Section: Intersection (EU)
Ramzan Kadyrov: Russia’s Top Diplomat
Security The influence of Ramzan Kadyrov, who has ruled the Republic of Chechnya since 2007, stretches far beyond the Caucasus. Due to the peculiarities of Russia’s political system, Kadyrov’s dictatorship has long had a sizeable impact on Russia’s wider domestic policy. It does not stop there: the Kremlin is increasingly using...
Russia’s YouTube Generation
Society On March 26th, a wave of anti-corruption protests swept across more than 90 Russian cities. One of the central themes was the active participation of people under 20, which many in Russia’s state media indulgently (and somewhat patronisingly) called ‘school kids’ (shkolota). Of course, it is hardly possible to calculate the...
Russia in East Asia: Ambitions Fall Short of Reality
Russia / World Ever since the end of the Cold War, the idea of a dramatic turn to Asia has been a recurrent aim of Russia’s foreign policy. Russian politicians and commentators have emphasized the need to balance Russia’s external relations by taking a more active posture towards the East since the mid-1990s. Asia re-emerged once...
The New Russian Renaissance
Society Despite official statements from Russian officials about a “turn towards Asia” and the Russian media’s “anti-Western” rhetoric, the government’s cultural initiatives of the past few years tell another story: In the search for a national image, priority is accorded to anything portraying Russia as the “true” Europe, a European...
Putin The Omnipresent?
Politics Vladimir Putin is getting a lot of coverage in news outlets across the world. In America, much of it is critical. He is accused of meddling in elections there last November. In Europe, a similar story, this one anticipatory: officials in Germany and France are worried their own national elections will be determined by hackers and...
Protests Leave Medvedev Skiing on Thin Ice
Society Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev tried to ski his way out of trouble over the weekend. But his retreat to a luxurious ski resort as protests erupted across Russia only made matters worse. The anti-corruption protests of March 26 are the largest in five years, and were sparked by an investigation into the vast personal fortune...
War in the Courts: Ukraine, Russia and the ICJ
Russia / Europe Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its military aggression in eastern Ukraine is widely seen asa clear violation of the fundamental principles and norms of international law. Despite this, there are few international legal mechanisms that allow Ukraine to bring Russia to justice and prevent further Russian military actions in...
Russia’s Slow Pivot Away From Europe
Russia / Europe Over the last five years, Russia has been trying to achieve two strategic goals: A “Pivot to Asia” (away from Europe) and a renewed focus on post-soviet integration with its Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Both of those aspirations are rooted in the desire to break away from dependence on Europe, while reasserting its influence in...
The Future of Russian Strategic Bombers
Security Russia’s air force has unveiled plans to revamp its fleet of strategic bombers. These are its aircraft capable of heavy deployments of nuclear weapons. The plans are long overdue, and the aim is to build up to fifty new Tu-160M2 aircraft at a rate of three per year. 2027 has been earmarked as the year when Russia’s air force...
How Russians Protest
Politics Protests in authoritarian regimes like Russia or Turkey can be very different to those in the West. When a demonstration takes place in a Western country, they are as natural to society as, say, elections. They are seen as part of democratic expression, a means of putting pressure on rulers. In Vladimir Putin’s Russia, any...
