Archie Brown

Archie Brown is Emeritus Professor of Politics at Oxford and the author of ‘The Rise and Fall of Communism’. His latest book, ‘The Human Factor: Gorbachev, Reagan, and Thatcher, and the End of the Cold War’ is out in paperback on 24 March.

Putin miscalculated. Let’s not do the same

Only the Russian people can decide how long Putin remains in the Kremlin, but the invasion of Ukraine will likely shorten his reign. In a lengthy interview when he assumed power 22 years ago, Putin answered a question about the forced resignation of German Chancellor Helmut Kohl by saying that ‘after 16 years, any people