Section: Intersection (EU)
Between the lion and the dragon
Russia / World Historiography habitually uses the term “between the lion and the dragon” to delineate policy pursued in the mid-18th century by rulers of Kazakh khanates who teetered on the verge between the geopolitical interests of two prominent Eurasian empires: the Russian Empire and Qing China. Ablai Khan is considered to be the most...
Igor Sechin: Is the license afforded to Putin’s Darth Vader absolute?
Politics Igor Sechin, the executive chairman of Rosneft has sparked scandal after scandal recently. In September, his lawsuit resulted in a court ruling to destroy all copies of the already released and distributed Vedomosti issue which contained a story about the alleged construction of dacha by the head of the state-owned company in Barvikha....
Russia’s New Caucasus Initiatives
Security Few analysts have followed Putin’s new Caucasus initiatives. Given events in Syria, Ukraine, and East Asia, that neglect may be understandable, but it is a mistaken and harmful neglect because it causes us to overlook the overall strategic dimensions of Russian policy here. Moscow’s gambits in the Caucasus are inextricably...
After MH17
Russia / Europe In July 2014, a Boeing passenger plane was shot down using a Russian BUK surface-to-air missile launcher which arrived from the territory of the Russian Federation and was later returned there. The fact that there are no private BUK missiles in Russia, is tantamount to a damning indictment of the Kremlin – the Kremlin which...
The Maltsev era
Politics The election is over. Systemic and non-systemic politicians have wearily drifted home (though it seems that some of them were already fatigued even before election campaigns were launched). Those in power have asserted it. Those who had nothing anyway, lost their state financing and wandered off. The status quo of the current political...
The Bagaevsky lock on the Don River: another “bridge to nowhere”
Economy The Russian government incorporated the construction of the Bagaevsky hydroelectric complex on the Don River into the federal special-purpose program “Development of the Transport System in Russia” on August 16. The project is to be completed by 2020 and will cost 22 billion rubles according to forecasts. Planners envisage that the...
Daughterland [Rodina-Doch’]: Erotic patriotism and Russia’s future
Politics Personifications of Russia have a long history in Russian visual culture, philosophy and literature. During the Silver Age, Russia was associated with a bride, while in the Soviet period, the image of the Motherland became dominant. The Russian tradition is marked by a great significance attached to the cult of the Theotokos [Dei...
Russia’s European game
Russia / World It is not entirely clear what the motives behind Russia’s confrontation with the West are. On the one hand, everything is straightforward: Moscow wants recognition of Crimea’s unification with Russia and sanctions to be lifted. It demands that the post-Soviet space is considered a sphere of its special interests and...
