People celebrate the first anniversary of Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian Oblasts in Moscow, Russia, on Sept. 29, 2023.
Opinion

Putin, the people, or both? The unresolved question of responsibility in Russia

by Archil Jangirashvili

About the author: Archil Jangirashvili is a Georgian lawyer and academic specializing in law, political ethics, and human rights. The question of whether Russian society bears responsibility for Vladimir Putin’s actions has been raised repeatedly since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This debate is not confined to Eastern Europe; it also actively circulates in Western political and academic circles. Often, it produces a comforting illusion: the source of today’s threa

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Fact-check: Debunking Russian propaganda about 'persecution of Christians' in Ukraine

The supposed "persecution of Christians" in Ukraine ranks among the most popular tropes of Russian disinformation. Kremlin propaganda has sought to cast the state's push to limit the influence of the Kremlin-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) — whose clergymen have aided Russia during the war — as an assault on Christians. Though Ukraine is religiously diverse, Orthodox Christianity remains the dominant faith, with the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine (O

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