Analytics

Today the world faces a deeply corrupt Russian state where state control of the media is almost total, where control of major financial and resource assets resides almost exclusively close 'friends' many of whom have have KGB or St Petersburg connections (or both) going some way back, where increasingly neo nationalism is encouraged by the State up to a form of cult worship of the new 'Great Leader', a state which is not concerned with any former international agreements it's predecessors may have the signed - the Budapest Memorandum, Helsinki Accords and even the United Nations founding charter are clearly regarded as non binding. A Russian state increasingly is hurtling back to it's past. So tell me: was the Cold War won?

At the conclusion of the second round of the Minsk talks the heads of Ukraine, Germany, France, and Russia agreed to a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. Officially the ceasefire was to be in force from February 15, 2015. In truth, the military offensive in the Donbas had never been brought to a halt. Read EMPR exclusive report from the front lines about an illusory truce.

At the opening of the inquiry into the murder (in 2006) of former FSB Officer 'Sasha' Litvinenko Mr Ben Emmerson QC, representing Mr Litvinenko's widow said the following: Alexander Litvinenko was murdered for trying to "expose the corruption" at the heart of Vladimir Putin's "mafia state"; he was "eliminated" because he had made an enemy of the "close knit group of criminals who surrounded and still surround Vladimir Putin and keep his corrupt regime in power".

Equipped with a compass and basic knowledge about rockets entry point at shelling, Mariupol local resident proves the city was shelled by Russian-backed terrorists