Wikileaks has finally settled the controversy over who attacked whom first in the Russo-Georgian war of August 2008, with papers firmly pointing to a miscalculation by Georgia and its superpower friend. For Hans Mouritzen, however, such historical details are dwarfed by a more significant subseque
Georgii Gongadze, inconvenient Ukrainian journalist, died in horrible circumstance nearly 11 years ago. His murderers may be behind bars, but who gave the order for his killing? Ordinary Ukrainians know – it was (then) President Leonid Kuchma. Despite a new case being opened against him, Valery Ka
Chechnya’s ex-foreign minister Ilyas Akhmadov has published a book chronicling the loss of his republic to Russia. Politicians from other countries with similar tales of loss and betrayal have tried to justify their actions in the same way. Oliver Bullough examines the current situation in the lig
The tragedy of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami has produced chaos on the island of Sakhalin. What little information is available is regarded with suspicion. Ksenia Semyonova monitors the mounting panic.
Once inside the wheels of the Russian legal system, the odds are stacked against you and a guilty verdict is inevitable. What keeps the wheels turning is conformism with villainy: the ability of normal people to adapt themselves to any, even the most monstrous of systems. Andrei Loshak presents a
Over the last 20 years the teaching of history has changed dramatically in Russia. Today’s children seem not to know or care very much about their country’s past. Elena Strelnikova wonders how well they are being taught in school.
The region of the North Caucasus is on fire. Its young people — poorly educated and unemployed — believe radical Islam could be solution to their problems. In Mother Russia, meanwhile, a new generation of disenfranchised youngsters are smarting from their lot. The two groups may be soon on collisi
Ukraine has an energy strategy that sees significant new nuclear build. The European Investment Bank's "Trans-European Networks" initiative encourages this new build by increasing the capacity for power exports to the West
The fate of the popular insurgencies in Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine and elsewhere in the early-mid 2000s could offer guidance or warning to the middle-east uprising of 2011 - and to western states, says Vicken Cheterian.
As a particularly harsh winter comes to a close, Alexander Valiyev reflects on recent developments in Chelyabinsk, West Siberia. While the authorities gained a lot, increasing their grip on the power vertical by canceling local elections, it was, as ever, the little man who came off worse...
