Against a backdrop of an ever increasing politization of the Soviet past, journalist Elena Strelnikova returned to her old classroom. Her fly-on-the-wall account shows the contentious debates played through the eyes of 14-year-olds.
After decades of repression, Siberia’s shamans are re-emerging. Ken Hyder is a musician who performs with a Tuvan shaman. His novel describes the culture of contemporary shamanism as it emerges after decades of repression. Part one of three.
The return of psychotherapy to Russia after Stalin’s ban has had to overcome many obstacles, including Russian suspicions of psychological colonialism
History teaching has fallen victim to politics in Russia. Educational standards are falling and children are not being taught to think. They learn that Russia is great, but not the reasons why. Could this be because it is easier to run a nation of naïve, illiterate people who do not know their his
Russia’s people do not bow to government opinion on the subject of war, a revealing survey of public attitudes by the Levada Center shows. The only ‘just war’ is one fought in defence of home and country, like the World War II. By this token, Russia’s wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya were unjust w
The terrorist bombs pose a problem for the Kremlin, Sam Greene reports from Moscow. Since tightening the screws has not worked, their new tactic appears to be to avoid the subject altogether
In Maxim Kantor’s opinion, the 39 deaths in the Moscow metro bombings on 29 March are victims of that fight between bulldogs under the carpet, as Churchill described Russian politics. The victims are always the poor, never the bulldogs. And guess who gains by the tragedy?
In conversation with oDRussia’s Deputy Editor, a former British Army officer reflects on Tolya’s experience as a conscript in the Russian army. To what extent will the proposed military reforms help with dedovshchina, or institutionalised bullying?
The Levada Center has been monitoring Russian attitudes to Stalin for years. Alexei Levinson, reviewing changing attitudes to this iconic figure following the Center's latest survey, finds that he remains popular, and that people are strangely forgiving of his crimes. But there is some resistance
Does a personal vendetta lie behind the imprisonment of Russia’s once-richest oligarch, Mikhail Khodorkovsky? Was the Kremlin the real power behind the murder of the mayor of Nefteyugansk, for which Khodorkovsky is being punished? Jeremy Putley reviews a well-researched new book by Martin Sixsmith
You can’t reason with the absurd, as IKEA found when it tried to build a model business in Russia. Institutional corruption is out of control. Kafka’s Castle is finally collapsing. This is good news, as Russians, ordinary Russians are losing their fear. Now they’re just angry, says Andrei Loshak.
In this interview for oDRussia, Prof.Alena Ledeneva talks to Oliver Carroll about the prospects for judicial reform in Russia. Medvedev’s efforts amount to far more than rhetoric, argues Ledeneva. Her ongoing research into the subject suggests that they strike at the heart of Russia’s informal sys
