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Letter from Tbilisi
Academic concepts about EU foreign policy and the European Neighbourhood Policy are not always enough to explain what is going on in the region. Over the past seven to eight months, I was travelling...
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Jehovah's Witnesses go underground in Samara
The branding of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Samara as an extremist organisation has turned them into religious dissidents. The branding of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Samara as an extremist organisation...
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Review: Sam Greene ‘Moscow in Movement: Power and Opposition in Putin’s Russia’
Russians pride themselves on their capacity for state-building, but their idea of the state is not one that the West would recognise, or was hoping for… Sam Greene is the director of the Russia...
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Gender equality is holding Belarus back
Belarus is slowly opening up to the idea of gender equality. But the conservative meaning attached to the concept is holding it back. Gender equality is somewhat of a buzzword in politics these days...
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Teaching orthodoxy in Russian schools
Orthodox ideology is being rushed into the Russian school curriculum – in the interests of nationalism. It all happened very fast. In the middle of 2009 Dmitry Medvedev, the then president of Russia,...
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Russia is still building pyramids
Russians regularly lose their savings in the pyramid schemes flourishing throughout the country. And the government is doing – can do – nothing about them. August 1994 was marked in Russia by the fall...
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Who’s afraid of Russia Today?
Is RT (formerly Russia Today) really as dangerous or as effective as its critics claim? Since Ukraine’s revolution forced President Viktor Yanukovych to flee the country, and Russia annexed Crimea,...
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Russia's Trojan Horse
Is the European far right really acting as Russia's Trojan Horse in the European Union? The news that the French National Front (FN) has received a 9 million euro loan through a Kremlin-connected...
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Reporting on Russian television
The idea of censorship on Russian television misses the point. When it comes to reporting, loyalty takes precedence. Since the onset of the Ukraine conflict, Russia’s main television channels have...
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Film Review: 'Big Time and Forever' (dir. Natalia Chumakova and Anna Tsirlina)
'Everything will be free. Everyone will be fucking high.'Between 1985 and 1990, Yegor Letov and his Siberian punk rock group Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Civil Defence) created some of the most powerful...
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Russian NGOs need to rethink their strategy
Russia’s voluntary sector, faced with growing government interference, needs to be more open about its aims and operations if it wants more public support. Opinion polls show a long-term decline in...
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Russians do not want to adopt Russian children
Americans can no longer adopt Russian children, so now the government is encouraging more Russians to adopt. But without much success. In 2012, the USA passed the Magnitsky Law (named after Sergei...
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The rouble crisis in Siberia
As the rouble collapses, residents of Tomsk have long memories — from Black Tuesday 1994 to Black Tuesday 2014. Tomsk is a provincial city in the best sense of the word. Indeed, as the largest centre...
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Talking about the rouble, President Putin makes a few phone calls
Even as the Russian rouble responds to Central Bank intervention, people are taking to the streets in search of imported goods. Meanwhile, President Putin makes a few phone calls. Overnight, on 15-16...
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Putin goes
Until 'Black Tuesday' on 16 December 2014, fifteen years after he first took power, there were no grounds for any consideration of whether Putin might resign or of snap elections. Now there are. Until...
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Уход Путина
До «черного вторника» 16 декабря вопрос об отставке Путина и досрочных выборах выглядел совершенно безосновательно. Но сейчас необходимо и этот пусть и по-прежнему маловероятный сценарий обсуждать. До...
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The Kremlin has nothing to fear from left-wing opposition
Russia’s present troubles would suggest that the left-wing opposition finally has a chance to be heard. But how is that possible when so many of them have been in bed with Putin for years …Despite the...
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The kidnap trail to Central Asia
Central Asian security services have been abducting their countries’ citizens from Russia to stand trial on trumped-up charges. And the Russian police have been helping them.A dangerous refugeIt is...
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The ‘Muslim radicalisation of Central Asia’ is a dangerous myth
Security think-tanks and expert communities in the Western world are perpetuating the dangerous myth that Muslim radicalisation is rife in Central Asia.In the security think-tanks and expert...
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The trials and tribulations of Alexei Navalny
The Russian government is determined to maintain the legal pressure on Alexei Navalny, a trained lawyer and leading opposition activist. But what is the Kremlin afraid of? The timber case'Peeler...
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