Section: The National (United Arab Emirates)
Book review: Black Wind, White Snow examines the ideological excuses for Putin’s territorial ambitions
How do you solve a problem like Russia? That is the question on the lips of EU heads of state when they meet later this month to decide whether to renew sanctions imposed in 2014 following Moscow’s annexation of the Crimea. Two years on, the punitive measures have done nothing to dent Russia’s resolve to hold on to the tiny sliver of...
Book review: Teffi’s Memories tell of the Russian white flight and fight to survive
A hundred years ago, Teffi (the nom de plume of Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Lokhvitskaya) was one of Russia’s most popular and admired writers. The breadth of her talent – Symbolist poems, satirical sketches, feuilletons, stories and even songs – was equalled only by that of her audience: as her biographer Edythe Haber explains in...
Sore Russian officials bash Ukraine Eurovision win
Moscow // Russian lawmakers on Sunday reacted angrily at arch-rival Ukraine’s “political” victory in the Eurovision song contest, as one pro-Kremlin paper insisted Moscow’s entrant was robbed.Ukraine’s Jamala struck a surprise gold in the glitzy Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday with her ballad 1944 about the...
Eurovision winning entry: 1944, a harrowing family tale about Stalin’s deportation of Muslim Tatars
KIEV // “When strangers are coming, they come to your house, they kill you all and say, ‘we’re not guilty, not guilty’.”Those are the harrowing opening words of war-scarred Ukraine’s winning entry for the Eurovision song contest — a flamboyant and festive occasion more normally associated with laughs than...
Russia showcases Syria hardware in Red Square military parade
MOSCOW // Russia rolled out an air defence missile system of the kind used to protect its base in Syria and some of the Russian jets flying missions there screamed overhead as it showcased its military war machine on Moscow’s Red Square on Monday.The annual Victory Day parade – marking the 71st anniversary of the Soviet Union’s...
Russia launches first rocket from new cosmodrome in far eastern region
VOSTOCHNY // Russia launched the first rocket from its new Vostochny cosmodrome on Thursday, with president Vladimir Putin hailing the event after dressing down officials over a delay caused by a technical glitch.The launch is a major milestone for Russia’s beleaguered space sector, with the new spaceport in the far east of the country...
‘Even a psychologist would need help here’: civilians lose hope in Ukraine’s hidden war
In the middle of the street, Tatiana Chernienko, 56, grabs my hands and presses them against her shin to feel the small and rock-hard little lumps beneath the skin.Ever since the mortar shelling in August 2014, Tatiana’s body has been full of metal splinters.”Look,” she says in an urgent tone, showing where her skin is marked by...
‘Even a psychologist would need help here’: uncovering the hidden war in Eastern Ukraine
In the middle of the street, Tatiana Chernienko, 56, grabs my hands and presses them against her shin to feel the small and rock-hard little lumps beneath the skin.Ever since the mortar shelling in August 2014, Tatiana’s body has been full of metal splinters.”Look,” she says in an urgent tone, showing where her skin is marked by...
Russian investigators release first FlyDubai crash report
Russia’s civil aviation authority issued its first report on Friday on last month’s crash of a FlyDubai plane in south-west Russia, providing insight into the event that killed all 62 people on board.The interim report, prepared by Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee, said the plane’s sudden descent occurred directly...
Dutch no vote against EU-Ukraine pact no obstacle, says Poroshenko
KIEV // Ukrainian president Petro Porosheko said that a “No” vote in a Dutch referendum on a key EU pact with Kiev was no obstacle to the ex-Soviet country’s integration with the bloc.Voters in the Netherlands on Wednesday rejected the cooperation deal in a people’s referendum seen as a barometer of anti-EU feeling,...
