The Valdai Conference was held on 16-19 September 2013 at a Potemkin village halfway between Moscow and St Petersburg. Vladimir Putin was holding court with a select group of invited guests, eager to hear him talk about “Russia’s Diversity for the Modern World.” Rodric Braithwaite makes sense of i
Russia’s law outlawing ‘gay propaganda’ has brought into the open a subject that was almost unmentionable before. And ordinary Russians have turned out to be less homophobic than anyone imagined, says Sergey Khazov. Russia needs its own Stonewall: see Igor Yasin's contribution here
As Western sympathizers call for a boycott on the Sochi Olympics, Igor Yasin wonders if this is quite the best way to help Russia’s LGBT community win their fight for equality. Russia's anti-gay own goal: see Sergey Khazov's contribution here
In most parts of the world the incidence of HIV/AIDS is falling, but official figures for Russia show 200 new cases being recorded every day. And as Grigory Tumanov reports, if you’re a migrant worker or immigrant, you face not only discrimination and stigma, but deportation as well.
Moscow’s recent overtures to Ukraine and Armenia concerning membership of the Russia-led Customs Union have been heavy on threats and hard-ball politics, and rather short on attempts at actually explaining the benefits of joining the Union instead of pursuing European Union integration. Which offe
Houghton Hall, Norfolk has been drawing the crowds all summer to see the art collection of Sir Robert Walpole, subsequently sold to Catherine the Great of Russia. All the pictures hang in their original places, according to eighteenth-century plans recently discovered by the current owner. Colin A
‘Delai Sam’ is Russian for ‘Do it yourself,’ a concept supposedly alien to the average Russian, who is used to having other people take decisions for him or her. But, as Tatyana Kargina reports, herself a ‘Delia Sam’ believer, more and more people are becoming civic grassroots activists.
Recent regional elections in Russia provoked more interest than usual, mainly because charismatic and controversial opposition leader Alexei Navalny was standing in the Moscow mayoral election. Some results were dramatic, but Grigorii Golosov wonders whether they will make a lasting difference to
Well-off Russian bureaucrats have got used to having a second home abroad, whether it’s a cottage in Ukraine or a castle in Spain. But these are now under threat from Vladimir Putin’s latest intervention – a ban on foreign bank accounts. Mikhail Loginov reports.
The recent hotly-contested Moscow mayoral election ended, as predicted, with victory for government candidate Sergey Sobyanin. But Aleksey Navalny did much better than expected, as did opposition candidates who won in other big cities. Maxim Trudolyubov considers the very considerable significance
Moscow’s mayoral elections have seen a sharp rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric —language common in Europe, but previously confined to Russia’s far right. Madeleine Reeves has been following the campaign.
