Russia’s security apparatus is back in charge — as powerful, and with less holding it back than ever before. Susan Richards reflects on Wikileaks and reviews a fascinating account of Russia's unofficial second state
It is said that Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenka never misses an opportunity to surprise partners and foes alike. But the outcome of the last weekend’s presidential elections in Belarus may have taken by surprise even the country’s long-standing ruler.
Where the world's tiger population once numbered 100,000, it now stands at 3,500, with several species facing extinction. Stanley Johnson was an attendee of the first Global Tiger Summit in St Petersburg last month. He was surprised at the level of agreement among the world elite.
In some card games, the aim is to collect as many cards as possible; in others it is to get rid of cards that have been dealt. There are regimes where the point of the rules is that they should be observed and others where simply they are there to be broken. This is Russia, explains Kirill Rogov
The Narkomfin building in central Moscow is an experimental masterpiece and testament to the spirit of a young Soviet state. Yet it has been transformed from fashionable youth into ragged beggar. Clementine Cecil writes on the latest attempts to save it from ruin.
openDemocracy Russia recently published the harrowing tale of a Russian drug-dependent woman Irina Teplinskaya, and her campaign to make medication available to HIV positive people. Here she describes the protest actions organised in support of the campaign.
Russia is on the verge of election season. While simmering social tensions and a nervous elite make these interesting times, no-one really doubts United Russia will sweep a national victory. The interesting battles will be in local and city elections, writes Mikhail Loginov.
On Sunday, Belarus goes to the polls, ending an election cycle that saw all the usual assumptions turned on their heads. In this, the second of a two part analysis, David R. Marples and Uladzimir Padhol look at the candidates and ask if a Lukashenka victory is anything other than a foregone conclu
All authoritarian regimes come to an end at some point. In Russia they tend to implode. The Putin regime is displaying many of the signs of impending collapse. Andrei Piontkovsky wonders whether the destruction of statehood can be avoided this time.
On Sunday, Belarus goes to the polls, ending an election cycle that has seen all the usual assumptions turned on their heads. In the first of a two part analysis, David R. Marples and Uladzimir Padhol concentrate on a Russia-Europe tug-of-war that has dominated the campaign. Part II looks at the c
Russian human rights activists routinely put themselves in danger’s way, but are largely unappreciated and mistrusted by their compatriots. In times of despair, Anna Sevortian is brought back to one thing: idealism.
The presidential election in December is unlikely to usher in a new president, young people feel no link to their Soviet past, and the wolf Lukashenka isn’t about to turn vegetarian. European Poet of Freedom Uladzimier Arlou is a towering figure in Belarus; here he talks to Ingo Petz.
