The mysterious middlemen helping Russia’s war machine
Sanctions are as watertight as a sieve
RUSSIA IS PLANNING for decades of Western sanctions, a senior foreign-ministry official, Dmitry Birichevsky, said last week. The evidence suggests that might not be too much of a problem. The economy is growing smartly, at an annualised rate of 4% in the second quarter, after a whopping 5.4% the quarter before, despite one of the toughest regimes ever imposed. Trade continues to flourish. How come?
Explore more
Russia’s double-punch back against Ukraine’s shock raid
It is bombing Ukrainians in Kursk and advancing in Pokrovsk
Ukraine’s convicts take the fight inside Russia
A hard-bitten officer commands a unit of felons—and dreams of kebabs in Moscow
Anti-war parties are set to clean up in eastern German elections
Scepticism about support for Ukraine runs deep in parts of the former communist republic
How a Spanish province became the world’s truffle leader
Teruel has replaced France’s Périgord atop the tuber charts
The great cover-up: Europe is losing its penchant for public nudity
A columnist bares all in pursuit of the naked truth
What next after Ukraine’s shock invasion of Russia?
It could dig in, pull back or grab more as a bargaining chip