Vatreshki depicting Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, in a souvenir shop on Arbat. Photo by OLESYA KURPYAYEVA / AFP The mirage of a possible peace in Ukraine appeared almost simultaneously in Moscow and Berlin, but quickly faded. While Putin and Merz spoke cautiously of “restoring balance,” Donald Trump was reshaping global security to suit himself, demonstrating that any peace treaties could be a byproduct of a big deal.

Orientalist Ruslan Suleymanov Photo: telegram channel of Ruslan Suleymanov Two weeks after the start of another wave of protests, the Iranian regime managed to suppress it. The protests broke out at the end of December, their trigger was a sharp drop in the value of the national currency. The protests were accompanied by large-scale repression and thousands of victims. US President Donald Trump publicly promised support for Iranian demonstrators, but ultimately took no action.

Natalya Gromova is a thoughtful archivist, publisher and commentator on the diaries of Malakhieva-Mirovich and the biography of Olga Berggolts “There Was and Is Not Death.” Since April 2022, Natalya Gromova has been living and working in Israel, publishing outside of Russia, and this is her conscious personal choice. Her book “Eugene Schwartz.