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Anton Troianovski
For Anton Troianovski's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
People lay flowers at a makeshift memorial near Crocus City Hall, a concert venue outside Moscow that was the site of a mass shooting on Friday night.
WORLD
Mar 24, 2024
Deadly Moscow attack shatters Putin’s security promise to Russians
The tragedy outside Moscow is a blow to a leader riding an aura of confidence only days after a stage-managed election victory.
Russian President Vladimir Putin gives an interview at the Kremlin in Moscow on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 14, 2024
In preelection messaging, Putin less strident on nuclear war
In a lengthy television interview, Putin struck a softer tone than in his state-of-the-nation address last month.
Russian President Vladimir Putin gives an interview to U.S. talk show host Tucker Carlson at the Kremlin in Moscow on Tuesday.
WORLD
Feb 10, 2024
Putin to U.S.: Let’s make a deal on Ukraine (on my terms)
The message seemed aimed at the American right and Republicans in Congress, with an eye to undermining support for aid to Ukraine.
Russian conscripts watch a tank demonstration in Moscow in August 2022. Despite its bravado in public, the Kremlin has indicated its interest in striking a deal to halt the war so long as it could still declare victory.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 24, 2023
Putin quietly signals he is open to a ceasefire in Ukraine
The repeated interest in cutting a deal exemplifies how opportunism and improvisation have defined his approach to the war behind closed doors.
An impromptu memorial for Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group who died in a plane crash in Russia, in Moscow on Aug. 27. A shadowy fight is playing out on three continents for control of Prigozhin's sprawling interests as head of Wagner.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 11, 2023
After Prigozhin’s death, a high-stakes scramble for his empire
African leaders once allied with the Wagner chief hear a new message from the Kremlin: Russia’s African operations are under new management.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 26, 2023
With Prigozhin’s death, Putin projects a message of power
The Kremlin appears to be sending the signal that no degree of effectiveness can protect someone from punishment for disloyalty.
Ksenia Sobchak, one of the best-known media figures still based in Russia
WORLD / Politics
Aug 15, 2023
Ksenia Sobchak's advice to anti-war Russians: Find ways to cope
At once Putin insider and critic, Russia-based media figure Ksenia Sobchak opposes the war. But she wants those like her to accept it, rather than resist.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Jun 25, 2023
Putin sought chaos, and he found it
For more than two decades, the system helped President Vladimir V. Putin secure his unrivaled authority, ensuring that he personally held the keys to wealth and influence in modern Russia.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 29, 2023
Barely noting war in public, Putin acts like time is on his side
Vladimir Putin looks like a commander in absentia, treating Russia's war in Ukraine as unfortunate but distant. His options have narrowed, but he is still betting on outlasting his foes.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Apr 16, 2023
Pentagon leaks: New twists in a familiar plot
The Pentagon intelligence leaks have offered new details about the state of the war in Ukraine but have not fundamentally altered the overall picture of it.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 4, 2023
The West tried to isolate Russia. It didn’t work.
A year into the war in Ukraine, it’s becoming clearer: While the West’s core coalition remains remarkably solid, it never convinced the rest of the world to isolate Russia.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Feb 25, 2023
Russia, Ukraine and the West vow to fight on, in a war with no end in sight
Declaring the resolve to fight on, however, is much easier than mustering the resources and support to do so.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 21, 2023
In Biden’s unannounced visit to Kyiv, a preview of an increasingly direct contest with Putin
The vastly different world views of U.S. President Biden and President Vladimir Putin of Russia will become vividly apparent in a rare split-screen moment on Tuesday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2023
Wagner founder has Putin’s support, but the Kremlin’s side-eye
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the once secretive tycoon, is confounding Moscow’s Kremlin-allied elite by starting to dabble in politics alongside waging war in Ukraine.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Dec 31, 2022
Xi and Putin meet again, two strongmen in a weak moment
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began in February, Putin has been isolated and highly dependent on China to maintain a semblance of diplomatic and financial stability.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 18, 2022
‘This isn’t war. It’s the destruction of the Russian people by their own commanders.’
Russia has been at war most of the year, yet its army seems less prepared than ever.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 7, 2022
Blunt criticism of Russian army signals new challenge for Putin
An official in a Russian-occupied region of Ukraine suggested Russia's defense minister shoot himself over his army's failings, an unusually blunt rebuke of Kremlin leadership.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 2, 2022
In Washington, Putin’s nuclear threats stir growing alarm
For the first time since the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962, top government leaders in Moscow are making explicit nuclear threats and officials in Washington are gaming out scenarios.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 1, 2022
With bluster and threats, Putin casts the West as the enemy
Declaring that Russia would annex four regions of Ukraine, which the West rejects as illegal, the Russian president has accused the U.S. and its allies of “despotism'' and “satanism.''
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 24, 2022
Ukraine war comes home to Russians as Putin imposes draft
A day after Putin announced a call-up that could sweep 300,000 civilians into military service, the Russian leader's escalation of the war effort was reverberating across the country.

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