Lisa Haseldine

Since the death of Alexei Navalny in an Arctic penal colony in February, Russia’s opposition movement has found itself in disarray. Instead of Navalny’s death uniting those exiled Kremlin critics campaigning for a democratic future for Russia, the past eight months have seen the opposition movement fracture into bickering factions, unable to collaborate on anything

‘Whatever happens, Vladimir Putin must not be allowed to win the war in Ukraine’. For the first time since being released from a Russian prison in August, the politician Vladimir Kara-Murza arrived in London this week for a series of high-profile meetings to discuss Russia’s future.  Kara-Murza, who holds both Russian and British citizenship, was

In the early hours of this morning, Ukraine hit Moscow with ‘one of the largest’ drone attacks against the Russian capital since the war began two and a half years ago. According to Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin, air defence forces shot down a number of drones – later confirmed to be 11 – between 3

As Ukrainian forces continue to gain ground in the Russian region of Kursk, the humiliation for Vladimir Putin is growing. Faced with a mounting crisis, the Kremlin is responding in the only way it knows how: deflection and disinformation. A briefing by Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR) published this morning argued that ‘Zelensky is taking

It has been seven days since Ukraine began its attack on the Russian region of Kursk – with Ukrainian soldiers launching the first successful cross-border invasion of Russia since the second world war.  Still, Ukraine is showing no signs yet of slowing down. This morning, local authorities in the neighbouring Russian region of Belgorod announced that the

It’s four days into Ukraine’s surprise offensive in the Russian region of Kursk and Moscow is only just sending reinforcements to repel the advance. Multiple launch rocket systems, artillery guns and armoured vehicles – which were probably redeployed from other parts of the front line – have been sent to shore up defences, according to

The Kremlin has released Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former marine Paul Whelan and British-Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza from captivity. This is the biggest prisoner swap between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War. The three men form part of a group of prisoners released this morning, reportedly numbering as many as 16.

Twenty people have been killed – including 15 police officers and a priest – following two coordinated gun attacks in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan. The attacks began simultaneously at approximately 6pm local time yesterday in the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala, with the groups targeting two synagogues and two churches. In Makhachkala, the assailants also opened fire on a