Section: Institute of Modern Russia (USA)
When the State Defends Itself Against Its Citizens
The case of Svetlana Davydova, the mother of seven children who was accused of high treason for the benefit of Ukraine, was not only the first high-profile case of espionage since the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict, but also the first case that falls under the new provisions of Article 275 of the Criminal Code. IMR legal expert Ekaterina...
“It is [the] bigotry of lower expectations [to say] that Russians will always favor a strong man over democracy.” — Mark Lagon
Unsurprisingly, Freedom House’s recent 2015 Freedom in the World report has shown a decline in civil liberties in Russia. Mark Lagon,* the new president of Freedom House, spoke with IMR’s editor-in-chief Olga Khvostunova about Russia’s current political trajectory, Putin’s stakes in the Ukraine conflict, and what the West...
Does Russia’s Protest Movement Have a Future?
On March 1, an “anti-crisis march” organized by Russian opposition leaders is set to be held in Moscow. Its goal is to protest against the war in Ukraine and to show people’s frustration with the economic crisis. Organizers estimate that as many as 100,000 people will participate in the march. Levada Center sociologist Denis Volkov examines...
Putin’s Hostage
On February 10, the Basmannyi Court of Moscow extended custody for the Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, who continues her hunger strike in protest of the absurd accusations against her. Writer Alexander Podrabinek argues that the Russian authorities have essentially sentenced her to death. …read more Source: Institute of Modern...
Russian students to Ukrainian students: “We respect your choice, we condemn the war”
On the day that concluded the peace talks in Minsk, students from Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia, recorded their own message to the students of Ukraine. This video, produced in collaboration with Open Russia, is a response to the message from Ukrainian students to Russian students posted at the end of January 2015. …read more Source:...
Has Russia Divided the West?
On February 6, German Chancellor Merkel, French President Hollande, and Russian President Putin spent five hours negotiating a Ukraine peace deal in Moscow. At the end, the only thing they agreed on was to continue negotiations. Donald Jensen, resident fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations, reviews the West’s latest diplomatic...
Symbols and Sentences
On March 11, 2014, three activists, Oleg Savvin, Mikhail Feldman, and Dmitry Fonarev, hoisted a German flag at Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) building in the city of Kaliningrad. Now, each of them is facing a seven-year sentence for their symbolic protest against Russian aggression in Ukraine. According to writer Alexander...
The Kremlin Shifts Tactics in Ukraine
Over the past three months, the Kremlin has appeared to shift its strategy from further military advances to negotiations. The reasons for this maneuvering, though, have not affected the Kremlin’s approach to the crisis, which remains situational and opportunistic. …read more Source: Institute of Modern...
Mikhail Khodorkovsky: “You, Not Putin, Are the Source of Power”
On December 20, 2013, Mikhail Khodorkovsky was released after 10 years in jail. In the months that followed, Russia annexed Crimea, invaded Ukraine, passed a series of restrictive legislation, imposed a ban on the importation of foreign food, went through a currency crisis, and entered economic recession. On the anniversary of his release,...
2014: A Year in Review
2014 was full of dramatic developments and unexpected turn of events. Some of them, such as the annexation of Crimea and Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, were hard to predict. Others, like Western sanctions, Russia’s expulsion from the G8, and the economic recession, had been ripening for a long time. Here, IMR recounts this...
