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Russian dissidents seek asylum in Kyiv
As oppression heats up in Russia, post-revolutionary Ukraine is attracting political émigrés from the Russian opposition. From the moment the Maidan started in Ukraine, Russian authorities rushed to...
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Kazakhstan's reluctant leader
Why does a president-for-life call snap elections? Throughout its recent history, the Republic of Kazakhstan has known only one leader – Nursultan Nazarbayev. After the break-up of the Soviet Union in...
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The Russia-Greek alliance has a big local problem
As separatist forces creep closer to Mariupol, and Greece considers a further alliance with Russia, one group could put this new friendship on hold – Ukraine's Greek community.Following Greek Prime...
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The irreplaceables in Central Asia
In Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the authorities don’t even have to stuff the ballot boxes, their presidents have done everything they can to appear irreplaceable.In post-Soviet Central Asia, presidential...
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Russia's short-termism in the Middle East
Is the Ukraine conflict shifting Russia's Middle Eastern policy from real strategy to scoring cheap points? There have been many new twists in the chain of Middle Eastern upheavals in the last year —...
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The Kremlin's friends, foes and countrymen abroad
As Russian nationalism continues to varnish foreign and domestic policy motives, diaspora loyalties take on fresh significance both at home and abroad. After the defeat of the protest movement in...
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Book Review: Rajan Menon and Eugene B. Rumer, ‘Conflict in Ukraine: The...
Truth may well be the first victim of war, and fair-minded and dispassionate accounts of events in Ukraine are rare. Truth may well be the first victim of war, and in the current crisis provoked by...
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Victory Day in Kyiv
Ukraine has a new holiday – 8 May, Day of Remembrance – and a new symbol, the poppy. But 9 May remains, as a reminder of the fact that war is ‘never a pretty story.’9 May was a blustery day in Kyiv –...
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Book review: Hamid Ismailov’s ‘The Underground’
In The Underground, like his mixed-race hero, Hamid Ismailov is looking, above and below ground, for the answer to the question: what is 'Russianness'? Hamid Ismailov’s latest work, The Underground, is...
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Belarus has an identity crisis
After two decades of russification, the Belarusian government is rethinking its identity politics. In the last days of the Soviet Union, Belarus was the most russified of all its republics, and there...
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Can feminist art free women from patriarchy in Eastern Europe?
As post-Soviet states continue their 'conservative turn', feminist artists stand up to address gender injustice in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. I first became acquainted with feminist art in Kyiv in...
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Happy Independence Day, Georgia!
Since 1991, Georgia has celebrated Independence Day annually on 26 May. But this national holiday only exposes the gap between elites and the people. As a rule, Georgians love to bring out the booze...
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The elephant in the room at Riga
Russia was everywhere and nowhere at the recent Eastern Partnership summit in Riga. The Eastern Partnership summit, which took place last week in Riga, confirmed the expectation that the EU would not...
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How to bid goodbye to Lenin in Ukraine
When talking about present day Ukraine and its new 'historical' laws, we need to think beyond ‘identity’ and ‘history’. During Viktor Yanukovych’s presidency, Ukraine was systematically presented with...
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Yelena Mizulina: the creation of a conservative
Today, the name Yelena Mizulina is a byword for Russian ultra-conservatism. But her ‘patriotic’ policies have a surprisingly liberal backstory.Yelena Mizulina, head of the Russian State Duma's...
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A dissident’s tale
One of the grey cardinals of modern Russian politics, Gleb Pavlovsky talks dissent, history and politics in the late-Soviet era. Born in Odessa in 1951, Gleb Pavlovsky is famed for being one of the...
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Slavery in modern Russia
Slavery flourishes in Russian regions where a weak state, low salaries, and corrupt police make it profitable. Every day hundreds of people arrive in Moscow from Russia’s regions and neighbouring...
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Ukraine’s labour reforms threaten workers' rights
The oligarchs have joined forces to railroad a new labour code that strips Ukrainian workers of their already modest rights. Neoliberal modernisation in Ukraine is nothing new. The processes and forces...
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The ‘parasite law’ in Belarus
In the Soviet Union, anyone without an official job could be charged with ‘parasitism’ and sentenced to internal exile. Now Belarus has revived the idea.This year the Belarusian government issued a...
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The unlikely return of Yulia Tymoshenko
The success of post-Maidan Ukraine depends on the effectiveness of the ruling coalition. Does Yulia Tymoshenko want to join the party or spoil it? Elected in October 2014, the current Ukrainian...
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