Section: Intersection (EU)
Legislating Morality
Politics Throughout Putin’s regime, and particularly since the annexation of Crimea, the Kremlin’s defense of a specifically Russian view of morality, religion, and ethics—and by extension, Russianness itself—has been key to the government’s message and its widespread popularity. Its rhetoric of traditionalist morality functions...
Relations with Russia in the mirror of Germany’s election campaign
Russia / Europe Germany’s election campaign has reached fever pitch; 62 million citizens are set to elect members of the new Bundestag in late September. Foreign policy has traditionally been an uncomfortable topic for candidates and spin doctors: Germans show great interest in global events, which makes it difficult to avoid commenting on...
The plight of Russia’s technocrats
Politics Why are government reform programs, developed by highly-qualified experts, implemented so poorly in Russia? According to the Center for Strategic Research, the “Strategy-2010” program, adopted in 2000, is still only 36% complete. The subsequent program “Strategy-2020” has been even less successful – just 29.5%. Reforms in the...
Rogozin non grata
Russia / Europe We are witnessing yet another flare-up in relations between Russia and Moldova: Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin (who is in charge of cooperation with Moldova in fact) has been declared persona non grata by Chisinau. The question is not even why that has happened but whether this strife may lead to other, more serious...
Putin and children
Politics Once again, the Russian state is going through a period of concern related to youth policy. President Vladimir Putin himself has already chaired not one but two “phone-in shows” this year. They have already become a tradition: for a couple of hours, once a year, Putin answers people’s questions and solves their local problems, live...
Путин и дети
Politics Российское государство (не в первый раз) переживает период озабоченности молодежной политикой. Сам президент Владимир Путин провел в этом году не одну, а две “прямых линии». Это уже традиция – раз в год в эфире федеральных телеканалов Путин в течение нескольких часов отвечает на вопросы жителей страны и решает их локальные проблемы...
Of chiefs and men
Society A recent Levada Centre poll about the most outstanding people of all time stood out mostly because the top position was taken by Joseph Stalin (38%). This finding attracted the attention of many Russian media outlets. Many headlines went with an angle of ‘Stalin outperforming Putin in the ranking of outstanding people’. The problem...
Ukraine-Russia: small steps to break the impasse?
Russia / Europe Relations between Ukraine and Russia have reached a strategic impasse. The main issues – the conflict in the Donbas and the status of Crimea – have become unsolvable for the foreseeable future; the degree of mutual dependence has decreased, and distrust has grown dramatically. Under these circumstances, it is difficult to see...
The ominous rise of Russian National Guard
Security Russia’s National Guard (Ros Gvardia) – has been in existence for just over a year. It is already well known for regularly buying new weapons and for its brutal tactics when dispersing civil demonstrations. National Guard comprises between 350-400 thousand people, which exceeds the number of Russian land forces (which amount...
The Implausibility of a “Patriotic Hacker”
Security By suggesting that “Patriotic Hackers” could be behind large-scale cyber attacks, Vladimir Putin was being mischievous and perhaps bordering on the absurd. The quantity and quality of attacks on Ukraine over the years in most cases rules out the possibility of anyone doing this simply as a nationalist hobby Proving who is behind a cyber...
