The realities of life in Russia’s far east
So close to China, so far from making use of that fact
MUSIC was blasting, rockets were flying and pancakes were frying in Russia’s far east on September 9th. A vast screen placed on the embankment in Vladivostok, a port city on the shores of the Pacific, juxtaposed a North Korean military choir singing patriotic songs with images of burning American flags and rockets hitting Capitol Hill. A few hundred miles to the north-west, Russian, Chinese and Mongolian troops were readying for their joint war games, timed to coincide with the Eastern Economic Forum, a three-day annual gathering organised by Vladimir Putin.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Brother enemy”
From the September 15th 2018 edition
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Five years after it was gutted by fire, the cathedral is more beautiful than ever
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Ukraine’s warriors brace for a Kremlin surge in the south
Vladimir Putin’s war machine is pushing harder and crushing Ukrainian morale
Vladimir Putin fires a new missile to amplify his nuclear threats
The attack on Ukraine is part of a new era of missile warfare