The Return of Russia: new details of upcoming live events.
This post is an update on the latest live events planned about my new book The Return of Russia: from Yeltsin to Putin, the Story of a Vengeful Kremlin. Between now and the end of May, I am due to be speaking in London, Birmingham, and Derby. Details below....
New Book ‘The Return of Russia’: Now Available for Pre-order At Special Price
MY NEXT BOOK The Return of Russia: From Lenin to Putin, the Story of a Vengeful Kremlin is currently available to pre-order. In the UK, Waterstones has a special offer until 23:59 on Friday 17 October: 25% off the cover price of £20. The Return of Russia by James...
Our Dear Friends in Moscow: A Story of Russia And A Warning to the West
This post reviews Our Dear Friends in Moscow: The Inside Story of a Broken Generation by Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan (Public Affairs, 2025) RIGHT FROM THE DAWN OF THIS CENTURY, in the early days of their careers as journalists, Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan saw where power was...
Simple And Moving: In Ukraine, A Story of Deaths, Not Degrees
CHANGING KREMLIN POLICY SHAPED MY EDUCATION. In the fall of 1984, I went to university in England to study Modern Languages: Russian and French. The Cold War was in its most terrifying stage since the Cuban Missile crisis of 1962. The United States and Soviet Union were engaged in...
In West London, Remembering Red Square: War Then and Now
This latest post is an extract from a piece I wrote for The New European about a memorial near my home in west London to people killed in a missile strike during the Second World War, on my memories of watching military parades on Red Square, and how those...
At The Frontline Club in London: 25 Years of Putin
Russian soldiers in Grozny. Chechnya, March 2000. © James Rodgers Are you in London on March 26? If so, please join us at the Frontline Club for a discussion marking 25 years since Vladimir Putin was first elected president of Russia.On 26 March 2000, I was reporting for the...
Latest Radio Interviews on Russia and Ukraine
This week I have given a number of radio interviews on President Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war. My take essentially is that Russia and Ukraine remain too far apart for a ceasefire to work. With the United States having temporarily suspended arms supplies and intelligence...
Trump’s Ukraine Offer Gives Putin The Place He Wants in History
The White House, Washington DC, July 2024 © James Rodgers This piece was first published on the website of The Conversation on February 18, 2025. You can read that version here. The meeting in Saudi Arabia between senior delegations from the United States and Russia could be the first...
Gershkovich Trial is a Dangerous New Development for Journalism in Russia
This week my colleague Dina Fainberg and I wrote for The Conversation about the case of the U.S. correspondent, Evan Gershkovich, who is on trial in Russia on spying charges. This is an extract from the article. You can read the full version, where we place the case in...
Crimea 2014: the West’s ‘terrible mistake’. Was it the first? War in Ukraine, two years after 2022
A hoarding opposite the Russian embassy in Berlin, February 2023 © James Rodgers This latest post is an article I wrote for a special issue of Baltic Rim Economies, published in February 2024 to mark the second anniversary of the escalation of Russia’s war on Ukraine. You can read...