They Made Putinism: Gleb Pavlovsky, the Sorcerer’s Apprentice in the Green Jacket (Second and Last Part)

Cécile Vaissié offers a new part of her soap opera. Gleb Pavlovski, whose itinerary is dissected in this essay, notably worked to elect the little-known chekist that was Putin and to create a “vertical of power”.
NATO, the Only Real Guarantee of Security for a Free and Independent Ukraine

The lifting of the ban on the delivery of F-16 aircraft marks a new step in the strengthening of the Ukrainian army. It is brought up to standard with those of the main NATO member countries. Jean-Sylvestre Mongrenier’s analysis.
The Bakhmut Apocalypse

From the capture of Bakhmout by the militiamen of Prigojine, Jean-François Bouthors examines the symbolic meaning of this Pyrrhic victory. For him, the Wagner militia embodies a nihilism comparable only to the ideology of Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
The Toxic Spell of “Imperial Knowledge”

Ukrainian political scientist and thinker Mykola Ryabchuk explains how Russia’s imperial vision of Ukraine has penetrated deeply into Western society, how its most toxic myths and clichés have been uncritically accepted and normalized.
Yevgeny Prigojine’s Mania for Grandeur

This time, our cartoonist tackles the mania for grandeur of Putin’s “cook” who, according to rumours, was ready to divulge Russian military secrets to the Ukrainians in exchange for victory in Bakhmout.
They Made Putinism: Gleb Pavlovsky (1951-2023), the Sorcerer’s Apprentice in the Green Jacket

After her portrait of Vladislav Sourkov, the Kremlin’s éminence grise, historian Cécile Vaissié offers Desk Russia the second part of her series “They made Putinism”.
The Harmful Role of the Kremlin and Wagner in Sudan

From the beginning of the conflict between the two military leaders who exercise power in Sudan, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagolo, pro-Russian voices have supported the latter: Hemedti would not be involved with the Sudanese Islamists.
A Geopolitical Mirage: the “De-westernization” of the World

Analyst and political philosopher Philippe de Lara examines the complexity of the notion of the “global South”.
The Strategic and Geopolitical Limits of the Partnership Between Delhi and Moscow

India has gone from neutrality to “multi-alignment”. It does not condemn the Russian aggression in Ukraine and rejects international sanctions.
Vladislav Surkov, the “Aesthete” of the Shadows

A great expert on post-Soviet Russia, Professor Cécile Vaissié offers Desk Russie the beginning of her series…