Vladimir Putin answers questions during his annual live press conference on December 19.
Yuri Kochetkov/EPA
Ex-president Dmitry Medvedev has called journalists who justify Ukraine’s actions ‘active participants’ in a war against Russia.
Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
A round-up of the biggest global stories this week.
EPA-EFE/Russian defence ministry
There is mounting evidence that Russia has used banned chemical weapons in Ukraine.
Rebel leader Abu Muhammad Al-Jolani [photographed tend days before launching the final offensive against Damascus.
Abaca Press/Alamy Live News
Eleven days that shook the world.
U.S. forces patrol oil fields near Syria’s northeastern border near Turkey on Sept. 3, 2024.
Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images
The US has been involved in Syria in several important ways, including sanctioning Bashar al-Assad’s government for more than a decade.
Pilots of the French Air Force at their airbase in N'Djamena, 2018.
Ludovic Marin/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
The dissolution of the Chad-France defence pact raises questions about Chad’s next potential partners. It could also reshape power dynamics in the Sahel.
Alberto Pizzoli/Pool Photo via AP
The OSCE is the only regional security forum where Ukraine and Russia still meet.
American Photo Archive/Alamy
Russia went to war with the west, but it didn’t really notice until recently.
Thawing permafrost and changing seasons affect wildlife across the Arctic.
Dennis Welker/E+ via Getty Images
Rapid changes underway in the Arctic affect the region’s people and wildlife, and the entire planet.
Russian president Vladimir Putin meeting with Syria’s Bashar al-Assad at the Kremlin in 2015.
Russian Government / Alamy Stock Photo
The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime will have consequences for the many international players with a stake in the region.
Syrian rebels in Homs celebrate following the takeover of Damascus on December 8.
Bilal Al Hammoud / EPA
Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime has finally been toppled, bringing to an end 13 years of suffering.
Stringer/EPA
While it may seem like the rebel takeover came out of nowhere, the rapid fall of the Assad regime has a long history.
End of a half-century of family rule. A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the Syrian city of Qamishli.
Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images
Opposition forces marched into Damascus on Dec. 8, seemingly ending the half-century rule of the Assad family. But what happens next?
Omar Sanadiki/AP
The swift and unexpected fall of the Syrian capital, Damascus, to Sunni opposition forces marks a pivotal moment in the modern history of the Middle East. Bashar al-Assad’s regime had withstood more than…
One man and his attack dog: Vladimir Putin with his former adviser, hardliner Sergey Karaganov.
EPA-EFE/Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik/Kremlin pool
Recent messages coming out of Moscow have been tough, but the Russian president may be hoping to use rhetoric to encourage disunity within Nato.
An armed man takes a selfie as Syrian rebels sweep into the country’s largest city, Aleppo.
Bilal Al Hammpoud / EPA
Syria’s civil war is back with a vengeance after a lightning rebel advance.
EPA-EFE/David Mdzinarishvili
Is the EU too strict about its membership requirements?
fornStudio / Shutterstock
Russia’s rouble is in trouble as new sanctions hit the country’s financial sector.
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EPA-EFE/Sergei Ilnitsky
Putin says his new long-range missile could hit targets with the force of a meteorite.
HMS Cattistock, a Royal Navy Hunt Class minesweeper, has been tasked with surveiliance of critical undersea infrastructure.
Pierre de la Mare / Alamy Stock Photo
‘Hybrid warfare’ is flourishing on and beneath the waves.