Ceremonial annexation and new losses PRO Members Public
Putin formally signed Friday a document allowing the accession of four occupied Ukrainian territories to the Russian Federation. The ceremony took place in the Kremlin’s St George Hall where, eight years earlier, Putin signed the order formalizing the annexation of Crimea. As usual at such events, watching the faces
War divisions PRO Members Public
Hello! This week we focus on public disagreements between factions of Russia’s pro-war lobby following Moscow’s second successive military rout in Ukraine. The heads of two major paramilitary groups, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, both of whom have a long history of grievance
Crowds at the border PRO Members Public
The only sure way to escape a call-up to the army and a rapid deployment to the front is to flee the country. Apparently, the Kremlin has decided that the risk of protests triggered by closing the borders is greater than the danger of a shortage of recruits, and five
Unlawful conscription and protests PRO Members Public
Russians quickly concluded that even the mildest statements from Putin and the Defense Ministry were not to be trusted. Within the first days of the draft, there was evidence that some of those called up were people clearly outside fighting age — for example, a 49-year-old private or a 63-year-old colonel.
Referendums and mobilization PRO Members Public
The last week of September has been no less momentous than the final days of February. Defeat in the Kharkiv region and the strain on personnel in Russia’s standing army forced the Kremlin to abandon its idea of a “special operation” conducted by “professional soldiers.” In the past week,
Mobilization fallout PRO Members Public
Hello! In this week’s newsletter, we focus on the Kremlin’s military mobilization that has uprooted Russian society over the past week — sparking protests, sending hundreds of thousands of Russians scrambling for the borders and threatening broad economic implications. We also look at how Russian businesses are struggling to
Russians await arrival of iPhone 14 PRO Members Public
Apple’s new iPhone — the iPhone 14 — went on sale in U.S. stores Friday. Even though the company’s flagship product is not officially available in Russia, it will still reach the country via the so-called parallel imports scheme. Moreover, a strong ruble means there has reportedly been a
Sanctions threaten domestic payments system Mir PRO Members Public
The exit of Visa and Mastercard from Russia in the wake of the Ukraine invasion means Russians with cards issued by them can no longer use them overseas. Now, it looks like Russia’s Mir alternative is also being targeted by the West. * Mir cards can still be used in
Russia’s Kharkiv defeat ignored by propaganda outlets PRO Members Public
The Russian authorities and supporters of the Ukraine invasion spent much of last week trying to make sense of the Armed Forces’ heaviest defeat since the spring. State-owned media studiously ignored the fact that Russia was almost entirely driven out of Kharkiv region, focusing instead on military successes announced by
State-owned Russian media shrugs off Russia’s Kharkiv defeat PRO Members Public
Hello! This week our top story is about state-owned Russian media ignoring the successful Ukrainian advance near Kharkiv and some top politicians raising the issue of mobilization. We also look at how Russia’s domestic payments system is threatened by sanctions and why the new iPhone will be both cheap
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The Bell was founded in 2017 by journalists Elizaveta Osetinskaya, Irina Malkova and Peter Mironenko as a news outlet independent from the Russian authorities, after its founders have been sacked as top editors at the largest Russian news website RBC because of pressure from the Kremlin.
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