Archive
Pieces
ANALYSIS: Yaroslavl in flames, between rhetoric and reality
In late March 2026, yet another Russian refinery found itself in the news for the wrong reasons: the one in Yaroslavl, several hundred kilometers…
OP-ED: Tuapse, Four Strikes and a Question Worth Asking
Four times since March 2026, the Tuapse refinery on the Black Sea has been struck, according to an AP count reported by the LA…
FACT CHECK: Fuel Lines and Rationing, What Western Observers Are Taking Away
More than 90% of Russian regions report, as of July 2026, some form of fuel rationing or shortage, according to Al Jazeera.
PORTRAIT: Putin Facing His Own Price Cap, a Strategic Reading
On June 26, 2026, Vladimir Putin signed a decree extending a measure through the end of 2027, according to Interfax. This seemingly technical gesture…
COMMENTARY: A Status Check on Russia's Shadow Fleet
In seventy-two hours, in early July 2026, Ukraine claimed strikes against 21 vessels, including 19 tankers, near occupied Crimea, according to reporting by Fox…
COLUMN: The War Ruble, a Cold Read One Month Later
One month after Washington tightened sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, the moment seems right to look coldly at what these numbers actually say, without…
EDITORIAL: Why Omsk Going Offline Matters More Than It Looks
On July 6, 2026, Ukrainian drones struck the Omsk refinery, Russia's largest, in what Reuters and CNBC described the following day as the deepest…
INVESTIGATION: Pyongyang in Five Numbers
Five numbers tell the story of North Korea's military dependency on Russia more precisely than any single narrative account could: 29,488 containers, an estimated…
REPORT: Field Notes on Russia's Shell Production Industry
Russia's shell production has reached 7 million units annually, a figure seventeen times higher than pre-invasion levels, according to Estonian intelligence cited by Euromaidan…