International public opinion once concerned Russian and Soviet leaders, but not any longer. Pussy Riot, the Navalny trial and now attacks on independent pollsters Levada Center, a partner organisation of oDRussia, show the Kremlin has become totally indifferent to western outrage.
Russians with money love the United Kingdom, where their dodgy assets can be laundered and used to pay their children’s public school fees. But as Euan Grant reports, tax avoidance and evasion, as well as other financial crimes, are creeping up the international agenda.
Russia’s ruling class is made up of a complex system of clans, constantly grouping and regrouping around their leader Vladimir Putin. Vladimir Pribylovsky explains who’s who in today's Russia.
Charismatic opposition leader Aleksey Navalny is on trial in the provincial capital of Kirov, 900km from Moscow. He is controversially accused of stealing timber worth 16 million roubles in 2009; if found guilty, he will spend his next few years behind bars. Local journalist Ekaterina Loushnikova
Vlad Filat, until recently the Liberal Democrat Prime Minister of Moldova, is locked in a power battle with Vladimir Plahotniuc, the country’s one and only oligarch. This war of attrition threatens the Eastern Partnership’s ‘success story’ narrative, and with it Moldova’s reform project.
A concession or a ruse to ensure continued authoritarian rule? In the second of two articles examining changes in Russia's electoral architecture, Grigorii Golosov considers the recent relaxation of Russia's party registration rules.
Recent protest rallies and continuing opposition sentiment have provoked the Kremlin into reform. The first part of the process sees the partial return of regional governor elections, abandoned nine years ago in favour of appointment by the president. Democractic Russia should be very wary of the
Combatting child sexual abuse in Russia involves some unexpected players – on the one hand, vigilantes who hunt down online child abusers, and on the other, the Kremlin, anxious to discredit the opposition. Mikhail Loginov reports.
A disastrous fire in the 18th century Lyadiny ensemble has resulted in the destruction of one of the two churches and the belltower. Wooden churches are very vulnerable, but all too often the situation is compounded by neglect and indifference, says Matilda Moreton
There are few new ideas driving the Putin regime forward. If the Kremlin has an ideology, it is a deeply conservative and miltaristic one, with no goals, vision or future.
Repressive laws, socialist icons, and the promotion of Eurasian identity amount to a regression to the Soviet past, says Daniil Kotsyubinsky. Russian society has moved on, however, and the Kremlin will have to tread very carefully to avoid an explosion of protest.
However much the regime might try to plot a new political trajectory, its only success is in intensifying a feeling of drift and improvisation. Unforced errors are typical for the end of authoritarian regimes, says Daniel Treisman, so the Kremlin should be extremely careful.
