Officials who were removed include both close associates of former defense minister Sergei Shoigu, and generals seen to have failed in Ukraine.

The Wagner mercenary boss was counting on solidarity from senior army officers, and since he came close to reaching Moscow without encountering any particular resistance, he might not have been completely mistaken.

The main obstacle to the creation of a planned digital database of Russians eligible for military service is not the technology required, but the struggle between various agencies for control of this powerful new tool.

Russia should do its best to stop being one of the threats that the EU takes into account when determining its development trajectory. Long-term modernization and reform programs are long-term specifically because they structure cooperation for decades ahead, building paradigms that are difficult to escape from, even for the mutually beneficial improvement of relations.