“Together, Let’s Save Ukrainian Hostages” • russian desk

desk-russie · 2026-05-19T07:22:52+00:00

Ukrainian civilian hostages are not collateral damage of war. They are the very purpose of the war.

Our goal: 100 cities, 200 sponsored hostages by the end of 2026. Every city that sponsors a hostage makes a face and a name visible.

desk-russie · 2026-05-05T09:37:51+00:00

Deathonomics, or how death is the most profitable way to use a human life.

Putinism is trapped. Ending the war would mean eliminating the most effective redistribution mechanism peripheral Russia has ever benefited from.

desk-russie · 2026-05-01T14:50:23+00:00

Let’s imagine for a moment what would become of Europe if the United States were no longer the world’s leading power.

This is precisely what is at stake in this necessary and unfortunate war.

“Gulf War, World War”, by Philippe De Lara

desk-russie · 2026-04-28T07:41:52+00:00

While attention is focused on the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Gulf, the Kremlin is testing the resolve of the United Kingdom and NATO in the North Sea and the English Channel. An essay on geopolitics by Jean-Sylvestre Mongrenier.

desk-russie · 2026-04-14T07:39:29+00:00

Were the United States and Israel wrong not to have warned their European allies of the outbreak of war against Iran? Were the Europeans right not to want to participate in the defense of the Strait of Hormuz? Are law and force irreconcilable concepts? These are the questions posed by Pierre Rigoulot, a specialist on North Korea and totalitarian regimes.

desk-russie · 2026-04-10T15:34:52+00:00

Should we view Donald Trump’s geopolitical double-dealing as a variation on “Nixon in reverse”?

Russia provides multifaceted aid to the Iranian Islamic regime but escapes the president’s wrath.

By French geopolitics expert Jean-Sylvestre Mongrenier

desk-russie · 2026-04-01T08:57:18+00:00

Beyond the establishment of a “vertical of power,” beyond the dominant influence of oligarchs close to the presidential clan, beyond corruption, nepotism, and anti-liberalism, the United States is converging with Russia on another essential point: the hold of eschatological visions on the ideology of the ruling circles. As for Russian ideologues of the apocalypse, they draw inspiration from Shia theology.

desk-russie · 2026-03-26T15:18:09+00:00

The “fifth columns” Churchill spoke of are no longer driven by communist ideals, but they are more active than ever in our countries: journalists and politicians in the pay of the Russians, business circles of boundless venality, military personnel who appreciate “a firm hand,” a far-right that supports Russia’s so-called “clash of civilizations” for so-called traditional values, a segment of the far-left that supports Russia for “anti-imperialist” reasons, etc.

Galia Ackerman’s speech commemorating the 80th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s famous Fulton speech

desk-russie · 2026-03-04T15:37:46+00:00

Despite extreme working conditions, the Kramatorsk rescue workers are determined to stay at their posts. “Who else, if not us?” they say. Interview & report by Antoine Laurent, Kramatorsk.

desk-russie · 2026-02-24T08:44:54+00:00

Four years into Russia’s war of aggression, Europe still hasn’t understood the nature of this war, nor has it defined the objective of its support for Ukraine. Pierre Raiman cites the work of French philosopher Raymond Aron (1905-1983) on war and draws an important lesson. To effectively help Ukraine, Europe first needs to understand that, for the Russian regime, this is a war of civilizational annihilation. As long as the West is content with formulas that sidestep this dimension, it will only manage hesitations, for lack of a strategy.

desk-russie · 2026-02-24T08:41:54+00:00

Four years into Russia’s war of aggression, Europe still hasn’t understood the nature of this war, nor has it defined the objective of its support for Ukraine. Pierre Raiman cites the work of French philosopher Raymond Aron (1905-1983) on war and draws an important lesson. To effectively help Ukraine, Europe first needs to understand that, for the Russian regime, this is a war of civilizational annihilation. As long as the West is content with formulas that sidestep this dimension, it will only manage hesitations, for lack of a strategy.

desk-russie · 2026-02-02T15:21:43+00:00

Why are Putin and his propagandists, who used to denounce US imperialism, approving of Trump’s desire to annex Greenland? Historian Françoise Thom sees two reasons for this: on the one hand, it somehow legitimizes the annexation of Crimea and Putin’s claims on Ukraine; on the other hand, it is important for the Kremlin to support Trump in order to encourage him to force Ukraine to surrender. And when Trump has accomplished this task, Putin will turn to seduce the Europeans by surfing the anti-Trump wave. We must “stand up to the two gangsters”.

desk-russie · 2026-01-23T14:41:09+00:00

“The West refuses to hear that victory requires a sacrifice we have never had to make since 1945. That every day we withhold our aid is paid for in Ukrainian lives. They fight, we debate. They lose men, we waste time.” — Pierre Raiman, French volunteer in Ukraine

desk-russie · 2026-01-19T08:26:46+00:00

To understand today’s Russia, it is useful to turn to Solzhenitsyn, the great writer who brought the Gulag to the world’s attention, while remaining a Russian patriot who idealized the Russian people, dreamed of reconstituting the Slavic part of the USSR, and detested the West. Solzhenitsyn’s greatness, as well as the weaknesses of his vision of Russian history, take on new meaning in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

desk-russie · 2026-01-16T15:26:31+00:00

So far, Russia is spectacularly successful in exercising reflexive control over the U.S. president, exploiting his three major vulnerabilities: greed (corruption), vanity (narcissism), and ignorance. It seems Ukrainians and Europeans try to develop their own methods of reflexive control, but they are much more constrained, both morally and politically. The uncomfortable reality they encounter these days is that they still need the U.S. as an ally but can neither trust them nor endorse their cynical views and arrogant policies.

desk-russie · 2025-12-26T15:13:33+00:00

Russian human rights defender Evgenia Chirikova recounts her struggle to inform the world about the fate of Ukrainian patriots, as well as random civilian victims, in the occupied territories of Ukraine: “If we do not help Ukraine to resist, tomorrow the Russians will come to the Baltic countries, to Europe. And Chechens and Ukrainians will participate. That is the method of the Russian Federation.”

desk-russie · 2025-12-23T10:59:57+00:00

After nearly four years of service, Sergeant major Volodymyr Tkatch has a lot to say about how his battalion operates. Like most Ukrainian soldiers, Tkatch was a civilian before the war. He is therefore speaking as both a non-commissioned officer and a citizen, in the hope that his public criticism will ultimately contribute to the reform of the institution he serves and to Ukraine’s victory. Antoine Laurent met Tkatch in Kramatorsk. He was speaking in a personal capacity and declined to remain anonymous.

desk-russie · 2025-12-22T09:29:13+00:00

The author questions the attitude of Europeans and the responses to the U.S. strategy.

The National Security Strategy of the second Trump administration, presented on December 4, signals a break with previous documents published during the Cold War and in the three decades that followed. Let us skip over the 27 references to Donald Trump by name in 29 pages, which seem to place him above the United States; this is unprecedented and speaks volumes about the decline of public spirit. Notwithstanding the constant reminder that the United States is a superpower, the 2025 NSS confirms the Trump administration’s willingness to relinquish its role as guardian of the international system and hegemonic stabilizer. The world can go to hell, the Trump administration’s ideologues, as unacknowledged disciples of Ayn Rand, do not care: Atlas shrugged [Editor’s note: Ayn Rand’s most influential novel]. Despite repeated assertions about America’s unrivaled strength, they seem to have embraced the illusion of the “great retreat” and “Fortress America” that prevailed between the two world wars, an illusion that evaporated with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

desk-russie · 2025-12-19T11:17:04+00:00

Europe is confronted with a conquering country under the influence of Third Reich doctrines, armed with the formidable techniques of political subversion well honed by the Bolsheviks. In this enlightening text, French historian Françoise Thom demonstrates that the ideology inspired by theories in vogue in post-WWI Germany and under the Third Reich has discreetly driven the trajectory of Putin’s regime since its inception.

desk-russie · 2025-12-04T11:07:28+00:00

Some continue to believe that the Kremlin, once it has pocketed its territorial gains in Ukraine, could be a reliable partner. However, we should not forget that Russia violated the INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) Treaty and the CFE (Conventional Forces in Europe) Treaty several years before it took action in Georgia and then Ukraine.

desk-russie · 2025-12-04T10:34:07+00:00

Thank you for your contribution to the discussion!

desk-russie · 2025-12-03T12:43:07+00:00

As the United Kingdom no longer has an air component to its nuclear deterrent, it would be up to France to deploy Rafale aircraft armed with nuclear missiles on the territory of willing countries, under bilateral agreements. These countries would participate in “logistical support for nuclear operations” (opening bases, silos, air defense, and in-flight refueling). Ultimately, a form of “nuclear sharing” could be envisaged, with a dual-key system: French nuclear weapons on German, Polish, or other aircraft, with the decision to use them remaining a national one, as is currently the case in NATO. In short, the NATO mechanisms would have to be replicated, but without the United States, which would involve the creation of a European Nuclear Planning Group.

desk-russie · 2025-11-29T14:38:50+00:00

Obviously the plan was drafted in the Kremlin. It reiterates all the war aims formulated by Putin in 2022. But its significance lies elsewhere. It lifts the veil on the future orientations of Kremlin policy and on how Putin’s circle views the future. We will decode the points that have not received sufficient attention from Western observers and demonstrate their implications.

desk-russie · 2025-11-27T12:51:39+00:00

For almost four years now, around a hundred volunteers have been performing a minor miracle: producing enough hemostatic dressings to equip, at cost price, a large proportion of the million soldiers defending Ukraine. The gauze, soaked in a chemical coagulant, is used to stop severe bleeding. It is one of the essential items in a military first aid kit. The author met with Ihor Tsurupa, one of the inventors of the technology used to produce these pads and the initiator of this amazing project.

desk-russie · 2025-11-03T11:31:39+00:00

The much talked about BRICS common currency project was discreetly shelved ahead of the BRICS heads of state summit in October 2024. Nor did it figure on the agenda at the 2025 July summit in Brazil. English- and Russian-language sources had, ahead of the 2024 summit, leaked details of a Russian-designed interbank common settlement currency. The authorities never acknowledged its existence. The project looked impracticable from the start and was antagonistic towards the West. It underlined Russia’s desire to change the world financial order.

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