Belarus says it could host ‘super-nuclear’ weapons for Russia if it feels threatened by the West
Belarus could host “nuclear and even super-nuclear” Russian weapons if the two countries feel threatened by the West, Alexander Lukashenko warned on Thursday. The Belarusian dictator also raised the spectre…
Kamila Valieva: Russian skater took two legal heart-boosting drugs as well as banned substance
Travis Tygart, chief executive of Usada, said the presence of 2.1 nanograms of trimetazidine in Valieva’s test from Christmas Day, combined with the declaration of using those…
London must escape its addiction to dirty Russian money
Has Moscow really blinked first? Some Russian troops in Belarus and Crimea have been pulled back from Ukraine’s border. The deployment of nearly 150,000 troops was apparently…
Kamila Valieva: IOC dismisses accusations of double standards for American and Russian athletes
Accusations of double standards towards American and Russian athletes in the wake of the Kamila Valieva doping scandal were dismissed by the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday….
Putin is close to winning in Ukraine
Russia today has a semi-autarkic economy, and its chief trade partner is China. The copious document signed by Mr Putin and Xi Jinping at the Beijing Winter…
Former Russian spies sent into Ukraine to carry out ‘false flag’ operations as a pretext for Putin to invade
Mercenaries could also be used to carry out targeted assassinations and to deploy sophisticated weaponry. A senior US official said Joe Biden had raised concerns over potential…
There are still plenty of ways for Vladimir Putin to claim victory without going to war
That would meet Mr Putin’s central demand, and his ambition of reasserting hegemony over the countries that border Russia. And even if Kyiv is not ready to…
Explained: Why Russia might invade Ukraine and what could happen next
Tens of thousands of Russian troops have massed on the borders of Ukraine, stoking fears Moscow could invade its ex-Soviet neighbour. World leaders are desperately trying to…
How a Russian invasion of Ukraine could play out
1. Send in troops under cover as ‘peacekeepers’ Vladimir Putin could order troops to be sent into Russian-controlled separatist parts of Ukraine under cover as “peacekeepers”. He…
Russia-Ukraine crisis: Join our webinar and put your questions to Telegraph journalists
In recent developments on the Russia-Ukraine crisis, tens of thousands of Russian troops have massed on the borders of Ukraine, raising fears Moscow could invade imminently. As…
The Dutch student who smuggled Bibles into the Soviet Union in its dying days
This gripping memoir by one of Holland’s most admired novelists begins with a weirdly farcical encounter: in 1988, the author, then a penniless student with a degree…
The decadent West has emboldened Putin
The Ukraine crisis marks the final failure of the post-Cold War international system, itself a tragically squandered opportunity. Back in the heady days of 1989-1991, the defeat…
This is why Russia is now ready for a full scale invasion
In the past weeks, troops and artillery stationed in the Far East and Siberia were seen moving to Russia’s western borders. Some of them have arrived for…
Sergey Lavrov: Russian’s foul-mouthed foreign minister whose outburst spawned a line of T-shirts
Another short-lived British foreign secretary fell victim to Mr Lavrov’s temperament. When told by David Miliband that Russia should engage with then-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Mr Lavrov…
Russia-Ukraine explained: How big is the risk of invasion and what could happen next?
Russian troops have massed by the tens of thousands on the borders of Ukraine, amid fears Moscow could invade its ex-Soviet neighbour. French President Emmanuel Macron is…
Boris Johnson puts more troops on standby and tells Russia to show ‘real diplomacy’ over Ukraine
In stronger language, Mr Johnson said: “The first point of unity among the UK, the US and our allies is that we are not going back to…
Boris Johnson takes hard line against the Kremlin after Emmanuel Macron compromises on Ukraine
Boris Johnson claimed there was growing unity among European powers over how to defuse the Ukraine crisis but his insistence that Kyiv’s right to join Nato remained…
Faceless painting worth £750k ruined after ‘bored’ security guard draws eyes on it
“The person who drew the eyes on the figures in the painting of Anna Leporskaya has been identified: This is an employee of a private firm that…
Hubristic Macron may be heading for another fall
In what mirror universe can you call “a success” a Macron diplomatic trip to Moscow ending up with Vladimir Putin, at the post-discussions press conference, threatening Europe…
Macron is offering Ukraine a poisoned peace plan
On the plane to Moscow, French President Emmanuel Macron revealed to several journalists that the idea of “Finlandising” Ukraine would be one among others on the table…
Europe is staring energy blackouts and rationing in the face
Nonetheless, Putin can see the writing on the wall; Europe’s rush to decarbonise threatens eventually to cut him out of the mix in any case. As it…
Latvian chess master ‘sexually harassed underage female players’ for over a decade
One of the women alleged to have received the vulgar letters is Valentina Gunina, currently ranked as the world’s ninth strongest female chess player. “There was a…
Weaponising the dollar against Russia will backfire – especially if it works
Troops will be sent to patrol the frozen steppes. Resistance fighters will be armed to the teeth. Air support and intelligence will be made available to support…
Jailed dissidents and luxury houses: how Vladimir Putin has kept Crimea in his grip after annexation
Real estate prices in Crimea shot up by 50 percent in dollar terms in the year after the annexation. Prices skyrocketed even further in 2020 as the…
Russia’s military build-up proves it is preparing to invade Ukraine, says Liz Truss
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said on Sunday it had become clear that Russia’s denials about invading Ukraine were false, as Washington warned Moscow’s army had nearly…