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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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....

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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