As the fuel crisis hits 35% of the population and Putin's approval ratings drop, some drivers are abandoning traditional solutions

Russian men dying young is not new. They've been dying from drinking, neglect, broken health system. Male life expectancy only crawled back to 66 by 2019. Then Putin marched the survivors to the front (🧵1/7)

From dissecting "Balkan fashion" to Macron's sunglasses. This is a good example of how Kremlin spins tiny details to build a completely alternate reality.

The face of a man who can't use his Black Sea palace in peak season

The chronicles of Putin's energy crisis: the Kursk Oblast governor is now urging officials to conserve fuel by moving meetings online

The Vologda region governor now says his government car ran out of gasoline, leaving him to bum a ride from a stranger to get to work. It happened just an hour after he told residents there was no reason to stock up on fuel.

"You're not going anywhere! Let them out!". In the Urals, mothers physically tried to stop their sons from being sent back to the war with Ukraine. 🧵(Read on — 1/4)

Daniil Mukhametov, 21, jumped from a moving train to avoid fighting Putin's war. Lithuanian helicopters searched for him — and, fearing deportation, he crossed into Finland. Finland declined his asylum request.

More broadly, this speech is good primary-source evidence for why the Putin regime should be treated as a terrorist threat. It requires permanent war as the organizing principle because there are other sources of legitimacy left. [11/12]

It’s becoming an issue as he ages, but keeping it that way is existential for the regime. As for the bioweapons, no one in Russia has substantiated this threat, and it’s hard to see this as anything other than a former spy advocating for bigger budgets for the corrupt spy agencies. [9/12]

“They’ve lost their fear.” A spy who inspired “The Americans” uses “Putin’s Davos” to suggest blowing up LNG tankers bound for Europe. (🧵Here’s what else he said)

"We're talking about purely economic matters" quickly turned into "You should let us replace you with a Russian citizen." Putin's got ants in his pants as his meddling in Armenia's elections fails — here's how it's playing out: blog.khodorkovsky.com/p/filling-th...

The Kremlin's preferred candidate for Armenian prime minister (elections are on June 7th) has "IC 1706 FSB" listed as his workplace in Russian passport records — designation typically used for informants and foreigners operating under FSB supervision: blog.khodorkovsky.com/p/filling-th...

Putin has chosen Britain as his number one enemy. His agents are already inside the UK, preparing to strike. 🧵Here are the three tools the Kremlin will use — and why he won't stop. [1/13]

Remember Putin's approval hitting a wartime low? The state pollster has changed its methodology. No more phone calls: staff show up at your door and ask, in person, whether you support the president — number rose the same week!

Turns out, three Kaliningrad officials handled the cover-up, and their names belong on the record. The first: Yelena Dyatlova, head of the city administration. Within minutes of the body being found, she was informed and took personal control of the situation. [8/15]

Okunev was 37 years old, an IT worker in Kaliningrad, and the kind of man almost no one would have noticed. Colleagues said he was kind and fair, if a bit strange. He had almost no friends and never spoke about politics — at least not aloud. [2/15]

Alexander Okunev set himself on fire at a Soviet WWII memorial in Kaliningrad on the third anniversary of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. In his suicide note, he wrote that he knew no one would ever hear about him. 🧵He was almost right [1/15]

The Kremlin filmed Putin greeting a "random passerby". Turns out, the man works for the firm managing Putin's villas and the property of Alina Kabaeva's mother (the gymnast reported as his partner). Knowing Putin, even planted strangers don't shock anymore.

I have listened to Putin speak for over twenty years. Last week, he did something I have not seen since the full-scale war began: he called Zelenskyy 'господин Зеленский.' Mr. Zelenskyy. That single word is why a negotiated peace now feels within reach (🧵 Read on)

“Go hide in a damp, rat-filled basement yourself, Mr. Putin.” Russian women’s furious message to the Kremlin: you started this war, then left us with nowhere to shelter when it — predictably — came back home.

Is Bulgaria the next Hungary? For one second at his closing rally, Rumen Radev put a photo of himself shaking Putin's hand on the screen behind him. Three days later, he won. Kremlin propaganda is celebrating. [1/2]

Putin's most powerful weapon in this war isn't the Oreshnik missile. It is something far cheaper and infinitely more scalable: lies. Shameless lies literally capture cities — here're some examples: khodorkovsky.substack.com/p/putins-pha...

Congratulations to everyone involved in 'Mr. Nobody Against Putin' on winning the Oscar for Best Documentary. It’s an extraordinarily insightful film that shows exactly how dictatorships sink their claws into institutions and use them to shape everyday life under their rule. 1/4

This is Natalya Yakimova. She supported Putin's war and helped Russian soldiers. Then a Russian missile killed her adopted son and grandson in Ukraine — and she changed her mind.

"If Russia's worst enemies wanted to destroy it, they'd do exactly what Putin does" — this is what I said in my last interview with Echo of Moscow in 2022.

For 4 years, the Kremlin ignored my book about building a democratic Russia. Then PACE created a formal dialogue with the Russian opposition — within days, the book was declared extremist. (🧵Read on)

For 11 years, Putin's been trying to erase Boris Nemtsov's memory from this bridge: sweeping away flowers, removing tributes, pressuring mourners. Today, at the exact time and spot of his assassination, dozens gathered for a minute of silence: the memorial still stands. Video: SOTA

My friend Boris Nemtsov was murdered eleven years ago today. He was one of the few who openly challenged Putin, and it cost him his life. The case was solved just enough to bury it. 🧵 [1/10]

Alexander Dotsenko and his wife Anastasia Dyudyaeva were jailed for anti-war leaflets in a supermarket. He had a heart attack in a penal colony and died at 65. Today she was denied permission to attend his funeral.