Russian intellectual Igor Kon has died aged 82. Here we present one of his final essays, first published on our partner website, www.polit.ru. Reflecting on the woes of Russian history, Kon displays trademark wit and moral argument.
Writing last week on openDemocracy, John Keane suggested we need new words to describe the Arab Spring. Stephen Wheatcroft came across similar calls twenty years ago when analysing the fall of the Soviet regime. Then and now, there was a simple description for the events: democratic revolutions in
The Russian experience in Afghanistan is not a simple story. Far from being the imperialist expansion it is sometimes caricatured to be, the Russians stumbled into Afghanistan reluctantly, beset by ideological neuroses, incomplete intelligence, conflicting advice and the pressure of events. oDR is
Pavel Galitsky spent fifteen years in the brutal labour camps of Kolyma, Siberia. Against the odds, the 100-year old dissident is still alive and Skype'ing, having outlived both his contemporaries and tormentors. He recounts the full horror of his experience to oDR writer Ekaterina Loushnikova.
Ukraine is known as the breadbasket of Europe, but something very strange is going on in the grain market, writes Anna Babinets. A hitherto unknown company with dubious connections has been appointed state trading agent, the farmers and traders are being badly hit, and there is no prospect of clar
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.
Ten days ago, an “underground town” of migrant workers was discovered below a military factory in Moscow. The discovery played into popular anxieties about migrants and was heavily spun by the national media. For Madeleine Reeves, however, it highlighted the daily struggle migrants face to stay “l
A combination of factors make it virtually certain that Putin will emerge as president in next year's elections. The continued ambiguity over who will stand is but a calculated game played by the authorities, says Grigorii Golosov.
Twenty-five years after the Chernobyl disaster, Barys Piatrovich recalls the tension of unknowing that gripped him and those around him during the days that followed. Today, barely any of the Chernobyl evacuees are still alive. Spread throughout the country, they died alone and unnoticed, statisti
Ukrainian identity has historically been defined in opposition to Russia, but an anti-Russian agenda is unable to bind together a state with a large ethnic Russian population. With the Yanukovych administration now taking a neo-Stalinist approach to history and education, airbrushing out nationali
The Cossacks have played an important part at various times in Russian history. Now their ranks are diluted by intermarriage and the admission of non-Cossacks. Elena Strelnikova ponders the attempts to keep Cossack traditions alive in Orenburg, South Russia.
An analysis of human rights violations in Russia reveals the extent to which they occur as the direct result of institutional corruption. However well intentioned, recent attempts at reform in the army and police have fallen short of tackling this fundamental connection, writes Andrey Kalikh.
