Putin’s New Authoritarianism Existential Threat to Russia and the West, Skobov Says

File Photo of Vladimir Putin at Podium with United Russia Logo, Gesturing

… Skobov says … Putin’s new authoritarianism reflects … worldwide trends and specific Russian realities … a far more dangerous threat to Russia and the West than many imagine … fundamentally different from … authoritarianisms of the past […]

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VIDEO: JRL NEWSWATCH: “How Putin keeps his grip over Russia, even with support waning” – ABC

Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

“How much of a challenge does Alexey Navalny pose to the Russian leader?” “[VIDEO FOLLOWS BELOW:] … [After] Navalny … survived a nerve agent poisoning … [and returned to] Moscow … The Kremlin[] … swiftly sentenced [him] to … prison in a trial condemned internationally as … politically motivated. … [Subsequent] large protests … were swiftly and robustly suppressed … […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “The brutal third act of Vladimir Putin; After eras of prosperity and patriotism, Russia’s president is now ramping up repression to hold on to power” – Financial Times/ Henry Foy

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

“… For Russians … oppos[ing] Putin, Navalny’s imprisonment represents a bellwether moment … long expected and feared. … [A] forceful, sweeping effort to tighten political freedoms … signposts a new era for a regime … extending into its third decade. … Putin’s rule … propped up first by economic prosperity … then … pugnacious patriotism, now pivot[s] to repression as […]

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Young Russians Want a Normal Country, Not One Based on the Past or Some Ideological Vision

Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

(Paul Goble – Window On Eurasia – Staunton, March 5, 2021) The “We Speak Russian” blog suggests younger Russians reject both a Russia modeled on the past as offered by “state father” Putin and “the beautiful Russia of the future” modeled on an ideological vision as offered by Aleksey Navalny. Instead, the rising generation wants “a normal Russia” (echo.msk.ru/blog/govorimporusski/2800326-echo/). Young […]

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Navalny’s Team Looks To Expand Ahead Of September Parliamentary Polls In Russia

Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

… Navalny’s team has announced plans to open offices in 10 cities where it believes the ruling United Russia party is most vulnerable […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russians name rising prices as the main problem facing society” – Meduza

Cash, Calculator, Pen

“Russians consider rising prices the main problem facing their society, according to survey data from the independent Levada Center shared with Meduza. This opinion was held by 58 percent of survey respondents. … Those surveyed also named poverty (40 percent), corruption (39 percent), and rising unemployment (36 percent) as important issues. … Bloomberg listed Russia among ‘five hotspots’ where rising […]

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Navalny’s Movement Faces Tough Obstacles To Expanding Into Russia’s North Caucasus

Caucasus Mountains Satellite Image

Although Navalny’s team has long touted ambitions to become a truly national movement in opposition to the rule of longtime authoritarian President Vladimir Putin, the movement has made no inroads in the North Caucasus […]

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Nicolai Petro: “New book by Marlene Laruelle [‘Is Russia Fascist? Unraveling Propaganda East and West’]”

File Photo of Kremlin Aerial View, adapted from .gov source

Subject: New book by Marlene Laruelle Date: Sun, 28 Feb 2021 From: Nicolai Petro <npetro@uri.edu> Dear David, I think JRL readers would be interested to learn about Marlene Laruelle’s new book. Here is an excerpt from the Cornell web page: Is Russia Fascist? Unraveling Propaganda East and West by Marlene Laruelle | Hardcover | Cornell University Press Publication date: 03/15/2021 […]

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‘Enemy Of My Enemy:’ In Ukraine, Mixed Feelings About Kremlin Foe Navalny

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

(Article text ©2021 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Dan Peleschuk – KYIV, Feb. 24, 2021 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/navalny-ukraine-attitudes-mixed-feelings-russia-nationalism-putin/31120106.html) Few patriots would appreciate an outsider comparing a chunk of their country to finger food. But when Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny did just that to Ukrainians in 2014 — saying that Moscow-annexed Crimea […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH VIDEO: “Navalny and the Kremlin: Politics and Protest in Russia” – NYU Jordan Center, Columbia University Harriman Institute

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

“On February 1st, the Jordan Center and the Harriman Institute co-hosted a panel on Alexei Navalny as part of the New York–Russia Public Policy Series. Panelists included Yana Gorokhovskaia, Research Fellow at the Institute of Modern Russia; Pjotr Sauer, Journalist at the Moscow Times; Gulnaz Sharafutdinova, Reader in Russian Politics at King’s College London; and Aleksandra Urman, Postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Communication and […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Putin: Attempts to meddle in Russia’s sociopolitical affairs from outside have no prospects” – Interfax

Putin at Desk

MOSCOW. Feb 24 (Interfax) – The line that is being pursued by some foreign countries to interfere in Russia’s sociopolitical affairs has no prospects, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “We’ve been exposed to a purposeful information campaign involving categorical and unwarranted accusations on a whole variety of issues. Even some absurd and ridiculous conspiracy theories have been employed in an […]

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Russians Want Moscow to Spend Less on Military and More on Domestic Needs, Higher School of Economics Poll Shows

Cash, Calculator, Pen

[According to polls,] more Russians now than two years ago want their government to spend more on healthcare and education and only half as many want it to devote more money to defense and security […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Russia Has One of the World’s Highest Excess Death Rates. Why Aren’t Russians Angrier?” – Moscow Times

Covid-19 Coronavirus file photo, adapted from image at cdc.gov

… A Russian tendency to place less value on human life than people in more developed countries may also play a role in the tendency to accept large numbers of Covid-19 fatalities […]

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Navalny Has Won First Round With Putin Who’ll Find It Hard to Recover, Nikolay Petrov Says

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

… Navalny’s return after the Kremlin poisoned him and … three massive and widespread demonstrations [by] his followers … have largely destroyed … Putin’s plans … to use constitutional changes to usher in an era of ‘mature Putinism’ … [according to] Nikolay Petrov […]

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Russian Duma OKs Bill To Fine Violators Of Controversial ‘Foreign Agents’ Law

Russian State Duma Building file photo

… First passed in 2012 and expanded …, the law gives authorities the power to brand nongovernmental organizations, human rights groups, news media, and individuals working for organizations deemed to receive foreign funding for political activity as a “foreign agent” […]

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By Attacking Navalny, Yavlinsky Confirms Him as Opposition Leader of the Future, Gallyamov Says

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

(Paul Goble – Window On Eurasia – Staunton, Feb. 8, 2021) Grigory Yavlinsky’s diatribe against Aleksey Navalny is “yet another confirmation” that Navalny’s position as leader of the opposition is solidifying, something Yavlinsky, an opposition leader from the 1990s, cannot bear but that is only good news for Navalny, Abbas Gallyamov says. For Russian voters, who attacks someone is often […]

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Andrei Liakhov: “Subject: Navalny saga: What does it mean?”

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

Subject: Navalny saga: What does it mean? Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2021 From: Andrei Liakhov <gaffriloff@yahoo.co.uk> [About: third-rome.com/en/team/] In its article dated 9 December 2011 New York Times described Navalny as a representative of the movement uniting skinheads and neonazis and mentioned an early Nalavny video where he called for physical elimination of Caucasian militants. I think it is the […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin’s popularity slumps to 53% in wake of Navalny demonstrations” – bne Intellinews/ Ben Aris

File Photo of Vladimir Putin at Podium with United Russia Logo, Gesturing

“… Putin’s popularity slumped to 53%, according to … state-owned pollster … VTsIOM[] … [after] a brutal crackdown by police on weekend demonstrations called by jailed anti-corruption activist and opposition politician Alexei Navalny. … In the trust poll [Putin] fared less well, with the level of trust falling from 59% in 2017 to 25% in May 2020, the latest data […]

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Protests in the Russian Regions: Take Two

Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

Subject: Week Two in the Regions Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2021 From: Sarah Lindemann-Komarova <echosiberia@gmail.com> Protests in the Russian Regions: Take Two By Sarah Lindemann-Komarova Has lived in Siberia since 1992. Was a community development activist for 20 years. Currently, focuses on research and writing. With Photos: echosiberia.medium.com/protests-in-the-russian-regions-take-two-98aa9b451f09 What happened in the Russian regions week two of the “Navalny” protests? […]

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RUSSIALINK: “True Beliefs and Opportunism: Navalny’s Tangled Political Development” – Moscow Times

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

… Navalny, who has channeled the frustrations of Russians … to rally tens of thousands to protests …, has been on a complex ideological journey throughout his two decades in Russian politics […]

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Navalny Kept in Custody Ahead of Sunday Protests

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jan. 28, 2021) A Moscow court has upheld opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s 30-day pretrial detention on charges of violating probation terms from a previous conviction he says was politically motivated, the Mediazona news website reported Thursday. Navalny was placed in custody until Feb. 15 upon his return from Germany, where he spent months recovering from […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Biden faces first foreign policy test with Russian balancing act; White House seeks arms control pact even as it warns of consequences for Navalny arrest” – Financial Times/ Katrina Manson, Henry Foy, Lauren Fedor

Russian Mobile ICBM Parade File Photo

“… the White House said … it wanted a straight extension of [New START for five years,] a nuclear arms control agreement … fac[ing] imminent expiry …. even as incoming officials have condemned … the Kremlin’s [reputedly] most aggressive anti-western actions in years. … U.S. security services [recently] uncovered a massive cyber-espionage attack on U.S. government computers … blamed on […]

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RUSSIALINK: “‘A Step Into the Unknown’: Russians’ Relationship With Jailed Navalny Is Complicated” – Moscow Times

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

Putin critic Alexei Navalny is banking on his popularity to bring thousands to the streets … to protest his incarceration on his dramatic return to Russia after months in Germany recovering from a poisoning attack […]

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VIDEO: JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin’s Palace. History of World’s Largest Bribe” – Navalny.com

File Photo of Vladimir Putin at Podium with United Russia Logo, Gesturing

“… one place where you can understand everything about … Putin. … the most guarded place in Russia … a state within a state, … Putin’s biggest secret. … protected by hundreds, even thousands of people – from unknown guards, gardeners and builders to the richest and most famous people in Russia. …”

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RUSSIALINK: “Could Navalny’s Detention Derail His Movement? Some analysts believe the opposition figure’s arrest could lead to a broader crackdown on his supporters.” – Moscow Times

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

The arrest and detention … of prominent opposition activist … Navalny is threatening to upend Russian politics in an already fraught year that will include parliamentary elections […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Navalny Goes on Trial in Police Station Following Return to Russia” – Moscow Times

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

“Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny will be kept in custody until mid-February, a court ruled Monday, following his detention Sunday evening at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. The 44-year-old opposition leader flew back to Moscow after spending several months in Germany recovering from a poisoning attack that he said was carried out on the orders of President Vladimir Putin. In the hearing Monday, […]

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RUSSIALINK: “A Year After Shock Appointment, Russian Prime Minister Mishustin’s Star is Rising” – Moscow Times

Kremlin and River

… [D]espite being initially seen by some as a placeholder prime minister … Mishustin has seen his star rise, asserting his control over government appointments while seeing his popularity tick upwards to rival even his boss […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Russian Markets Unfazed by Navalny’s Detention; Ruble and stock markets down slightly, but no signs of widespread panic” – Moscow Times

… The detention was met with immediate condemnation from U.S. and European leaders as well as new calls for sanctions against Russia in retaliation […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Navalny Returns to Russia” – Moscow Times

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

“Chief Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny returned to Russia from Germany … and was immediately detained. The 44-year-old opposition leader flew back to Moscow after spending several months in Germany recovering from a poisoning attack that he said was carried out on the orders of President Vladimir Putin. …” Click here for: “Navalny Returns to Russia” – Moscow Times [Navalny image […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Russia past peak of coronavirus epidemic – Rospotrebnadzor’s Epidemiology Institute” – Interfax

Covid-19 Coronavirus file photo, adapted from image at cdc.gov

MOSCOW. Jan 15 (Interfax) – It looks like Russia has passed the peak of the coronavirus epidemic, and there is currently a trend toward stabilization, Deputy Director of Rospotrebnadzor’s Central Research Institute of Epidemiology for Clinical Analysis Natalia Pshenichnaya said. “We’re observing a certain trend toward stabilization,” Pshenichnaya told journalists on Friday. “Daily morbidity may still fluctuate, considering that Russia […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia struggles to distribute its vaccine to the regions; Putin calls for ‘mass’ inoculation as data suggest government is delivering fewer jabs than promised” – Financial Times/ Henry Foy

File Photo of Blue-Gloved Hand Holding Syringe and Injecting Arm, adapted from image at nih.gov

“… Russia’s government says 1.5m vaccines have been distributed … [with] hundreds of thousands more … ready … [but] doctors and officials … [indicate] a far bleaker reality of limited supplies and delayed shipments. … Moscow’s clinics have been busy vaccinating … [but] regions outside of the capital have struggled to secure adequate supplies, calling into question … [governmental] ability […]

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Navalny’s Expected Return To Moscow Lights Up The Russian Internet

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

… Navalny has announced … he will return to Russia … following months of recuperation after being poisoned by a Novichok-type nerve agent …. Compelling evidence indicates he was poisoned by … FSB[] operatives …. The Kremlin has said it was not involved … but has refused to cooperate […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Pivotal moment approaching in coronavirus crisis, situation to start improving – PM Mishustin” – Interfax

Coronavirus File Photo adapted from image at cdc.gov

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin is expecting the start of recovery from the socioeconomic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “‘Meet Me,’ Alexei Navalny Wrote; The opposition leader is setting up a showdown with both Putin and the people. Who will rise to the occasion?” – Moscow Times/ Sam Greene

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

“‘Meet me.’ With those … words … just one word in Russian … Navalny announced his return to Russia [Jan. 17], after … recuperating in Berlin from an attempt to poison him with … nerve agent Novichok. … Opposition supporters … have clearly taken his message as an invitation to show up … [despite winter weather]. Most commentators … expect […]

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Most Russians See Coronavirus as Top Event of 2020, Worry 2021 Will Be Tense

New Year's Eve on Red Square with Fireworks, Kremlin, Saint Basil's, Crowds

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – RM Staff – Jan. 6, 2021) The Levada Center has just released the results of its latest annual poll on the most significant events of the past year, and, predictably, the global coronavirus outbreak tops the list. As many as 39 percent of Russians believe the pandemic was the most significant event of 2020, while […]

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Moscow Drops Plans for Foreign Language Requirement for Secondary School Graduation

Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

(Paul Goble – Window On Eurasia – Staunton, Jan. 4, 2021) To graduate from secondary schools, Russians will still have to pass tests in Russian; but they will not be required to do so in foreign languages like English, German, French, Spanish and Chinese, the education ministry has announced (publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001202012240006?index=1&rangeSize=1). That change effectively ends the effort of former education minister, […]

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Western Sanctions Have Had ‘Outsized Impact’ On Russian Companies, Economist Says

File Photo of G7 Leaders at Summit, adapted from image at usembassy.gov

… Russian corporations have lost almost $100 billion since sanctions were imposed … following the annexation of Crimea … equivalent to about 4.2 percent of the country’s economy [then] […]

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Those Russians Angry at Putin Not Necessarily Pro-Western and His Successor May Not Be Either, Kirillova Warns

File Photo of Vladimir Putin at Podium with United Russia Logo, Gesturing

Those … angry at … Putin and his failures at home and abroad are not necessarily pro-Western, Kseniya Kirillova says […]

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EVENT VIDEO: JRL NEWSWATCH: “Politics, Tragedy, Sovereignty: A Panel Discussion on the Meaning of Today’s Russia” – Simone Weil Center for Political Philosophy/ Anatol Lieven, Marlene Laruelle, James Carden, Boris Mezhuev, Paul Robinson, Richard Sakwa

Aerial View of Kremlin and Environs

“The Simone Weil Center for Political Philosophy recently hosted a panel discussion on U.S.–Russia relations and Russia’s place in the world. … The discussion was moderated by Anatol Lieven, the distinguished journalist and scholar. The panel was comprised of George Washington University’s Marlene Laurelle, the philosopher and editor Boris Mezhuev, the University of Kent’s Richard Sakwa, the University of Ottawa’s […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Aleksei Navalny, Ready to Run Again in Russia” – The New York Review of Books/ Amy Knight

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

“The Russian opposition politician, who narrowly escaped death by nerve agent poisoning, remains undeterred from challenging Putin’s hegemony.” “Though not yet restored to full health, … Navalny is recovering in Germany from the poisoning that almost killed him … preparing to return to Russia to continue his fight for democracy. … Not surprisingly, the Kremlin has refused to initiate a […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Russia’s Mixed Censorship Model Is a Boon for Online Activism” – Moscow Times

File Image of Artist's Conception of Globe with Curved Connecting Lines of Light Passing Through Space, adapted from image at fincen.gov

New research shows the growth of mobile internet leads to falling trust in governments, with Navalny as the prime example. (Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jake Cordell – Dec. 4, 2020) The rapid spread of mobile internet around the world over the last decade has directly contributed to falling levels of trust in government and a surge in populism, according […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Putin explains why AI cannot yet run country” – Interfax

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

While the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in public administration is bound to grow, a machine cannot yet be the leader of a state, … Putin […]

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