Clik here to view.
Georgia's puzzled transition
The disintegration of the Soviet Union has given birth to a new and difficult reality in Georgia. Twenty five years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Georgian society lives in a world of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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 –...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Book review: Hamid Ismailov ‘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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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. на русском языкеThis year the Belarusian...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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? A long-time rival to Petro Poroshenko and critical...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Book review: Mikhail Shishkin, 'Calligraphy Lesson'
‘Only art is capable of creating moments where our “unreal”, mortal time intersects with its “real” counterpart,’ says Shishkin. ‘Literature in modern Russia,’ writes historian Orlando Figes in A...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Anarchism, Russian-style
The village of Kolionovo has a reputation for independent mindedness and upsetting the authorities. Now they’ve created their own currency - the koliony. The story of Russian farmer Mikhail Shlyapnikov...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What Armenians are protesting (and what they’re not)
Fresh protests in Yerevan have their roots in a number of deep-rooted domestic issues in Armenian politics. But we make comparisons to other protest movements at our peril. Last night, some 6,000...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kadyrov and Putin: parallel lives
While Vladimir Putin has given Ramzan Kadyrov a free hand in Chechnya, the relationship between Moscow and Grozny is far more complicated than it first appears. On 3 June, a group of masked men...
View Article