So, What Happened in Sevastopol?
Russian propagandists accuse Ukraine of deliberately targeting the Siege of Sevastopol panorama, a key site of imperial and Soviet mythology.
Our Presidential Election Is Not a Theater of Operations
The presidential campaign now getting underway in France is the pivotal moment when democracy comes together to discuss its future. It is precisely this...
North Korea: A Link in the CRANK Chain and a Mirror of Western Uncertainties
A totalitarian party-state with an arsenal of nuclear missiles—whose number and range are growing—North Korea is likened by the U.S. military to a “dagger...
A Trip to the Donbass, or the Story Behind an Upcoming Report
Our correspondent in Ukraine brings us an incredible report. To investigate the Donetsk Oblast, one must travel to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. These days, such...
In Kyiv, May 24, One Unending Day
On the night of Saturday, May 24, Ukraine endured one of the most intense bombing campaigns of the entire large-scale invasion. Four people were...
Ukrainian Strikes Deep Inside Russian Territory: The Expansion of the Conflict Zone
This has now become routine: Ukrainian long-range drones are striking oil and gas terminals and refineries along Russia’s coastlines—in the Baltic and Black Seas—as...
Europe Put to the Test
On May 27 and 28, an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers was held in Cyprus. Among other things, they discussed the possibility of...
The Biennale of Discontent
On May 6 — the first day of the preview of the 61st International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale — rain began falling...
Defeat Parade
From the Brezhnev era to the present day, May 9 parades have served to glorify the USSR’s victory in World War II. Over the...
Bring Back Censorship
A historian and translator of Russian and Swedish literature, and a literary critic for Le Monde, Elena Balzamo closely follows the Russian literary scene....
Ukraine: Old Batteries and Recycling—When Volunteers Take on the Energy Challenge
In a basement in Lviv, the nonprofit Florida Man for Ukraine recycles all kinds of electrical devices to build portable power storage systems. Benjamin,...
The “Median Corridor”: The Geopolitical Implications of a South Caucasus and Trans-Caspian Axis
The organization of a pan-European summit in Yerevan earlier this month highlighted the diplomatic fruitfulness of the European Political Community, Armenia’s pivotal role, and...
“Together, Let’s Save Ukrainian Hostages”
In January 2026, Desk Russie and the association “For Ukraine, for their freedom and ours!” (PLU) organized, at Paris City Hall, an evening debate...
The Price of a Zero: The Russian Economy on Life Support
Our readers are familiar with Vladislav Inozemtsev’s work on the “economics of death” (deathonomics) in wartime Russia. Pierre Raiman offers a wide-ranging reflection on...
Putin’s Regime: A Systemic Threat?
On April 8, Galia Ackerman was invited by the Union of Honorary Consuls in France (UCHF) to give a Zoom lecture, to which numerous...
Gulf War, World War
I was mistaken in my editorial of March 1st when I claimed that the war in Ukraine would prevent Russia from actively supporting Iran,...
Ukraine: Phoenix, or the Project for Humanitarian Autonomy
The Phoenix Center, located in the Lviv Oblast and run by the Volunteer Action association, provides temporary shelter for internally displaced people (IDPs) fleeing...
The North Sea as a Theater of War
Geohistory and the Demands of the Moment
Do Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. counter-blockade mark a strategic turning point? These...
George Orwell × Raoul Peck: 2×-2 = -4
Or How to Dissolve Totalitarianism in Images Through a Critique of the Western World
This article on the film by internationally renowned Haitian director Raoul...
Why Die for Hormuz?
Were the United States and Israel wrong not to have warned their European allies of the outbreak of war against Iran? Were the Europeans...
It’s One or the Other…
It’s one of two things: either the United States and Israel have painted themselves into a corner with their war against Iran, or this...
From the Arabian Gulf to Ukraine: The Russian-Iranian Alliance and the West’s Geopolitical Double Vision in a World at War
From the Persian Gulf to Ukraine, the Russian-Iranian alliance—with China as a backdrop—is a powerful reality. Yet it remains underestimated on both sides of...
How Eschatology Wreaks Havoc in the United States and Russia
Beyond the establishment of a “vertical of power,” beyond the dominant influence of oligarchs close to the presidential clan, beyond corruption, nepotism, and anti-liberalism,...
Systema Clubs and Their Extensions: ‘Sleeper Cells’ and Russian Networks of Influence
Over the past twenty years, the combat technique known as “Systema” (Система, “System”) has rapidly spread beyond Russia. Former KGB agents now in power...
See You in ‘Nuremgrad’: Russian Guilt and European Debts
For a "Nuremgrad trial" to take place, the collapse of the Putin regime will first be necessary. But this trial cannot be limited to judging criminals.