Author of MOTHERLAND: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy. A finalist for the National Book Award. Also @Puck. All views my own.

Washington, DC
Joined September 2009
Julia Ioffe retweeted
❗️@LeslieMarshall on FOX News @SpecialReport: “It was disgusting to call Putin a humanitarian. It’s wonderful Mr. Hubbard is home, but he was kidnapped, he was tortured for four years and abused under the responsibility of Putin. That is not humanitarian."
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Julia Ioffe retweeted
Anthropic will be very surprised to learn that the US government can’t direct a private company to make or not make particular decisions.
Replying to @lrozen
Rubio: “The important point is we cannot direct a private company as to the decisions they make or not make.  What I can tell you with certainty is the President of the United States nor anyone in our system ever requested that any changes to that system be made, and that’s what we said repeatedly.”
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Julia Ioffe retweeted
As I've written before, there's a reason the Kremlin keeps releasing clips like this of Steve Witkoff flattering and supplicating before Putin. It's a power play—and it shows who's boss. puck.news/what-does-the-krem…
Steve Witkoff to Putin: You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that, I commend you, and I thank you again.
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I imagine Trump won't like how he compares here to Obama and Biden
Clinton and Obama were both at 46% approval rating when they lost the House in 1994 and 2010. Trump is at 34% today. per nyt/siena
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Julia Ioffe retweeted
1/ The Trump Administration is said to have refused to extradite from Montenegro the arrested co-founder of the Russian Rybar blog, Mikhail Zvinchuk, despite its own $10 million bounty on its capture. It also reportedly blocked several European countries from extraditing him. ⬇️
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Julia Ioffe retweeted
Which is worse, the strategic stupidity of rewarding a murderous dictator with billions of dollars for taking American hostages, or a US envoy groveling before him? As usual in these US-Russia “negotiations," Putin gets everything he wants and gives up nothing he cares about.
Witkoff to Putin: “You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian -- you are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that.”
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It's been interesting to see how Brian Kilmeade has become a voice of reason—and reality—on Ukraine at Fox.
- Putin is a war criminal. The Russians commit war crimes as a matter of course and the fact that they abducted our fellow citizen and sent him to a penal colony notorious for abuse is more evidence. - Russia wants to push two narratives: that it is reasonable and that its military success is inevitable. Both are false.
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The queen's reign continues.
My take: Putin gave up nothing by releasing a 74-year-old American held as a pawn for this type of moment. Putin is not a humanitarian, despite how Mr Witkoff addressed him. And whereas President Trump says he gave up nothing for Stephen Hubbard's release, you will hear all the experts correctly say that he did: busting his own sanctions for a diesel deal with Putin that could put $4 billion into his war chest; inviting Putin to the G20; and dumping Putin's victim, Ukraine, face down in the mud, as it tries to defend its sovereignty and its freedom. You’ve heard the historians call all this appeasement, going against America's own democratic values. nytimes.com/2026/10/21/us/po…
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Julia Ioffe retweeted
Facing a midterm backlash over Iran-fueled inflation, Trump is again accused of sacrificing Ukraine’s interests for electoral advantage—this time by granting Putin sanctions relief in exchange for a largely symbolic diesel deal. @juliaioffe reports: puck.news/who-really-won-tru…
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As I've written before, there's a reason the Kremlin keeps releasing clips like this of Steve Witkoff flattering and supplicating before Putin. It's a power play—and it shows who's boss. puck.news/what-does-the-krem…
Steve Witkoff to Putin: You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that, I commend you, and I thank you again.
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NEW: Trump’s mega Venezuelan oil deal, signed by Hegseth and Rubio, benefits an unknown group of investors and was intentionally crafted to keep the next U.S. president or future leaders of Venezuela from undoing it. @propublica saw the secret contract: propublica.org/article/trump…
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Sen. Warren responds to WSJ report that Elon Musk ordered the Starlink slowdown in Ukraine: "We'd like to know exactly who is responsible for what happened. If it is one man, Elon Musk, who is dictating our foreign policy, then he puts the U.S. at enormous risk."
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yikes
SCOOP: Julio Herrera Velutini, a Venezuelan billionaire, really wanted a pardon. He got it not long after his daughter hired Alina Habba, a lawyer close to Trump, in a deal worth more than $50 million. Habba was also working at DOJ at the time. nytimes.com/2026/10/20/us/po…
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Julia Ioffe retweeted
NEW: Elon Musk ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of Starlink relied on by Ukraine, per US officials and ppl familiar. Musk and Trump discussed the Starlink decision in a call soon after the slowdown became public, 2 ppl said. SpaceX reps called WH seeking support
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Latest: ​Zelenskyy tells reporters over WhatsApp that restrictions on Ukraine's Starlink systems remain. Interceptor drones can't function, logistics and operations hobbled. The maximum speed is 161 kph; "exceeding this limit causes the Starlink connection to cut out completely, resulting in the loss of the drone." He says Ukraine has done tests to determine whether SpaceX is truly facing technical issues, as has been told Kyiv by the US side, or if this is a "deliberate operation... to restrict us, cut us off, and prevent us from defending ourselves and protecting our people, both at the front and among the civilian population." He says Ukraine "sent a couple of vehicles equipped with Starlink terminals into European Union territory." "They moved at speeds exceeding 180kph, and the Starlink systems worked perfectly. We have the relevant logs and evidence to prove this." He adds: "The conclusion is clear: the restrictions are in effect within Ukraine but do not apply within the European Union. In other words, this is a planned operation."
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And you all said Trump doesn’t have a sense of humor
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Julia Ioffe retweeted
Facing a midterm backlash over Iran-fueled inflation, Trump is again accused of sacrificing Ukraine’s interests for electoral advantage—this time by granting Putin sanctions relief in exchange for a largely symbolic diesel deal. @juliaioffe reports: puck.news/who-really-won-tru…
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