Every western company seeking to sell its Russian assets, which it can't do without state permission, will now be obliged to make a direct 10% donation to Putin's war chest.

'It is a real property seizure,' said Ilya Rachkov, a Russian corporate lawyer

ft.com/content/773680…

Things will get much harder. This will take a very, very long time,” Dmitry Peskov told a group of old friends at a dinner party in late December as Putin digs in for prolonged 'existential' war
theguardian.com/world/2023/mar…

Russia's economy survived 2022. Now it faces a long-term deep freeze. Our deep-dive with Evan Gershkovich wsj.com/articles/russi…

How to flee house arrest in Russia: Escapees tell their secrets washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/…

Fascinating reporting by Brian Spegele on the Russia-China border, where promises of closer ties between Moscow and Beijing aren't panning out.
...a museum in Heihe is dedicated to what's depicted as centuries of aggression by Russia against the Chinese
wsj.com/articles/putin…

This time last year, Oleg, director of a remote Siberian theatre, discovered most of his team cheered Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It was the start of a bitter saga — one he would eventually lose.

On the moral choices of life in wartime Russia — tales from the stage for FT Weekend Magazine

NEW: We spent the last few weeks identifying ~30 Wagner convict fighters who returned from Ukraine and received their pardons. Five agreed to talk to us. What resulted is the most detailed insider account of Wagner's prisoner army yet published Reuters

reuters.com/investigates/s…

An update on Kupol, the battalion commander who candidly told us about his frustration with poor training of newly mobilized troops and ammo shortages:

He was removed from his position of battalion commander in the 46th brigade because of his interview with us.

My big take on Ukraine’s spring offensive chances, the mounting casualties on both sides, and prospects for the conflict, based on interviews with leaders in Kyiv and soldiers in the trenches, on page one of The Wall Street Journal today. on.wsj.com/3LnCwmP

Xi Jinping's call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський, as reported by Keith Zhai in The Wall Street Journal, is a must-do pillar in 🇨🇳 framing of Xi's visit to Moscow. Make no mistake: the trip will be about deepening ties to 🇷🇺 that benefit Beijing, not about any real peace brokering. 1/
wsj.com/articles/china…

Reputational hits to Russia’s military hardware in Ukraine have led to further erosion of Moscow’s market share in the global weapons trade wsj.com/articles/russi… with Jon Emont

“It’s Ukraine’s right as a sov­ereign coun­try to de­cide what it thinks is an ap­pro­pri­ate set­tle­ment for it­self. I view our job as putting them in the strong­est pos­si­ble po­si­tion to do that,” Rishi Sunak says in interview with Paul Beckett wsj.com/articles/brita…

“How do you live next to this kind of state that is toxic?” Russian soft power — never that soft — is increasingly replaced by threats or lucrative deals to try to maintain influence. And the war has accelerated a trend of youth turning away from Moscow. theguardian.com/world/2023/mar…

Wagner founder Prigozhin’s star has risen, threatening to outshine Russia’s political and military elite. But recently the Kremlin rank and file has pushed to put him back in his place. W/ ⁦Evan Gershkovich⁩ and ⁦⁦benoit faucon⁩ wsj.com/articles/fight…

Prigozhin has worn out the patience of much of the Kremlin establishment but maintains the backing of Yuri Kovalchuk, a close friend of Putin and a power broker in Moscow, people close to the Kremlin told us. Story w/ Thomas Grove and benoit faucon wsj.com/articles/fight…

Our story on how the Kremlin moved to rein in Prigozhin, even as he leads Russia’s siege of Bakhmut. “They’ve decided that Prigozhin poses too great a threat and it’s time to clamp down on Wagner.” W/ Thomas Grove and benoit faucon wsj.com/articles/fight…

To see Russia’s secret antiwar art: Meet at a bus stop. At dark. Phones off.

⁦Robyn Dixon⁩ washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/…

Our story on the protests in Georgia over a Russian-style foreign agents law includes an in­ter­view with a ruling party law­maker who admits that the term foreign agent is “not very pleas­ant.” wsj.com/articles/georg…

Wagner’s disposable penal battalions pose a unique danger to Ukraine: no other force, not even the Russian army, can advance with a wave after wave of near-suicidal assaults. My The Wall Street Journal report from the Bakhmut frontline 📸 ⁦Manu Brabo⁩ wsj.com/articles/russi…

fascinating story by benoit faucon on Russia’s Western-trained technocrats helping Putin’s government navigate sanctions. “He was critical of Russia’s political opening in the 1990s. ‘He wanted to make Russia great again,’ said another former colleague.” wsj.com/articles/russi…