Combining a patriotic appeal with new technology and Obama-style presentation, Alexei Navalny has emerged as the unifying figure for anti-government sentiment in Russia. His imaginative campaigning is unlikely to land him in the Kremlin, but it has transformed the country’s political landscape for
Russia imprisons a proportion of its citizens higher than any other major country except the US. And with its sky-high rates of re-offending, the penal system serves as a stark reminder of what happens when a society prioritises punishment to the exclusion of rehabilitation. Svetlana Reiter invest
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, writ
Prime Minister Putin’s attempts to shore up his falling popularity ratings have now extended to setting up a new electoral platform. But this is not just any old platform, laments Dmitri Oreshkin. It’s another return to old methods and old labels, and bodes no good for Russia.
Last week, controversial billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov stepped up to head “The Right Cause”, a right-liberal party with ties to the Kremlin. The move could help secure the return of Russian liberals to legal politics. But is this what the liberals actually need, asks Andrei Kolesnikov?
A lowly researcher finds himself subject to the forces of the Russian security service and a flawed justice system. The third part of exclusive extracts from Zoya Svetova's "Finding the innocent guilty". Part I click here. Part II click here
A lowly researcher finds himself subject to the forces of the Russian security service and a flawed justice system. oDR is pleased to present the second part of exclusive extracts from Zoya Svetova's "Finding the innocent guilty". Read Part I here
A lowly researcher finds himself subject to the forces of the Russian security service and a flawed justice system. A trial is abandoned after word leaks of a jury minded to acquit; upon resumption, a new hand-picked jury comes to the opposite conclusion. This Kafkaesque nightmare is the basis of
Hazing of new recruits is infamously widespread in the Russian army and families of men who have died find their struggle for closure hindered by military cover-ups and ineptitude. The campaigning organisation Mother's Right Foundation has been keeping records of these incidents for many years. He
Russian “political technologist” Gleb Pavlovsky is considered a master of political intrigue and backstage games, yet on April 27 found himself dismissed as a Kremlin advisor. His fall from grace was reportedly linked to indiscreet comments made about the 2012 presidential elections (and supposedl
Igor Kon, one of Russia’s leading intellectuals and one of the founding fathers of Soviet sociology, has died aged 82. He was a veritable polymath whose interests ranged from history to sexology, a branch of science he set up in Russia, often in the teeth of considerable harassment and opposition.
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.
