club is a Russian think tank and discussion forum, established in 2004. Some members of the Russian ruling elite gather…
tribute
Sergei Kovalev: conscience of Russia and conscience of the West
Sergei Kovalev died at the age of 91, on August 9, 2021. According to the journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza who also fights for a democratic Russia…