Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
(Russia Matters – Simon Saradzhyan – russiamatters.org – Aug. 12, 2022) Simon Saradzhyan is the founding director of the Russia Matters Project. To Vladimir Putin, the war in Ukraine is obviously not an end in itself. Rather, it is one of multiple means by which he’d like to attain multiple aims. Of these, one appears to be somewhat overlooked and undeservedly […]
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(Paul Goble – Staunton, July 15, 2022) It is widely but incorrectly believed that the Kremlin keeps two sets of books, one that is more or less accurate on which it relies and a second that is fundamentally distorted in order to make things look better to the population than they in fact are, Dmitry Nekrasov says. According to the […]
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(Moscow Times – Aug. 3, 2022) The head of one of Russia’s leading universities for civil servants was released from house arrest Wednesday in exchange for staying in the country during the course of a high-profile fraud investigation. Vladimir Mau, 62, was detained in late June in connection with a 21-million-ruble ($350,000) fraud investigation targeting a former senior education official. […]
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“PUTIN, by Philip Short | Illustrated | 864 pp. | Henry Holt & Company | $40 … Short’s account is both perfectly and unfortunately timed, arriving just when we most need to understand Putin, yet missing the chapter that may yet define his place in history. … Short’s version nonetheless offers a compelling, impressive and methodically researched account of Putin’s […]
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“… A decade ago [when][] Putin’s popularity began to wane[] [h]e … [started] drawing on … fascist thinking … caught up in a cycle of grievance and resentment that has left reason far behind. … culminat[ing] in a ruinous war that … defied the weighing of risks and rewards. … Without the rhetoric of victimhood and the use of violence, […]
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“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has reignited debate over the role of NATO expansion …. Robert Person and Michael McFaul dismiss Russian President Vladimir Putin’s NATO concerns as a ‘fiction,’ arguing that it was actually the expansion of democracy that threatened his autocratic regime. … Democracy and NATO expansion were not separate issues for Putin and the Russian elite, but mutually […]
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“[Anatoly Chubais,] … former senior aide to … Putin is … hospital[ized] in Italy … diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder …. A central architect of Russia’s post-communist privatisation, Chubais, 69, is the most senior [Kremlin] official to resign … [since] the [February] invasion of Ukraine …. Shortly before Chubais’s resignation, Putin said Russia needed to ‘purify itself’ by ‘distinguishing […]
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“To understand Russia today, it is necessary to reach back to Stalin’s Great Terror …. Everyone was scared[,] even Communist Party theorists … ‘frightened out of their wits like rabbits’ [as described by one commentator.] … [Similarly, today] Russian security services are grabbing people arbitrarily and imprisoning them for criticism of … Putin or his barbaric war against Ukraine. [According […]
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“News outlets forced to close since Russia invaded Ukraine are soldiering on in exile.” “… [Following] Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin adopted legislation punishing the dissemination of false information about [Russian military activities] with up to 15 years in prison. [The] Kremlin … said … the law was needed because of ‘the absolutely unprecedented information war … against our […]
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“… This war is an act of imperialism, a colonial war meant to destroy another nation’s right to exist and to subjugate it. But it is not empire building … [as] a coldly considered plan for territorial gain and economic resources; it is the next act of … Putin’s empire of humiliation. [Putin] would have the world believe [Russia] … […]
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“Western intelligence officials, as well as the Kremlin, this week dismissed longstanding rumors that … Putin, the 69-year-old Russian president, is unwell. … ‘There are lots of rumors about … Putin’s health and as far as we can tell he’s entirely too healthy,’ [CIA Director] William J. Burns … said … Wednesday. Richard Moore, … head of MI6, … said […]
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(Moscow Times – June 30, 2022) The head of one of Russia’s leading universities was detained Thursday in connection with a fraud investigation targeting a former senior education official. Vladimir Mau, head of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), was detained as a suspect in a 21-million-ruble ($399,810) embezzlement case, Russia’s Interior Ministry said. Investigators […]
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(Moscow Times – June 29, 2022) Russia’s lower house of parliament has passed a new bill expanding the criteria for individuals and organizations who can be labeled “foreign agents.” According to the new law passed by the State Duma, any organization “under foreign influence” can be listed as a “foreign agent,” barring them from activities such as receiving state financing, […]
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(Moscow Times – James Beardsworth – June 29, 2022) Official statements and footage released by Russia’s Defense Ministry suggests the Kremlin has reshuffled the country’s military command structure in recent weeks, according to analysts, as the ongoing Russian offensive in Ukraine yields few territorial gains. Russian Deputy Defense Minister Gennady Zhidko’s appearance alongside Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on a visit […]
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“Kyiv Defense Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov: Putin’s health ‘grave’ Russian dictator will die of array of illnesses within two years, Budanov added Top spook cites ‘human intelligence’ handed by Ukrainian spies inside Kremlin He also said of American fighters facing death in Donbas: ‘We are working on it” “[The 69-year-old] Putin’s health has been the subject of intense […]
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(Moscow Times – Anastasia Tenisheva – June 27, 2022) “No war” and “They are lying to you” were not messages Russian viewers expected to see during a news bulletin on state-run television. But that was exactly what happened when producer Marina Ovsyannikova stormed a live broadcast waving an anti-war poster shortly after Russia’s attack on Ukraine. “The atmosphere was terrible […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Andrei Zorin – June 23, 2022) Andrei Zorin is a professor of Russian and a fellow of New College at the University of Oxford. Putin’s attitude toward history may at first glance seem contradictory. On one hand, he is a diehard traditionalist who gives historical justifications for his decisions, appeals to the national past as […]
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“… Putin grossly miscalculated by invading Ukraine, and … has exposed the regime’s vulnerabilities — an economy … much more interdependent with Western economies than its Soviet predecessor … and a highly concentrated political system that lacks the tools for political and military mobilization …. If the war grinds on, Russia will become a less powerful international actor. A prolonged […]
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PRESS STATEMENT ANTONY J. BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE (U.S. Department of State – June 12, 2022) On behalf of the United States of America, I express my wish for a more peaceful, open future for the people of Russia as they commemorate Russia Day. June 12, 1990, marked an important step in fulfilling the aspirations of the people of Russia […]
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(Article text Copyright © 2022 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036. – rferl.org – Steve Gutterman – June 10, 2022 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/week-in-russia-complete-collapse-of-everything/31892257.html) As the war in Ukraine rages, Russian President Vladimir Putin likens himself to Tsar Peter the Great — but […]
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“The Kremlin depends on ‘passive loyalty’ from the Russian public. What if winning the war in Ukraine demands something more?” “It has been more than a hundred days since Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine. … [T]he Ukrainians — armed by the United States and Europe — have fought back ferociously and repelled assaults on several key cities. … […]
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(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo – Mariya Omelicheva – May 31, 2022) Mariya Omelicheva is Professor of National Security Strategy at the National War College, National Defense University. The views expressed in this memo are those of the author and do not represent an official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, or National Defense University. Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – RM Staff – May 26, 2022) Earlier this spring U.S. President Joe Biden used his speech in Warsaw to launch a blistering attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin for ordering the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” the U.S. leader said at the end of his address. Almost […]
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“Patriarch Kirill I has provided spiritual cover for the invasion of Ukraine, reaping vast resources for his church in return. Now, in an extraordinary step, the E.U. is threatening him with sanctions.” “… Kirill … has staked the fortunes of his branch of Orthodox Christianity on a close and mutually beneficial alliance with [] Putin …. To his critics, the […]
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(Moscow Times – Yanina Sorokina – May 19, 2022) Timofei Voronov, 21, a cultural studies student at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics (HSE), was summoned to see the prestigious university’s deputy head in March after being detained at an anti-war rally. Along with several other students, Voronov was shown a list of new laws at the March meeting, including those […]
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“A former U.S. National Security Council official … described an odd dinner encounter with … Putin — who smelled ‘almost like he had stepped out of some special preparatory bath.’ … ‘I took in … one of the finely tailored suits …’ … ‘I noticed right away that, like the rest of us, he really could have done with glasses […]
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(Article text Copyright © 2022 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036. – rferl.org – Todd Prince – April 24, 2022 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/medvedev-liberal-to-bellicose/31818941.html) Former President Dmitry Medvedev’s opinion article in the daily Kommersant in October 2021, ahead of Russia’s massive military buildup […]
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(PONARS Eurasia Eurasia Policy Memo No. 767 – Stephen Crowley – April 18, 2022 – click here for PDF) Stephen Crowley is Professor of Politics at Oberlin College. He is the author of, Putin’s Labor Dilemma: Russian Politics between Stability and Stagnation (Cornell University Press, 2021), from which this memo is drawn. The sanctions now imposed on Russia—as severe as they are—are unlikely by […]
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When a group of researchers commissioned a poll on Russians’ attitudes toward the war in Ukraine, 29,400 of the 31,000 people they called “ended the conversation as soon as they heard the topic” […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – RM Staff – March 31, 2022) As Russia’s new laws on freedom of expression become increasingly draconian, analysts have questioned how reliable any polling on Russians’ attitudes can possibly be. Denis Volkov, director of Russia’s go-to independent pollster, the Levada Center, told The New Yorker recently that “surveys don’t show what people think, but what they are ready […]
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(Paul Goble – Window On Eurasia – Staunton, Mar. 22, 2022) Most Russians expect that the current crisis arising from the fighting in Ukraine and the sanctions the West has imposed will be overcome in a few months; and as a result, they are still prepared to support Vladimir Putin in his policies, Vladimir Pastukhov says. But this “credit of […]
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“The atmosphere inside Russia has turned cold to anyone critical of the country’s ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine. But some, especially youth, are still standing up for their values.” “Editor’s note: This article was edited in order to conform with Russian legislation criminalizing references to Russia’s current action in Ukraine as anything other than a ‘special military operation.’ … Welcome […]
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“U.S. intelligence … [reportedly] ha[s] determined that … Putin is being misinformed by advisers about his military’s poor performance in Ukraine …. The advisers are scared to tell him the truth …. The findings … indicate that Putin is aware of the situation on information coming to him and there now is persistent tension between him and senior Russian military […]
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“… Putin himself … and a large majority of the top elite … are from the KGB or associated state backgrounds (though not the [military]). … remarkably stable and homogenous … [now or previously] close to [Putin] personally. … [T]hey have plundered [Russia] … and have participated or acquiesced in his crimes, including … the invasion of Ukraine. They have […]
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“… Resurrecting the Soviet empire, as [] Putin wants to do, brings with it the same forces that prompted most of the Warsaw Pact’s best CIA agents to turn against the Kremlin. Agents across the Soviet bloc often shared the same desire: to inflict whatever harm they could. … not for money, but to undermine a toxic system that enriched […]
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Subject: Putin’s Unintended Place in History: Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2022 From: Ira Straus <irastraus@aol.com> Putin’s Unintended Place in History: Destroyer not Reuniter of Rus’ By Ira Straus Putin has cemented his place in history, but it is not the one he wanted. He will be remembered, not as the reuniter of ancient Rus’, but as its final destroyer. The […]
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“Russia’s highly regarded central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina [reportedly] sought to resign after … Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine, only to be told by the president to stay …. Nominated for a new five-year term last week … [s]he is left to manage the fallout from a war that’s quickly undone much of what’s she’s accomplished in the nine […]
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(Moscow Times – March 23, 2022) The Kremlin’s climate envoy and veteran reformer Anatoly Chubais has quit his position and left Russia over his opposition to the war in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. The bombshell departure, according to two unnamed insiders cited by Bloomberg, makes Chubais the highest-profile figure to break with President Vladimir Putin over his decision to invade […]
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“Russia may only have enough money to operate for next few months as sanctions take hold, top scholar [Marlene Laruelle] says” “Russians are split over the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine, and tens of thousands of Russians have already sought exile in neighboring countries, [according to] a leading scholar on Russian studies[,] … Marlene Laruelle, who heads the Institute for European, […]
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“… The aggressor in this unjust war in a foreign territory, with its war crimes and its victims … operates as if he’s making a piece of art, a book or a film, in which the events are controlled by their creator. But this particular book has a bad author. Bad in all senses, as a person and as a […]
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“Strains in Russia over the war in Ukraine and punishing economic sanctions could spark regime change in Moscow. Although prospects … are uncertain, the West might be prudent to begin considering how to deal with any new government. Past disruptions in Russia may offer some insights for Western policy, but new ground might need to be plowed. Abrupt political changes […]
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There are few ideas and even fewer policies for how to deal with Russia’s economic malaise […]
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“No matter … the outcome … Putin’s war on Ukraine spells bad news for his regime. Neither taking Kyiv and declaring victory nor beginning peace negotiations will save the Russian president from the serious, if not fatal, domestic repercussions …. As the war drags on, the danger to Putin’s reign will come chiefly from three quarters: the oligarchs, the military […]
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“As the Russo-Ukrainian War takes a darker turn it is important to emphasise … [that] [t]his is a war that … Putin cannot win, however long … and however cruel his methods. … [T]he Russian campaign has been hampered by political objectives that cannot be translated into meaningful military objectives. Putin[‘s] … mythical Ukraine, a product of a fevered imagination […]
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“‘Those he commands move only in command, nothing in love’. … I remembered [Shakespeare’s] words about Macbeth as I watched a shifty … Putin force the members of his Security Council to bob up and down … tremulously affirm[ing] … support for his wise policy on Ukraine. … [E]nforced compliance among Russian’s politicians has continued in the days since, as […]
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“… Every day … Putin refuses to stop we get closer to the gates of hell. … Putin doesn’t have the ability to install a puppet… and just leave him …. Russia [would] need[] to permanently station tens of thousands of troops … [with] Ukrainians … shooting at them [daily]. … [A]s Putin warned … before putting his nuclear force […]
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“Recent images of … Putin convey his isolation and arrogance. … The inescapable question, as the world watches Putin defy international law to hammer Ukraine, is whether he is a rational actor. Is he serving what he sees as Russia’s national interests, or is he a distraught dictator driven by an obsessive desire to force Ukraine into a neo-imperial dream? […]
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“The war in Ukraine may have come at a high cost for Vladimir Putin at home. The backlash against the conflict suggests a moral split and loss of trust between the Russian public and its leadership.” “… despite the fog of war and a deepening crackdown on civil society, surprising numbers of Russians are expressing shock at and even outright […]
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(Moscow Times – Feb. 28, 2022) A growing number of Russia’s business and political elite have publicly spoken out against the country’s invasion of Ukraine, in a rare show of defiance for Russia’s opaque and Kremlin-loyal elite. On Sunday, Alfa Bank co-founder Mikhail Fridman, whose parents live in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, called the war in Ukraine “a tragedy” […]
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“I think this war is designed to divert attention from Russia’s problems, and it will only lead to greater impoverishment …. I consider those who unleashed this war to be bandits and thieves. I went into politics to fight this criminal regime of thieves.” […]
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