Liberating Pushkin

Susan Richards 19 July 2010
Russia’s greatest poet Alexander Pushkin is notoriously hard for non-Russian speakers to appreciate. So Susan Richards welcomes a concise new biography of the poet by his translator Robert Chandler which strips the varnish off

"Be innovative!", orders the Kremlin

Andrei Kolesnikov 16 July 2010
The Russian attempt to build Silicon Valley in Skolkovo is a case of throwing good money after bad, argues Andrei Kolesnikov. Russia badly needs systemic reform, not grand projects: without it there is no chance of achieving real, organic and high-tech innovation.

Forbidden Art verdict: they're in mourning for Soviet censorship

Tatiana Shcherbina 15 July 2010
On 12 July, the judge found Andrei Erofeev and Yurii Samodurov, organisers of the exhibition Forbidden Art – 2006, guilty of inciting hatred and enmity, and insulting human dignity. Samodurov was fined 200,000 roubles, and Erofeev 150,000 (some $12,000 in all). But they have not been sent to prison. The poet Tatiana Shcherbina, disgusted, sees a people in mourning for the Good Old Days when the state controlled everything

Kyrgyzstan’s referendum brings a flicker of hope

Baktybek Abdrisaev, Scott Horton, and Alexey Semyonov 14 July 2010
The new constitution which the Kyrgyz people voted in on 27 June 2010 seeks to break the presidential pattern of government. But the recent violent upheaval has left the government weak. America and Russia both need Kyrgyzstan to thrive as a country ruled neither by despotism nor fundamentalism. They will have to collaborate closely to bring this about

Belarusian "godfather" falls out with his masters

Dmitry Travin 12 July 2010
On the eve of a Customs Union agreement between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, Russian state television began an information war against Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. By the ferocity of this campaign, it seems Russian leaders have finally lost patience with their one-time ally.

Ukraine: bulldozing the Orange building

Anna Babinets 9 July 2010
President Yanukovych is steadily demolishing the gains of the Orange Revolution. This turn towards Moscow looks uncomfortably like an attempt to placate the Tsar with tributes

Russia back in the dock over 'Forbidden Art'

Andrei Zorin 8 July 2010
Three years ago an exhibition at Moscow’s Sakharov Centre of previously banned work entitled Forbidden Art led to the trial of its curator Andrei Erofeev and the director of the Centre, Yuri Samodurov. The prosecutors want them sentenced to three years in prison for ‘debasing the religious beliefs of citizens and inciting religious hatred’. The verdict is due on 12 July. If they are found guilty, it will not only change the political climate in Russia, argues Prof.Andrei Zorin. It will destroy the country’s reputation. Sign the petition..

Poetry in pictures: a film about Joseph Brodsky

Natalia Rulyova 8 July 2010

Andrei Khrzhanovskii’s recent Russian film about the poet Joseph Brodsky evokes elements of his childhood, internal exile and emigration with history and stunning footage of St Petersburg. But above all, it is an homage, a cinematic celebration of his poetry

Khodorkovsky trial: a regime in the dock

Andrei Kolesnikov 7 July 2010

The accusations against Khodorkovsky have collapsed now that two senior establishment figures have testified. He may still be found guilty. But the absurdity of this trial is eroding public confidence in Putin’s regime.

When enemies are better than friends

Alexei Levinson 6 July 2010
Rather than emphasising friends and allies, today's Russian leaders prefer to single out their enemies, writes Alexei Levinson. It is an approach that plays on Russians' traditional psychological comfort zones, while at the same time allowing politicians to evade responsibility at home.

Voznesensky: elegy for a fashionable poet

Elena Fanailova 5 July 2010

The poet Andrei Voznesensky died on 1 June. One of the former “big 4” Soviet poets, he managed to hang on to his cult status until the 1990s as that of the outspoken Joseph Brodsky rose ever higher. The poet Elena Fanailova reviews his position in the pantheon of Soviet writers and assesses his contribution to Soviet and Russian poetry.

Kyrgyzstan’s flawed referendum

Sureyya Yigit 2 July 2010
The political atmosphere that surrounded the constitutional referendum in Kyrgyzstan shows that the country’s crisis is not over, says Sureyya Yigit in Bishkek

It's up to You - the economics of openDemocracy

Tony Curzon Price 29 June 2010
Yes, great, independent content costs and if the readers don't pay for it who will? Why you should want openDemocracy to be supported by voluntary reader donations and give if you can

Kyrgyzstan: components of crisis

David Gullette 28 June 2010
The explosion of violence in southern Kyrgyzstan is the result of social pressures, economic hardship and political malpractice. The interim government’s constitutional referendum can do little to address these problems, says David Gullette.

Kyrgyzstan: referendum in a time of upheaval

Judith Beyer 26 June 2010
Judith Beyer observes the run-up to Kyrgyzstan’s constitutional referendum from the vantage point of the countryside, away from the centres of violence. A Kyrgyz majority will ensure that Otunbaeva gets the result she wants, Beyer predicts. But this bodes badly for the future

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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