For Ivan Nechepurenko's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
The surrender directive, issued late Monday, made the soldiers prisoners and ended the most protracted battle so far of the nearly 3-month-old Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Oleg Y. Tinkov was worth more than $9 billion in November. Then, last month, Tinkov, the founder of one of Russia’s biggest banks, criticized the war in Ukraine in a post on Instagram.
The move avoids, for now, a bloody battle in the strategic port city that would add to Russia’s mounting casualty toll.
Six weeks after the start of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the reality of war is increasingly intruding into the lives of regular families as death notices and body bags arrive.
Polls and interviews show many Russians now accept the Kremlin’s assertion that their country is under siege from the West. Opponents are leaving the country or keeping quiet.
Even as the Kremlin gets more aggressive in trying to shape the narrative, many Russians are now realizing that their country is fighting a deadly conflict.
The reasons for the bloody crisis in Central Asia remain murky, but experts say popular discontent could mask an old-fashioned power struggle within the ruling faction.
The weekend’s elections came amid a harsh crackdown on dissent by the Kremlin and murmurings of popular discontent.
