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Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to a question at a press conference in the Kazakh capital of Astana, September 16, 2004.

REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov

NATO added seven former Soviet bloc countries 20 years ago

Twenty years ago this week, then-President George W. Bush welcomed seven former communist countries into NATO: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

This marked the largest expansion of NATO to date and it pushed the alliance further eastward to Russia’s doorstep, laying the rhetorical groundwork for one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s many justifications for invading Ukraine in 2022.

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Putin using Moscow attack as excuse to intensify war on Ukraine
Putin using Moscow attack as excuse to intensify war on Ukraine | Ian Bremmer | Quick Take

Putin using Moscow attack as excuse to intensify war on Ukraine

Ian Bremmer's Quick Take:

A Quick Take to kick off your week. Lots we could be talking about. But I want to go to Russia, where we have had a major terrorist attack with over 130 Russian citizens gunned down, killed by terrorists.

The United States has warned the Russians both publicly so that American citizens would know about the concern, but also with actionable intelligence privately over the past couple of weeks that ISIS was planning an attack on an area with major crowds in Moscow. Putin publicly dismissing that, kind of wish he hadn't, but that we are where we are. And Putin has now spoken to the nation. There have been a number of gunmen that have been rounded up and arrested four, that we know of, Tajik citizens and Putin did not mention that ISIS has taken credit for this terrorist attack, nor that they then released videos of some of the attackers as they were engaging in terrorism inside the rock concert venue.

Instead, he spoke implausibly about links to Ukraine that don't actually exist. Why would ISIS-K do this? I mean, the main reason is because one of their two home bases, Syria and Iraq, in Syria, destroyed by Bashar al-Assad with the direct help from Putin and the Russian military. Nobody else doing that with Assad on the ground. And there have been many terrorist attempts against Russians as a consequence in that regard, but none with spectacular success for them like we've just witnessed.

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Moscow terror attack: What happens next?
Moscow terror attack: What next? | Carl Bildt | Europe In :60

Moscow terror attack: What happens next?

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics from Stockholm.

What's going to happen after the horrible terrorist attack in Moscow?

Well, obviously, the Russian authorities have great difficulties with it. The US gave advance warning that something could happen in Moscow. It was repeated by several other embassies. That was publicly dismissed by Putin. And, of course, Putin is saying that all of the danger that is there is Ukraine and the West. Nothing else. He has everything under control. And then suddenly, well over 100 people dead. And evidently the security authorities responding fairly slowly. So he has now to adjust his narrative.

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Vehicles of Russian emergency services are parked near the burning Crocus City Hall concert venue following a reported shooting incident, outside Moscow, Russia, March 22, 2024.

REUTERS

Mass shooting in Moscow leaves at least 60 dead

At least 40 people are dead and scores are injured following an attack at a concert hall late Friday in Krasnogorsk, a northwest suburb of Moscow, one of the capital’s biggest music venues. Emergency personnel helped more than 100 others evacuate the building.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at a concert to celebrate first anniversary of Crimea annexation on Red Square in Moscow after his landslide victory in the presidential election, March 18, 2024.

Yuri Gripas/Reuters

Ukraine warns of escalation after Putin’s talk of a ‘sanitary zone’

Fresh off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “victory” of a fifth term, the Kremlin on Monday said it would move to establish a buffer zone in Ukrainian territory for the sake of Russia’s security. Putin suggested creating a “'sanitary zone' in the territories today under the Kyiv regime.”

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FILE PHOTO: Fatah and Hamas officials wait for a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and representatives of Palestinian groups and movements as a part of an intra-Palestinian talks in Moscow, Russia February 12, 2019.

Pavel Golovkin/Pool via REUTERS

Rival Palestinian factions try to make nice in Moscow

Hamas and Fatah, rival Palestinian factions with a bloody history, were in Moscow on Thursday for reconciliation talks.

Why is this significant? The jihadists of Hamas and the secular nationalists of Fatah are Palestine’s most powerful factions. They fought a war in 2007 that left Hamas in control of Gaza and Fatah running the occupied West Bank. Reconciliation would be crucial for establishing any stable Palestinian state in the future.

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Russia-Ukraine: Two Years of War

It's been two years since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, and the war is still raging. GZERO looks back at the pivotal moments of the past 24 months.

The Latest:

  • Ukraine is still standing two years after Russian invasion
  • Can Ukraine win the war?
  • What's the plan for Ukraine after two years of war? Ian Bremmer explains
  • Yes, Vladimir Putin is winning
  • Russia is winning? Winning what?
  • What Ukraine needs after two years of war with Russia
  • Russia’s last independent pollster explains how Putin does i

  • Listen:


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    Feb. 24, 2022: Russia launches “special military operation” in Ukraine

    War in Ukraine

    On Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin launches a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, labeling it a "special military operation." The aim? The "demilitarization and denazification" of Ukraine, according to Putin, who warns of inevitable clashes between Russian and Ukrainian forces. Any bloodshed, he says, would be on Ukraine’s hands.

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    Yes, Vladimir Putin is winning.

    It’s been two years since Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which makes it as good a time as any to ask a simple question: Is he winning?

    Here’s the best argument we can think of for why the answer is “da.”

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