While Muscovites decide whether Aleksei Navalny or Sergei Sobyanin will be their next mayor, their compatriots will largely be denied a choice in Sunday’s local elections. A rigged system means ruling party United Russia has little to fear — though, as Mikhail Loginov reports, that isn't stopping
Adviser to Gorbachev and inspiration behind his economic reforms, Tatyana Zaslavskaya has died in Moscow, aged 86. Zygmunt Dzieciolowski revisits a profile of the eminent sociologist and economist, first published on oDRussia in 2007.
In September Russia’s parliament votes on a highly controversial law to reform the Russian Academy of Sciences. As Aleksandr Chuikov reports, its supporters call it a bitter pill for the 21st century; its opponents, the kiss of death, and an attempt to curb academic freedoms.
Russia is hosting the G20 Summit in St Petersburg on 5-6 September. What is it for? What is Russia trying to achieve? Is the G20 anything more than a talking shop with soiled goods? Jeremy Noble in St Petersburg has been keeping his ear to the ground….
Ukraine – an ‘unknown’ country that lies at the margins of Europe. A political football kicked back and forth between Russia and the EU. Yet beyond the politics lies a new, and magical literature; one that revels in dirt and despair, and dares to dream....
As the level of inter-ethnic violence reaches disturbing proportions, Emil Pain asks if Russia’s protest moment has turned nasty.
Lake Baikal, the largest freshwater lake on the planet, is part of Russia’s DNA, and many romantic ballads sing of its size and beauty. Beyond the lake is a different story. Do Trans-Baikal Territory and its capital Chita have a future or is this a godforsaken backwater? Mikhail Loginov investigat
The upcoming Moscow mayoral election is much in the news because one of the candidates, Alexei Navalny, is appealing against a prison sentence. Anastasia Valeeva gives a snapshot of some of the campaign days thus far...
Five years after the Russian-Georgian war, Georgian Premier Bidzina Ivanishvili has announced that Tbilisi is ready for direct talks with Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It is an acknowledgment of the fact that improving relations with Russia alone is not sufficient for conflict resolution. Liana Fix
For the past month, Moscow has been following the fortunes of opposition leader Aleksey Navalny — trial, imprisonment, implausible release and continuing Mayoral ambitions. But can all really be as it seems? Daniil Kotsyubinsky presents an alternative view.
As the saying goes: ‘Russia has two misfortunes: the fools and the roads.’ Aleksei Navalny is just about still standing for election as Mayor of Moscow, but, in the proverbial way, he is also raising his profile in the provinces by offering people practical help with everyday problems.
