Today marks 400 days since Evan was jailed for doing his job, another grim milestone that we hoped would never come. Evan has missed out on so much, isolated from the world that he loves and covered so well. There is a big hole in our hearts that won’t be filled until he is free

The West sleepwalked into a conflict with the Kremlin. Unchecked hubris after the Cold War led the US and its allies to overpromise to Ukraine and misread Putin. My latest in The Wilson Quarterly:
wilsonquarterly.com/quarterly/unde…

Spotted a new flag in the basement of the Swedish embassy in Washington, just down the hall from the children's playroom.

Evan in court today. Unbreakable. #IStandWithEvan

I trace US policy starting with George W. Bush's push to give Ukraine (and Georgia) a path to NATO as a reward for sending troops to Iraq. The unfettered use of US military power inspired and infuriated Putin—and gave him an example he tried to emulate in Georgia, Syria, Ukraine.

While everyone is talking about the situation on Ukraine's front line, there are also collisions on the home front in Kyiv. Read Konstantin Skorkin for more on Zelensky's purge and the further strengthening of his already powerful chief of staff. carnegieendowment.org/politika/92209

My book weaves together events in Ukraine and Russia and shows how Putin's war represents a generational clash between those who reject the Soviet past and those who still cling to it. I examine Navalny's nationalism and how it contrasted with Putin's revived imperialism.

-Putin acted in self-defense in February 2022 to prevent NATO encroachment. In fact, the Kremlin had effectively stopped NATO enlargement to former Soviet possessions with the invasions of Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014. The US was leaving Europe when Putin grabbed Crimea.

-Russia acted spontaneously to 'protect' ethnic Russians in Crimea. In fact, Russian emissaries laid the groundwork for Crimea's seizure in advance;
-the DNR and LNR were national liberation movements. In fact, agents from Moscow helped create them with Russian military support;

My book debunks the foundational myths of Putin's aggression against Ukraine, namely that
-the CIA orchestrated an armed coup on the Maidan in 2014. In fact, it was Putin who extracted his client from Ukraine to begin the armed occupation of Crimea;

The Russian narrative on Nato & the West, summed up today in one interview – and one picture – in one Russian newspaper. #ReadingRussia

Joined Crisis Group's team working on Ukraine today. Will keep you posted.

The root causes of the war lie in the legacy of Russian imperialism and Putin's dictatorial rule. The West is not blameless—it held open the door to NATO and EU without any intention of letting Ukraine in. Empty promises increased Ukraine's vulnerability to a revanchist Russia.

U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich has been in Russian custody for one year on unjust spying charges.

Evan worked as a reporter for MT for three years. We know he is not a spy but an honest, talented journalist.

We have collected his reporting for MT: themoscowtimes.com/all-about/evan…

The front page of The Wall Street Journal today is devoted entirely to marking Evan Gershkovich’s one year in Russian captivity - a year of his life lost, 12 months without friends and family, 365 days of not doing the job he so loves #IStandWithEvan

I witnessed the events I discuss, from the Orange Revolution and Russia's invasion of Georgia to the arrival of Russian troops in Crimea and the Russian-backed insurgency in the Donbas. I watched as Russia, which I first visited in 1991, turn into a full-blown dictatorship.

This book is based on my almost 20 years reporting from Ukraine and Russia. It is an accessible but detailed history of Putin's transformation into an embittered tyrant who saw it as his historical mission to reconquer Ukraine.

'Release him now. He's a journalist who was doing his job.' Our report from Moscow about US journalist Evan Gershkovich. He was arrested in Russia one year ago this week. Producer Ben Tavener BBC News (UK)

⁦The Wall Street Journal⁩’s London office today. Hard to believe it’s almost a year since Evan’s arrest in Russia simply for doing his job. Let him go #IStandWithEvan

By the way, my non-fiction book on the Battle of Kyiv 2022 is coming on Amazon in 45 days.

I worked myself ragged to give you the best story of wartime Kyiv I could... and early reviews from distinguished journalists and writers in the West and here in Ukraine look really…