As Putin heads to meet French President Emanuel Macron next week, his security services are interrogating a celebrated Cannes-winning director in Moscow.

International media like to portray Putin’s maneuvering in Ukraine and Syria as having wrested him a seat at the big boys’ table. But in truth, his corrupt regime has fewer and fewer friends around the world.

Russia is a violent place, and not all the assassinations that happen there are connected. But sometimes they look like they might be…

Now that Dmitry Medvedev knows beyond a reasonable doubt that he is being attacked, he will ruthlessly clean house when he gets his hands on the throne. And his enemies know he knows who they are.

Behind all the talk of tension and impasses, one can see the outlines of Donald Trump’s transactional diplomacy taking shape.

The story is more about a power struggle than about people power.

All corruption revelations are due to tactical leaking in Russia. So who’s out to get Dmitry Medvedev?

An offhand remark by Vladimir Putin has Russians reading the tea leaves on the Prime Minister’s future.

Alexey Navalny’s exposé of Medvedev’s corruption is not so much a victory for transparency in Russia as a sign that powerful forces are aligning against the Prime Minister.

The love of Putin’s Russia is a precious gift that costs a lot and can be taken away at a moment’s notice—as soon as the beloved doesn’t fit the Kremlin’s selfish interests any longer.