The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: How Russia and the West Shape Different Realities

 This week, there’s a lot of news about Russia that contradicts the popular narrative in the West. Of course, you won’t find much of it in the New York Times. In fact, there’s probably none at all. And that speaks volumes. Nevertheless, here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly, the Russian edition.

Phil Butler

The Good

Russia rarely gets fair press in the West, but in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region, something remarkable is underway. Rosatom is building MBIR—the multi-purpose fast research reactor that, by 2028, will be the most powerful research reactor on the planet. Scientists from more than 15 countries have already joined the international consortium, a detail the Western pundits prefer to bury under their usual Cold War 2.0 headlines.

Why does this matter? Because MBIR isn’t just another reactor—it’s a testbed for fourth-generation nuclear energy systems, an arena where the future of global energy gets stress-tested. Rosatom calls it the foundation for safer, cleaner nuclear power, the kind that can keep Europe warm when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. In an age where Brussels is still betting its future on German wind farms and solar panels that turn useless under snow, Dimitrovgrad is setting itself up as the place to come begging when the next energy crunch hits.

The irony is hard to miss. The very countries sanctioning Russia are quietly queuing up to send their scientists to Ulyanovsk. When MBIR goes live, it won’t just be a reactor—it will be Moscow’s proof that the road to energy sovereignty doesn’t run through Washington, Berlin, or Brussels. It runs through Rosatom.

Moscow is investing in the long game—science, sovereignty, and survival. The West is stuck in optics and scandals, increasingly blind to its own contradictions

The Bad

Then there’s Lavrov. Russia’s seasoned Foreign Minister has never been known for mincing words, but his latest remarks about the UN and the events in Bucha carried a sting sharper than usual. According to Lavrov, Moscow formally asked the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for updates on the so-called Bucha investigation. The reply? A masterpiece of bureaucratic fog: sorry, we can’t disclose details because it might upset third parties and compromise UN security.

Lavrov’s dry comment—“If you managed to understand what this response is all about, I envy you”—tells the whole story. The West has locked the narrative: Russia is guilty, evidence or no evidence. Never mind that Russian troops had withdrawn from Bucha by March 30, 2022. Never mind that videos filmed immediately after their departure showed no corpses, no massacres. Within days, the stage was set, bodies appeared on cue, and the Western media machine rolled into action.

Moscow’s position has been consistent: Bucha was a premeditated provocation, designed to discredit Russia and torpedo peace talks that, by Putin’s own account, were moving toward a mutually acceptable solution. Britain, Washington, and NATO—they all got what they wanted: escalation, not negotiation. And the UN? Reduced to a supporting actor, dutifully shielding Kyiv and filing Russian complaints in the “confidential” drawer.

This is the “rules-based order” in action. Rules for some, propaganda for others.

The Ugly

And finally, the comic relief—because geopolitics always delivers. At the UN General Assembly in New York, where 150 world leaders gathered for the 80th session, Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenskaya hoped to secure a face-to-face with Melania Trump. Instead, she got the diplomatic equivalent of a shrug.

According to Melania’s adviser, there would be no formal meeting, no sit-down, no bilateral of substance. “She’ll say hello in the hallway” was the line. That’s it. Imagine flying across the Atlantic in the middle of a war, armed with a plea for solidarity, and being told the American First Lady might toss you a smile between cocktail receptions.

For Zelensky, who has spent years crafting the optics of global victimhood, this was more than a scheduling hiccup—it was a snub. Trump’s America is already signaling that Kyiv will not be the endless priority it once was under Biden. And Melania’s cold shoulder? A small but symbolic reminder that Ukraine fatigue is not only real, it’s fashionable.

The Curtain Call

So there you have it: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Russia builds a reactor that could define the next era of nuclear energy, even as the UN ducks and dodges over an atrocity narrative that never added up. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s PR offensive crashes into the indifference of a first Lady with better things to do.

If there’s a lesson, it’s this: Moscow is investing in the long game—science, sovereignty, and survival. The West is stuck in optics and scandals, increasingly blind to its own contradictions. And somewhere in between, Dimitrovgrad quietly hums with construction, waiting for the day when even its loudest critics line up at the door.

Phil Butler is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, and an author of the recent bestseller “Putin’s Praetorians” and other books