Clik here to view.
What the FSB is doing in Russian universities
In Soviet times, the KGB kept a close watch on intellectuals – they might turn out to be dissidents. Today, the FSB still skulks on university corridors…In the Soviet Union, higher education was only...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Andrey Kurkov, ‘Ukraine Diaries’
History often seems obvious in retrospect; writing a diary catches it as it runs through the fingers. Russian forces have invaded Ukraine, with or without the right epaulettes. History often seems...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Georgia looks west, Armenia east
This summer, Georgia signed an Association Agreement with the EU, but its southern neighbour, Armenia, has opted for the rival Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union.On 27 June 2014, at a summit of EU...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The ecology of sanctions
Sanctions against Russian natural resources tycoons will be good for the environment. There is an old Russian joke about a woodsman, in 1942, in the Belovezhskaya forest in Belarus. He walks through...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Arming Ukraine
Arming Ukraine will lead to a widening of the conflict, more death and destruction, and a far more aggressive Russian policy. As Ukraine struggles to combat domestic insurgents and what appears to be a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The ecology of sanctions
Sanctions against Russian natural resources tycoons will be good for the environment. на русском языке. There is an old Russian joke about a woodsman, in 1942, in the Belovezhskaya forest in Belarus....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Feeding democracy in Slovyansk
Life in Slovyansk is no picnic. Now election candidates think votes can be bought with food parcels. На русском языке Slovyansk became a household name when several dozen armed men barged into the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Concreting over the Silk Highway
The ‘Silk Highway’ will connect Western Europe with China, no matter what the locals think. Large infrastructure projects are often pushed through despite local concerns and grievances. This was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Praying to Putin
A recent lecture in Moscow asked, ‘Will Putin become God through grace?' The venue is a former factory loft now inhabited by hip bookshops and screening halls. The lecture, to be read by a young...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Russian Railways: quicker to walk
Russian Railways is one of the three largest transport companies in the world, but its infrastructure is crumbling and standards dropping. Since the early 1990s, the infrastructure of the railways has...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The new (de-facto) President of Abkhazia
On his fourth attempt, Raul Khadjimba has finally become de-facto President of Abkhazia. But few would envy the challenges he faces… The results of Abkhazia’s recent de-facto presidential elections...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Samara: ripples from the Ukrainian storm
Some 5000 people have fled to Samara, from the fighting in Ukraine, but many say they have been victims of Kremlin propaganda. The Samara Region has the highest number of refugees from Ukraine of any...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Crimean elections Russian style
This Sunday, 14 September, Crimeans go to the polls to confirm Russian sovereignty over their region. Back in March of this year, Russia formally annexed Crimea, until then part of Ukraine, with the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Crimean ‘terrorists’
Four Crimean residents are facing up to 20 years in prison for protesting against the Russian annexation of the peninsula. The case of the ‘Crimean terrorists’ was brought a few months ago, at a time...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Letter from Odessa
There is anxiety in Odessa that Putin’s ambitions may reach as far as this Ukrainian city on the Black Sea. Friday night, late summer, and the cafes and bars in the Black Sea city of Odessa are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Samara’s election: the 198 million rouble show
On 14 September, voters in Samara Region were able to vote for their governor, for the first time in many years – an electoral show choreographed by United Russia. In 2004, Vladimir Putin abolished...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Making work easier for Kazakhstan’s migrant workers
Astana has introduced a new patent system for its guest workers, the ‘gastarbaitery.’ But does the new system work for Kazakhstan’s guest workers?Although Kazakhstan attracts an estimated 700,000 to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The metamorphoses of Nikita Belykh
In the recent regional elections, Governor Nikita Belykh of Kirov Region – the man who used to call Aleksei Navalny his friend – was again running for office. After a decade in which Russia’s regional...
View ArticleClik here to view.
When peace means war
Moscow's peace march was a demonstration against war, and a declaration of a tacit middle-class war with the Kremlin. Imagine this: in a rigidly authoritarian society, with a state increasingly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Russian Matrix
On their TV channels, Ukrainians and Russians have been getting completely different versions of what has been happening in Ukraine in recent months. Just like The Matrix. One of the main elements of...
View Article