(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, October 21, 2019) Left-wing sociologist Boris Kagarslitsky says he is surprised by VTsIOM’s finding that only 25 percent of Russians consider themselves “victims of perestroika,” with the number ranging from 37 percent among those 60 and over down to eight percent among those aged 18 to 24. In his view, Kagarlitsky says, […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jake Cordell – October 18, 2019) Former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul believes President Vladimir Putin is fighting against the tide of history and that Russian society will not “tolerate disenfranchisement and oppression forever.” In an interview with The Moscow Times touching on topics from Putin through sanctions to arms treaties, Barack Obama’s former […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jake Cordell – October 18, 2019) Economists have raised questions over a surprisingly healthy batch of economic data released by the Russian statistics agency Rosstat. Statistics published Thursday evening showed an unexpected and significant jump in real disposable incomes of an annual rate of 3% in the third quarter of the year, off the back […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, October 8, 2019) Vladimir Putin is personally responsible for all the repressive acts his system carries out because over the last two decades he not only appointed all those officials who are carrying them out but also has clearly signaled the direction they follow and could change things overnight if only he […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oct. 9, 2019) Nearly 40% of Russians believe that the recent criminal convictions of more than a dozen people over this summer’s Moscow protests were politically motivated, according to new independent polling. The Sept. 8 local and regional elections were among the most remembered events of the past month, according to the independent Levada Center […]
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“Russia’s Justice Ministry has added Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) to its list of so-called ‘foreign agents.’ … [stating] that an audit in Moscow has determined that Navalny’s nonprofit organization ‘performs the functions of a foreign agent.’ [https://minjust.ru/ru/novosti/nekommercheskaya-organizaciya-fond-borby-s-korrupciey-vklyuchena-v-reestr-nekommercheskih] In a tweet, FBK Director Ivan Zhdanov said the organization is ‘funded exclusively by citizens of the Russian Federation,’ and maintained that […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, October 5, 2019) Those at the top of the Russian political pyramid are not interested in modernizing the country but only in ensuring that the 2024 transition be smooth and secure for themselves, Denis Volkov and Andrey Kolesnikov say; and they find equally acceptable both the scenario in which Putin remains and […]
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(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Vladimir Gelman – Oct. 3, 2019) Vladimir Gelman is a professor at the European University at St. Petersburg and the University of Helsinki. This article first appeared in the online journal Riddle and has been lightly edited here for style. Practically all analysts and observers of Russia today, regardless of their political leanings, tend to […]
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(Voice of America – voanews.com – Jamie Dettmer – MOSCOW, Oct. 8, 2019) It was by Vladimir Putin’s swashbuckling standards all rather low-key. There was no riding horses bare-chested or allegedly saving a television crew by shooting a tranquilizer dart at a wild tiger which obligingly appeared from out of nowhere in the woods. No stripping to the waist to […]
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“… The U.S., acting alone, won’t succeed in changing … [the behavior] of the Russian government. Only the Russian people are capable of this. … Putin runs the country with unrivaled strength[] [b]ut his time will pass. We need to do … more thinking about the institutions and generations that will outlast him. … [W]e need to cultivate constructive relationships […]
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“The House of Representatives is investigating … Trump’s alleged efforts to pressure Ukraine’s government to dig up dirt on Joe Biden …. [I]ncumbent presidents generally have a modest advantage … in familiarity, fundraising and media coverage. …. [I]n countries where … rule of law is weak, such as the post-Soviet region[ there is the prospect of] using … ‘administrative resources’ […]
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(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – BERLIN, Oct. 2, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/tycoon-khordokovsky-talks-putin-russia-s-problems-and-opposition/30194417.html) In a far-ranging interview with RFE/RL, Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky analyzed the Russian president, spoke about the opposition’s prospects and Russia’s problems, and compared governing systems from a viewpoint of living in self-imposed exile for more than […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, Sept. 27, 2019) Vladimir Putin spent much of the first decade of his reign working to eliminate the so-called “heavyweight” governors who had real power in their regions and republics and replace them will technocrats, typically people without ties to the local population, who would simply do what he told them. That […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, September 25. 2019) In a development that may reflect coverage of the Moscow protests but that could point to a broader sea change in Russian attitudes in a direction that challenges the authorities, a new Levada Center poll conducted in August finds that Russians are less concerned about economic issues than they […]
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(PONARS Eurasia – Mikhail Vinogradov – September 18, 2019) Mikhail Vinogradov is the president of the “St. Petersburg Politics” foundation, one of Russia’s top think tanks. Maria Lipman discusses the political developments of the past two months and the Russian government’s general policy toward elections with Mikhail Vinogradov, a Russian political expert and one of the most-often cited political commentators. […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, September 21, 2019) Every move the Kremlin makes on the political field today shows that ‘the mechanisms of administration which have been in place for two decades have exhausted themselves and that the Kremlin has not been able to put in place a new model of rule,” Liliya Shevtsova says. As a […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Daniel Kozin – September 25, 2019) Top members of the ruling United Russia party in St. Petersburg meddled in the city’s municipal elections earlier this month, Central Election Commission Head Ella Pamfilova said Wednesday. Observers noted widespread violations during the Sept. 8 elections, including lengthy delays in the official count, intimidation and recounts. According to […]
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MOSCOW. Sept 25 (Interfax) – Public- and social-sector wages, to which the May presidential decree does not apply, will be indexed by 4.3% on October 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Cabinet ministers. The main topic of the meeting was additional measures to speed up economic growth and raising household incomes. “Economic growth itself is not […]
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(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Maxim Trudolyubov – September 20, 2019) Maxim Trudolyubov is a Senior Fellow at the Kennan Institute and the Editor-at-Large of Vedomosti, an independent Russian daily. Mr. Trudolyubov was the editorial page editor of Vedomosti between 2003 and 2015. In response to sanctions and attempts to isolate Russia, the Kremlin has built up a budget with […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, September 19, 2019) Sometimes the real story is the story, the fact that some event has so captured the attention of the media and the public that it has overwhelmed coverage of almost everything else. That is what has happened in Russia in the case of the shaman who promised to exorcize […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jake Cordell – September 23, 2019) During his annual phone-in with the public in June this year, President Vladimir Putin described low productivity as “one of the most acute and important” problems facing Russia. Economists agree. Russia is one of the least productive moderately rich countries in the world, ranking 39th out of the 42 […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Evan Gershkovich- September 13, 2019) It was one of the defining moments of the summer: the budding leader of Moscow’s protest movement for fair elections and the official responsible for protecting Russians’ voting rights coming to verbal blows at a public hearing. “You are the talking head of the presidential administration. Shame on you,” Lyubov […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Daniel Shapiro, Natasha Yefimova-Trilling – September 13, 2019) Last week, in a meeting with top advisors, Russian President Vladimir Putin lamented the population decline in the country’s Far East, saying it falls in an “alarming, red zone.” While this sparsely populated region, which shares a border with far more densely populated Chinese provinces, may raise […]
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(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Todd Prince – Sept. 12, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/russian-police-stand-idly-by-as-election-observer-sucker-punched/30160427.html) [click here to jump down to video] Based on the reaction of police and election officials inside St. Petersburg polling station 1619, the event that unfolded before them on election day last week was nothing […]
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“Russia is historically prone to internal collapse … shown by numerous examples from both the imperial and Soviet periods. … usually tak[ing] place as Russia rests on the laurels of recent military victories while internal economic and social troubles grow. … the best way to deal with Russia is to keep intervention to a minimum and wait for its internal […]
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“A state-owned organization responsible for maintaining Moscow’s roads is seeking compensation from protest leaders for grass trampled during a recent unsanctioned protest, part of a multi-pronged assault on the opposition …. [A]uthorities raided at least 39 offices in Navalny’s political network [across the country], seeking evidence for a money laundering investigation … against his Anti-Corruption Foundation, his ally Leonid Volkov […]
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BOTLIKH VILLAGE, Dagestan. Sept 12 (Interfax) – The common moral and ethical values of all religions represented in Russia guarantee the stability of the Russian state, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “We have a multi-religious country, but if you look closely, all our religions have the same values. As regards the moral and ethical component, they are practically the same,” […]
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(Government.ru – Sept. 11, 2019 – government.ru/en/news/37840/) Excerpts from the transcript: Foreign investment Dmitry Medvedev: We live in a complicated world, and the circumstances our country has found itself in are fairly complicated as well, including sanctions and trade wars. Nevertheless, investors want to invest. Speaking of foreign investors, the RDIF and other investment-related institution activity are quite telling in […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, Sept. 7, 2019) Moscow opposition groups regularly give lip service to the idea of federalism, but when push comes to shove, they take positions so similar to the powers that be that people in the regions beyond the ring road find it difficult if not impossible to tell them apart, the Region.Expert […]
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“Alexei Navalny, Lyubov Sobol, Ivan Zhdanov, Yulia Galyamina, Ilya Yashin, Alexander Solovyov, Oleg Stepanov, and Vladimir Milov must jointly pay Moscow City Transport (Mosgortrans) 1.2 million rubles [approx. $18,000] for … traffic stoppages during the ‘unauthorized’ protest rally on July 27 in Moscow. … [according to a] ruling … by the Koptevo District Court on [a] lawsuit brought by Moscow […]
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MOSCOW. Sept 10 (Interfax) – The Central Election Commission (CEC) is looking into how blank election monitoring referrals, signed by a senior Communist Party member, ended up at the campaign office of the opposition politician Alexei Navalny, CEC deputy chair Nikolai Bulayev said. “Electronic mass media have been actively reporting that Mr. Rashkin [first secretary at the Communist Party’s Moscow […]
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MOSCOW. Sept 11 (Interfax) – CPRF candidates used all opportunities in order to win in the Moscow City Duma elections, including opposition activist Alexei Navalny’s “smart voting” tactic, First Secretary of the CPRF Moscow city committee Valery Rashkin said. “At this stage, we used everything as a party that has its own strategy, its own program for its candidates to […]
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(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Mike Eckel – Sept. 9, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/five-takeaways-moscow-elections-russia/30155264.html) The opposition is up. The ruling party is down. Incumbent governors are in. The Kremlin is worried. Aleksei Navalny’s Smart Voting strategy is … smart? Despite Russian elections still being largely a stage-managed process, the […]
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(Interfax – September 9, 2019) Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has suggested reconsidering the practice of United Russia-backed candidates running as independents in city council elections. “We can see how events are developing, there is much talk right now on the topic of so-called independent candidates – is this good or not good. Some were running as a representative of […]
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“Candidates backed by Russia’s opposition won nearly half the seats up for grabs in Moscow’s city elections … building on a wave of protests … that exposed some of the frailties … in Putin ‘s closely controlled political machine, but failed to make significant inroads in local races elsewhere …. Sunday’s vote came after a tumultuous summer that saw a […]
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“… Russia’s ‘systemic opposition’ (registered parties and candidates that ostensibly oppose the ruling party, United Russia) won 20 of the Moscow City Duma’s 45 seats. In Moscow’s September 8 parliamentary elections, the Communist Party won in 13 precincts, the liberal opposition party ‘Yabloko’ … in four, and ‘Just Russia’ … in three. The authorities’ winning candidates were nine active members […]
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KHABAROVSK. Sept 9 (Interfax) – Nearly all seats in the Khabarovsk City Duma will belong to the Liberal-Democratic Party (LDPR) following the elections on Sunday, the city hall said citing the territorial elections commission. “The 7th Khabarovsk City Duma has completely changed its composition. Following the vote count, 34 mandates went to LDPR candidates and one to a member of […]
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“Targeted by police … barred from the ballot in Moscow’s city elections, Russia’s opposition is trying to gain a political foothold in other municipal races … as it rides a rising wave of dissent against … Putin. But to convert a surge in support into a coherent political challenge to … Putin, opposition leaders must first overcome a crackdown against […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – September 5, 2019) The Kremlin has agreed to probe a senior member of Moscow’s city legislature over two investigations into his dealings by opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption team, the Vedomosti business daily reported. Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) has claimed that municipal lawmaker Andrei Metelsky’s family owns a motorcycle dealership in Moscow and a hotel […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Evan Gershkovich – September 5, 2019) Ahead of Sunday’s nationwide regional elections, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, is urging voters dissatisfied with the status quo to ignore their ideological beliefs and focus solely on casting the ruling United Russia party out of power. But in the Russian capital, voters heading to the polls […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – September 3, 2019) A majority of Russians don’t believe in the authorities’ claim that Western powers are to blame for election protests in Moscow this summer, according to the independent Levada Center polling agency. Weeks of demonstrations over elections for the city legislature have turned into the biggest sustained protest movement in Russia since 2011-2013. […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, August 28, 2019) Keeping track of the size of economic activity intended by those who engage in it to be off the books is not easy in any country, and it is especially difficult in Russia where, in many cases, senior officials are actively involved in or dependent on it and thus […]
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(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Maxim Trudolyubov – August 30, 2019 – wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/chasing-the-wind-or-the-bright-side-lost-causes) Maxim Trudolyubov is a Senior Fellow at the Kennan Institute and the Editor-at-Large of Vedomosti, an independent Russian daily. In a society like Russia’s, protest movements tend to come in waves. A wave rises, then recedes, leaving a trail of foam on the sand. The comings and […]
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“… Russia[] election commission [head Ella Pamfilova] is standing by a decision to keep a dozen independent candidates from running for the city legislature in Moscow, but concedes after weeks of protests drew unusually large crowds, thousands of arrests and unfavorable attention that the qualification rules are outdated. … [C]andidates excluded from the Sept. 8 election said they had presented […]
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(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Aug. 26, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/court-reinstates-navalny-team-leader-in-st-petersburg-to-municipal-vote-ballot/30129706.html) Aleksandr Shurshev, the head of the local chapter of Aleksei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, has been reinstated on the list of registered candidates for upcoming municipal elections. In an August 26 appeal hearing, the St. Petersburg city court ruled […]
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“This brief summarizes a report that comprehensively examines nonviolent, cost-imposing options that the United States and its allies could pursue across economic, political, and military areas to stress – overextend and unbalance – Russia’s economy and armed forces and the regime’s political standing at home and abroad. Some of the options … are clearly more promising … any would need […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, Aug. 25, 2019) The most important story of the weekend, Ivan Rodin of Nezavisimaya gazeta says, is that Vladimir Putin has repeated the same hard line against protests he took in 2011 and that instead of challenging him, the extra-systemic opposition has backed down and retreated into the fratricide for which it […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, August 21, 2019) Despite all the talk about a revival of socialism in the face of stagnation, Sergey Shelin says, “Russians are fully reconciled to capitalism, consider it completely practicable, and do not want even to think about the socialist past,” a fundamental transformation of Russian values over the last 30 years. […]
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(Opendemocracy.net – Gregory Asmolov – August 23, 2019) Gregory Asmolov is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at King’s College London’s Russia Institute. He researches the role of information technology in crisis situations. Crisis situations, whether natural disasters, armed conflicts or political protests are often accompanied by a cycle of technical innovation. And if it’s a question of political conflict, each […]
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“Russian scholars … in a range of countries … Russia included, have published a statement demanding that charges of mass rioting against Moscow election protesters be dropped. … ‘We demand that those who currently direct [Russia’s] governing apparatus cease their abuses of power, stop their political repressions, and begin adhering rigorously to the Constitution of the Russian Federation.’ … signatories […]
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