JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin the Great; Russia’s Imperial Impostor” – Foreign Affairs/ Susan B. Glasser

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Sitting at Desk

“… Putin did not want to be compared with … Brezhnev … [who] ruled the Soviet Union … 1964 to 1982 … leader of Putin’s gritty youth … the long stagnation that preceded the empire’s collapse. By the end … butt of a million jokes … doddering grandfather of a doddering state ….  ‘Stalin proved that just one person could […]

» Read more

Not ‘Constrained by Communism’ – Why Putin is a Greater Threat than Brezhnev Ever Was

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

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, June 3, 2017) Some years ago, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who later became president of Estonia, suggested that “if the Russians were to come back to Estonia again, they would not be constrained by communism.” That is, they would pursue an even more repressive Russian nationalist agenda there than had the Soviet Union […]

» Read more

Five Rules for Living Through and Looking Beyond the Putin Stagnation

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

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, June 20, 2016) Those who lived through the Brezhnev stagnation, commentator Dmitry Gubin says, know that “when the chances for change for the better don’t exist, one must particularly carefully filter information and choose one’s strategy of behavior.” Now, Russia is in another such period, and to help them, he offers five […]

» Read more

In Russia, Commemorative Plaque To Be Restored Amid Brezhnev Nostalgia

File Photo of Richard Nixon sitting with Leonid Brezhnev, with Third Person Standing and Leaning between Them

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Claire Bigg – May 28, 2013) Authorities have backed a plan to return a commemorative plaque to the Moscow apartment building where Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev spent the last 30 years of his life. A Moscow City Hall committee has approved the initiative, submitted by a group of State Duma deputies. Supporters had hoped to have […]

» Read more

Brezhnev Beats Lenin as Russia’s Favorite 20th Century Ruler

File Photo of Richard Nixon sitting with Leonid Brezhnev, with Third Person Standing and Leaning between Them

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, May 22, 2013) ­ Russians view Leonid Brezhnev as the most positive of all Soviet and Russian leaders in the 20th century, but Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin were close behind in an opinion poll released on Wednesday. Brezhnev, who ruled the Soviet Union from 1964-1982, was viewed positively by 56 percent of respondents in the […]

» Read more

Re-Elected, Zyuganov Defends Stalin’s Grave

File Photo of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – February 27, 2013) Gennady Zyuganov, re-elected Saturday as leader of the Communist Party, a position he’s held for 17 years, said Tuesday that public calls to remove Stalin’s and Brezhnev’s graves from the Kremlin Wall Necropolis came from “provocateurs” and “SS loyalists.” He vowed that his party would continue to fight proposals […]

» Read more

Brezhnev’s Children

Leonid Brezhnev and Richard Nixon Sitting and Talking, as Nixon Gestures, with Third Man Standing and Leaning Closely Between Them

(RFE/RL – Brian Whitmore – November 8, 2012) In many ways, the current battle for Russia’s future began 30 years ago this week. On November 10, 1982, Leonid Brezhnev died, sparking a generational change in the Soviet leadership and setting in motion an ongoing cycle of reform and reaction in Russia that remains incomplete and inconclusive to this day. The […]

» Read more