Françoise Thom

Why does Putin persist so relentlessly in trying to destroy Ukraine, at a cost in blood and treasure that even his own services must surely judge unsustainable? In this piece, historian Françoise Thom sets aside the usual explanations — revenge for the 2004 Orange Revolution, a desire to humiliate the West, fear of a democratic beacon on Russia’s doorstep — as insufficient on their own. Instead, she starts from the Russian president’s own words, increasingly unguarded with age and the habit of absolute power: in 2024, he admits that peace bores him and that action, even in the form of whistling bullets, reassures him; in 2026, he worries about what Russians will do once the war ends; and, speaking to teachers, he bluntly compares the world to a food chain in which orcas tear apart polar bears — a lesson, he says, that should be taught to children to justify the war.

On May 27 and 28, an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers was held in Cyprus. Among other things, they discussed the possibility of resuming dialogue with Russia as part of efforts to resolve the […]

Beyond the establishment of a “vertical of power,” beyond the dominant influence of oligarchs close to the presidential clan, beyond corruption, nepotism, and anti-liberalism, the United States is converging with Russia on another essential point: […]