A strategy for North Caucasus: don’t mention politics or religion!

Sergei Markedonov 1 November 2010
The recently published Russian government strategy paper for the North Caucasus chooses to focus solely on the socio-economic development of the region. The refusal to address key political or religious issues undermines the whole rationale for the document, laments Sergei Markedonov

Khodorkovsky trial: a test for the president

Mikhail Zygar 29 October 2010
The sacking of Moscow mayor Luzhkov and the continuing debacle of Khodorkovsky's second trial could be seen as tests for the Russian President. Will Medvedev pass muster? Mikhail Zygar considers the options.

Outcasts — inmates of the Black Eagle

Ekaterina Loushnikova 27 October 2010
In Stalin’s time there were nearly a hundred GULag camps in Ivdel. Today, the maximum security penal colony FBU-IK 56 survives in their place. Ekaterina Lushnikova travelled there to speak to the inmates — some of Russia’s most hardened criminals.

Update the software of the Russian soul?

Andrei Konchalovsky 14 October 2010
Government attempts to modernise Russia are doomed because the Russian mindset remains stuck in an unchanging peasant mentality, laments film-director Andrei Konchalovsky. No change will be possible without reloading our spiritual software, but do we want to change?

A lesson for Luzhkov? Tatarstan’s Shaimiev shows how to cling on to power

Oleg Pavlov 8 October 2010
In March 2010, Minitimer Shaimiev, the two-decade figurehead of Tatarstan, resigned when prompted by the federal centre. It was the end of an era, locals thought, yet eight months on the Tatar President has yet to leave the building. Oleg Pavlov wonders whether obedient subordination and quiet diplomacy has allowed Shaimiev to avoid the fate of his opposite number in Moscow, Yuri Luzkhov

Sergei Magnitsky: a death that failed to die

Oliver Carroll 7 October 2010

When Sergei Magnitsky died in police custody last November, few believed it would lead to anything more than a domestic ripple. Eleven months on, however, his case is being discussed by UK foreign secretary William Hague, and his name adorns a Congress bill banning US travel for Russian officials implicated in the death. Here we republish an interview with Magnitsky's former employer and key witness, Jamison Firestone.

Greed, corruption and impotence: Samara battles for its architecture

Clementine Cecil 24 September 2010
A city with a grand architectural heritage, Samara is today under threat, pincered by the greed of corrupt developers and impotence of government agencies. Clementine Cecil, co-founder of the MAPS architecture preservation society, writes on the spirited campaign to save Samara’s buildings.

Forget Luzhkov: bulldogs under the carpet again

Vladimir Pastukhov 21 September 2010
The struggle between Moscow’s mayor Luzhkov and President Medvedev has gripped Russia. What are those’ bulldogs under the carpet’ really fighting about? There are bigger battles going on, explains Vladimir Pastukhov.

Down on the farm: a history lesson in Kazan

Oleg Pavlov 20 September 2010
Stalin’s collectivization of agriculture in the USSR in the 1930s led to famine, repression and widespread family tragedy. Oleg Pavlov visited a school in the capital of Tartarstan to find out how this period is being taught now

Don't get me wrong, Mr Travin!

Mary Dejevsky 15 September 2010
Mary Dejevsky was surprised when her enthusiastic profile of St. Petersburg governor Valentina Matviyenko in Britain’s The Independent newspaper elicited strong criticism from Russia’s blogosphere. Dmitri Travin’s response on openDemocracy Russia questioned her knowledge of the Russian political scene. Dejevsky's answer to his criticisms is that Russians should beware of reading Western reports through the prism of their own experience.

Oryol: when the ‘new nobility’ turned terrorist

Elena Godlevskaya 13 September 2010
The sleepy city of Oryol has erupted in terrorism. Investigations revealed how frustration at the state of Russia led security officers — the new nobility as their former boss calls them — to join the Oryol Partisans. Is this a one off or part of a wider movement?

Matviyenko for President? I think not!

Dmitri Travin 9 September 2010
To the amusement of the Russian media, an article appeared in Britain’s The Independent on 6 September suggesting Valentina Matviyenko, Governor of St Petersburg, might be a candidate for Russian president in 2012. St Petersburger Dmitri Travin explains why this conjecture is so wrong.

Putin: on the shifting sands of doubt

Vladimir Pastukhov 7 September 2010
A recent Kommersant newspaper interview with Putin revealed the extent of his isolation from reality and inability to see things in any way other than his own. This is potentially dangerous, explains Vladimir Pastukhov

Yaroslau Romanchuk: my vision of a post-Lukashenka Belarus

David Marples 3 September 2010
Next year's presidential elections offer a real opportunity of disposing a tired, weakened and unpopular Lukashenka, says Presidential hopeful Yaroslau Romanchuk. In this interview with David Marples, Romanchuk outlines a strategy for election and why his candidature offers the best prospect for the country's stalling economy.

Kaliningrad's Day of Anger

Konstantin Rozhkov 24 August 2010
Some weeks ago Kaliningrad achieved a first in Russia by getting its governor Georgy Boos fired by the Kremlin. On 21 August thousands gathered to protest at the state of Russia and to demand the resignation of Putin and his government.

The Russian media

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Russia-China

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The new year in Russia

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Russia's new economy

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Russian rights at the crossroads

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Beyond the gastarbeiter: post-Soviet migration

Madeleine Reeves (Manchester University, UK) presents the other side of post-Soviet migration.

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Regions

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Russia's year of elections

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Women, tradition and power in the North Caucasus

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Project_ID

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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

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