The Daily Signal provides reporting on Putin’s role in Russian aggression, war strategy, and his influence on U.S.–Russia relations, NATO, and international security.
Following a Russian nerve gas attack on British soil, many Western governments have stood in solidarity with the United Kingdom and have expelled Russian diplomats from their countries. And, in the aftermath of a Russian-aided Syrian chemical attack against the Syrian own people, the United States, U.K., and France launched airstrikes against the Assad regime….
The West’s lenient attitude toward Russian acts of aggression has served only to embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin. Refreshingly, on the heels of the recent poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom, there has been a uniform response. In fact, the world may have just witnessed “the largest collective expulsion…
KYIV, Ukraine—Since 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military aggression in Ukraine has rearranged the national defense chessboards of countries across Eastern Europe. In turn, the NATO military alliance has deployed weapons and troops eastward, to “make clear that an attack on one Ally would be considered an attack on the whole Alliance,” said NATO’s website….
Russia held its presidential election on Sunday, with President Vladimir Putin emerging the clear victor. He is now slated to begin a new, six-year term that will take him well into his third decade as head of state. The Daily Signal sat down with Alexis Mrachek of The Heritage Foundation to discuss Sunday’s election and…
On Feb. 22, three citizens from the Republic of Georgia—a staunch U.S. partner in the South Caucasus—were detained by security forces in Russian-controlled South Ossetia, a region of Georgia under illegal occupation by Moscow since 2008. The charges against them are as dubious as they are vague: “genocide” and “ties with Georgian security agencies.” Sadly,…
KYIV, Ukraine—On Tuesday, the guns fell silent along the front lines in eastern Ukraine. In a rare respite from violence for the nearly 4-year-old conflict, not a single cease-fire violation occurred during a 24-hour period. At face value, Tuesday’s lull in fighting could be seen as good news. Perhaps even a bellwether for long-term peace…
Venezuela is handing over unprecedented control of its state-owned oil assets to longtime financial backer Russia in an effort to stave off insolvency and economic collapse. Battered by civil unrest that threatens to become a total political meltdown, the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro has offered an ownership stake in up to nine of Venezuela’s most…
Last week, I tweeted, “The news media in the West pose a far greater danger to Western civilization than Russia does.” To my surprise, the tweet went viral. And while there were more likes than dislikes, 99 percent of the written reactions were negative. Typical reactions were: –“F— you.” –“Move to Russia.” –“Your very full…
President Donald Trump met Friday in Germany with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Russian President Vladimir Putin—two leaders who have been central figures in his presidency for very different reasons—talking about a border wall, violence in Syria, and the interfering with the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump asserted he still expects Mexico to pay for…
Europe is readying for yet another visit from President Donald Trump, the second in this young presidency. No doubt a media circus will follow him wherever he goes, and Trump will have quite an agenda. This time, Trump will be making a number of stops: first at the Warsaw summit on July 5, where Poland…
After midnight on Feb. 27, 2014, dozens of Russian marines left their barracks in Sebastopol. Heavily armed and dressed in civilian garb, they stormed the regional parliament and started a war in Ukraine that still simmers today. Russian President Vladimir Putin is fighting a different kind of conflict against his enemies in the West, and Ukraine has…
KYIV, Ukraine—Thursday was a bad day for the Kremlin. In the span of a few hours, Russia’s two foreign policy mantelpieces—its military adventures in Ukraine and Syria—were both dealt body blows. One came from a United States cruise missile attack on a Syrian regime air base where Russian military forces were deployed. The strike was…
Russian anti-corruption protestors and activists are feeling the brunt of the Kremlin’s wrath. Unlike in the United States, where the right to protest is constitutionally enshrined and whistleblowers are legislatively protected, in Russia, those who have the courage to stand up to corrupt leaders place their freedom as well as their lives on the line….
During the Cold War, the U.S. spent billions trying to keep Western Europe from falling into Russian hands. Some of our best foreign policy minds, from Dean Acheson to George Shultz, concentrated their intellectual firepower on containing, if not rolling back, Kremlin influence. Now along comes Marine Le Pen, and all this effort may have…
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend” is a proverb that has long, and apparently mistakenly, been attributed to Bedouins. It’s unfair to them, as it contains the false-dichotomy fallacy. Sometimes the saying is correct, as when the Allies decided in World War II to side with Josef Stalin against Adolf Hitler. Other times,…
Russian propaganda and influence operations have escalated over the past decade, and have especially intensified after the invasion of Ukraine. Plain and simple, the Kremlin has declared war on the concept of objective news reporting—on the airwaves as well as on the internet. Years in the making and with a modest budget of $10 million,…
President Barack Obama used part of his final White House press conference of the year to take shots at Russia and the media, and to argue that Ronald Reagan would disapprove of what he called Republican voters’ warming to Russian leader Vladimir Putin. “Ronald Reagan would roll over in his grave,” @Potus says of Trump, GOP…
Russia’s invasion of eastern Ukraine and annexation of Crimea have left many wondering: Where next for Moscow? While no one can read Russian President Vladimir Putin’s mind, we can examine historical precedent to construct feasible scenarios for future Russian action. Here, we'll review six such scenarios, each reflecting three assumptions regarding how Putin sees Russia’s…