Launched in 1998, this Moscow-based website publishes political news and commentary daily, as well as keeping close to the pulse of Russia’s intellectual life. Through its public lectures and seminars in Moscow and Kiev it offers a regular platform for debate on contemporary issues. Polit.ru, whose articles are outstanding among Russian internet sites for their quality, hosts Russian social thinkers, historians, philosophers, NGO activists, journalists, and economists.
Celebrated Russian activist Valery Abramkin has died aged 66. Here we republish extracts from a lecture delivered in 2006, which contains many fascinating insights into the rules of behaviour, hierarchies and relationships within Soviet and Russian prisons. (With a foreword by Mary
The judgment in the Berezovsky vs Abramovich case was a long time coming. Berezovsky lost comprehensively, but Abramovich would do well to consider carefully whether his victory was actually worth winning, says Vladimir Pastukhov
On 10th
July a Moscow court extended the pre-trial detention of three members of
feminist punk rock band Pussy Riot, charged with hooliganism after they
performed a ‘blasphemous’ and anti-Putin song in the city’s main cathedral in February.
Vladimir
Pastukhov believes there is much the case tells us about the relations between
the Putin government and the Russia’s Orthodox Church.
Russia’s 9 time zones are often exploited by TV management to pull controversial programmes, but the internet has changed the rules of the game. A recent film about kidnap victims in Chechnya was shown in the Far East, but not in European Russia. The ensuing outcry and internet activity show that people have had enough of censorship, says Tanya Lokshina
Twenty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian Communist Party is enjoying a mini-revival as a channel for popular discontent with the government. But its leadership is too rooted in the past and concerned with retaining control of the party to exploit this advantage, says Vladimir Gelman
In 2010, the Russian military experienced acute delays with procurement. The official response to the affair was outlined last month: three officers were to be sacked and several company directors punished. Basic research shows the government's position to be nothing more than a smoke screen, writes Alexander Volk.
Post-Soviet Georgia is no stranger to drama or revolution, and after a short interregnum, the country once again finds itself in a febrile mood. Sergei Markedonov analyses the background to the present unrest.
Russian intellectual Igor Kon has died aged 82. Here we present one of his final essays, first published on our partner website, www.polit.ru. Reflecting on the woes of Russian history, Kon displays trademark wit and moral argument. 
When a spokesman from Russia's migration service spoke about the purity of the white Russian race, he was summarily dismissed. But while his quasi-Nazi whistle chimes ill with official rhetoric of multiculturalism, it is alas in tune with much of Russian society, says Mikhail Zakharov. 
Independently-minded specialists carrying out research into the seamier side of Russian right-wing nationalist extremism are few and far between. The death of Galina Kozhevnikova at a young age is thus a veritable tragedy, laments Andreas Umland. 
As new mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin inherited a hugely wealthy city and a mass of problems. Putin’s vertical of power is collapsing and there are elections ahead. How will Sobyanin manage the inevitable political infighting, wonders Vladimir Pastukhov.
The southern republic of Dagestan is now Russia’s most violent flashpoint. Besieged by militants from one side, the republic is no better served by its security services on the other. Indeed, the brutality and lawlessness of these government forces actually risks motivating yet more young men to ‘go to the forest’ and join the fighters.
Modernisation is a task, not a problem. Russians must first want a modern country if it is to ever emerge. Alexander Auzan, one of Russia's foremost experts on modernisation, outlines the difficulties going forward.  001.jpg)
Boris Yeltsin inherited many problems which he had to try and address while at the same time establishing the new Russian state. Many of these problems were, and continue to be, in the North Caucasus. Yeltsin’s presidency should be judged in the round, asserts Sergei Markedonov, rather than from the vantage point of Putin’s ‘vertical’ Russia.
Ukrainian politics has until recently been divided between two camps: the pro-Western democrats (recently represented by the "Orange" parties) and the pro-Russian anti-liberals (recently dominated by the Party of Regions). Now radical nationalists are gaining political strength. Will they manage to get their so-called Freedom party into the national parliament? Andreas Umland charts the rise of the right-wing All-Ukrainian Association "Svoboda".
Russia-China
The new year in Russia
Russia's new economy
Russian rights at the crossroads
Beyond the gastarbeiter: post-Soviet migration
Madeleine Reeves (Manchester University, UK) presents the other side of post-Soviet migration.
Regions
Russia's year of elections
Women, tradition and power in the North Caucasus
Project_ID
Privatizatsiya, twenty years on
Russian economy: trying to please people doesn’t help, Dmitry Travin
Privatisation, but no private property, Andrei Zaostrovtsev
Is corruption in Russia's DNA?, Pyotr Filippov
The Russian banking system: between the market and the state, Pavel Usanov
Russia’s crony capitalism: the swing of the pendulum, Vladimir Gelman
Russian reforms, twenty years on. Introduction to the series, Dmitry Travin
Russian economy: trying to please people doesn’t help, Dmitry Travin
Privatisation, but no private property, Andrei Zaostrovtsev
Is corruption in Russia's DNA?, Pyotr Filippov
The Russian banking system: between the market and the state, Pavel Usanov
Russia’s crony capitalism: the swing of the pendulum, Vladimir Gelman
Russian reforms, twenty years on. Introduction to the series, Dmitry Travin
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