Abbas Gallyamov, a former speechwriter for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The war has gone as bad as possible for Putin. He now finds himself having to explain himself to his hardliners, to his army, to his people – all of them are unhappy." Putin is ‘desperate, not stupid’, former head of the foreign office Lord McDonald tell...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had signed a decree on partial mobilisation beginning on Wednesday, saying he was defending Russian territories and that the West wanted to destroy the country

"Putin needs to demonstrate that he is not that weak as he looks now." Putin ‘wants the image of an anti-western bloc leader’, but will need to show that he is not weak, former Russian parliament adviser Nikolai Petrov tells #TimesRadio.