Russia

I only made the second half of the Stop the War Coalition (STWC) trade union conference on 21 January, but I think I got a pretty good sense of the event’s politics. It was broadly what I expected. What was said about opposing war and militarism in general, and increased militarisation and military spending in the UK, was mostly good. What was said about Ukraine was mostly bad, by implication and in some cases very explicitly. Stop the War makes a great play of its anti-imperialism: but it won't back Ukraine against Russia's brutal imperialist war . There were maybe 150 people in the closing...

Arrests in St Petersburg, 2021. Since then repression has severely escalated On 29 December Mikhail Lobanov, professor of mathematics at Moscow State University, socialist and grassroots political activist, was beaten and arrested by Russian police at his flat in Moscow and given a short jail sentence. Lobanov has been involved in multiple popular municipal election campaigns in Moscow; he founded the website Prodvizhenie in 2022 to focus and organise support for the left in local elections across Russia; and he has worked for many years on the Russian left more generally, both within the...

"No war" For over a decade, Russian antifascists have commemorated January 19 as their day of solidarity. This is the date when in 2009, in the center of Moscow, the human rights and leftist activist Stanislav Markelov and the journalist and anarchist Anastasia Baburova were gunned down by neo-Nazis. The murder of Markelov and Baburova became the culmination of the ultra-right terror of the 2000s, which killed hundreds of migrants and dozens of anti-fascists. For many years, while it was still possible, Russian activists held antifascist demonstrations and rallies on January 19 under the...

At 3.40pm (local time) on Tuesday 15 November, a Russian-made missile fell on the Polish village of Przwodow, killing two people. Within hours, Joe Biden and Poland’s leaders said they believed the missile, though Russian-made, had been fired by Ukraine, defending itself against a massive wave of Russian missiles targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The first news of this, apparently passed to Associated Press by “a senior US intelligence official”, appeared to blame the Russians, but even so most initial reports in the mainstream media were cautious, making it clear that the incident...

America’s midterm elections take place on Tuesday 8 November. According to polls, Republicans are likely to win the House of Representatives and may win the Senate. The Democrats have controlled both chambers since 2020. The results may well impact on the Ukraine war. In May, the House of Representatives voted 368-57 in favour of a $40bn aid package to Ukraine. All 57 votes opposing the aid were from Republicans. If the Republicans take either chamber, or both, support for Ukraine is likely to weaken. That will strengthen Putin and make Russian withdrawal from Ukraine more difficult. The US...

Your invariably excellent Antidoto column recently noted a comment by Morning Star contributor Nick Wright where he appeared to complain that civilian casualties inflicted on the Ukrainian people by Putin’s invasion were “so low” and expressed his surprise that what he regarded as Russia’s “superior” military force was performing so poorly. One is outraged and saddened in equal measure that someone like Wright, who regards himself as belonging to the broad labour movement, should even think this way, but stances such as his highlight a curse in elements of “far left”, namely pandering to...

The first reports of deaths of Russian conscripts who had been drafted in the new mobilisation announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on 21 September began appearing during the first week of October. At least 20 men from the September tranche of recruits have died in Ukraine so far. 220,000 people have been mobilised under Putin’s September order, of which 35,000 are already in military units and 16,000 are involved in conflict following minimal training. Reports of low morale, and lack of equipment have been common with many new troops apparently having to buy their own body armour...

Joe Biden, president of the USA, warns of nuclear “armageddon” if Russian President Vladimir Putin uses nuclear weapons against Ukraine. Biden believes that the world is closer now to nuclear war than at any point since the Cuban missile crisis, 60 years ago. Biden’s assessment is right. The US is increasingly alarmed about Putin’s violent anti-Western rhetoric and nuclear threats. Joe Biden’s spokesperson says, “Russia’s talk of using nuclear weapons is irresponsible, and there’s no way to use to use them without unintended consequences.” That is partly a statement of fact, and partly a...

To the surprise of Russia and everyone, the Ukraine war has taken a remarkable turn in the last few weeks. Initially, the Ukrainians did well by just surviving. Then, they began a slow, systematic counter-offensive in the southern part of the country. Everyone expected that to drag on for a long time. Russia deployed units from its much-depleted army to counter the Ukrainians -- thereby creating vulnerabilities in other parts of the front. The Ukrainians speedily exploited these and seized thousands of square kilometres of previously-occupied territory. Putin’s response has been one of panic...

The Russian government’s “partial mobilisation” is the latest of an array of misguided and dangerous steps that have defined the invasion of Ukraine. Announced by Vladimir Putin and Minister for Defence Sergey Shoigu on the 21st of September, the supposed plan was to mobilise only the army “reserves’” — those with recent military experience, of roughly fighting age. But in a country where military service is mandatory for all men, the pool of “reserve” is potentially very large. The original speech announced 300,000 new soldiers. A whisper from the government suggested that the real number of...