THICK AS THIEVES
One of Putin’s favorite insiders has been accused of plundering Russian assets instead of focusing on his day job. Sadly for the Kremlin, he’s supposed to be running the war.
Amy Knight, a former Woodrow Wilson fellow, is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books and the Times Literary Supplement. She is the author of six books on Russian history and politics, including, most recently, Orders to Kill: The Putin Regime and Political Murder, published in 2017 by St. Martin's Press.
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MISSED A SPOT
Banking tycoons Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman worked hard to embed themselves among Washington’s elite over the years—and their ties to Putin run deep.
MADMAN THEORY
The more desperately Putin tries to demonstrate his authority ahead of elections in 2024, the more his grip on power may slip away.
RISE OF THE PRINCELINGS
As Biden announces his first punitive measures against the Kremlin, Russia’s anti-corruption campaigners say it’s time to stop cronies evading Western sanctions via their families.
LYING TO YOUR FACE
Facing growing national protests over his treatment of anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, the Russian president is backed into a corner over Navalny’s latest exposé.
OVER-EXPOSED
Spy rings keep getting busted and a massive hack of U.S. government departments has been exposed, but Russia’s spooks keep blundering on.
DANGEROUS
The Russian president was forced to admit that FSB agents had been trailing Alexei Navalny before his poisoning by the deadly nerve agent Novichok.
PAWNS
The investor Michael Calvey and former U.S. Marines Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed could prove to be valuable bargaining chips for Russia under a Biden administration.
WALLS CLOSING IN
Holed up in isolation President Putin is facing the gravest crisis of his regime as domestic and foreign threats to his authority stack up faster than he can crush them.
BOTCHED JOB
Putin and the Kremlin elite must be nervous about the improbable survival of the gadfly who exposed their corruption.