Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Turned on the West by Catherine Belton reviewed
By Owen Matthews
His regime is facing its greatest challenge yet
By Owen Matthews
Dinner is as close to a feast as the fast of Christmastide will allow
By Owen Matthews
Can Volodymyr Zelensky go from comedy star to the leader of Ukraine?
By Owen Matthews
He may have underestimated Petro Poroshenko’s stomach for a fight
By Owen Matthews
The inside story of how it got the Skripal scoop
By Owen Matthews
Mosquitoes and lice plague them all summer, bitter cold and storms all winter, and they face the constant risk of violence and sudden death.
By Owen Matthews
There never really was a moment when the Russian royal family might plausibly have been rescued.
By Owen Matthews
This is Putin’s time. Next week, the Fifa World Cup kicks off in Moscow, and the Kremlin has spared no expense to showcase Vladimir Putin’s new Russia as a vibrant, safe and strong nation. Half a million visitors will be welcomed — with the Russian press reporting that the notorious ‘Ultra’ hooligans have been officially […]
By Owen Matthews
This is an edited version of a presentation given by Owen Matthews at The Spectator’s What does Russia want? event. What I’d like to do is give a run-through of how we got to where we are with Russia. From the end of the Cold War onwards, focusing on the economy – and how the […]
By Owen Matthews
Diplomats are poker chips. The pomp and mystery that accrues to the diplomatic and intelligence services en poste overseas conceal a simple truth: in today’s world, journalists, bankers, NGOs and bloggers are, far more often than not, better informed than diplomats about the countries in which they operate. I know this to be true in […]
By Owen Matthews
Authoritarian regimes love grand international sporting events. There’s something about the mass regimentation, the set-piece spectacle, the old-fashioned idea of nation states competing for glory that appeals to leaders who wish to show off the greatness of their country to the world. Berlin ’36, Moscow ’80, Sochi ’14 — nothing says ‘we’re here, get used […]
By Owen Matthews
