Category: Russia

Pro-Russian candidates win elections in Bulgaria and Moldova

     

Voters in Bulgaria and Moldova elected pro-Russian populist presidents on the weekend, adding to mounting concern about Western unity,The Daily Telegraph reports. Bulgarian Socialist ally Rumen Radev, a Russia-friendly newcomer… Read more »

Hybrid Putinism: ‘a mafia state with a totalitarian society’?

     

The question of what constitutes democracy did not have time to be hashed out in the Russian public sphere before that sphere began disappearing a decade and a half ago,… Read more »

Kremlin-sponsored anti-Americanism a common denominator for Europe’s left and right

     

Over the past few years, anti-Americanism has become an integral part of any debate on foreign and domestic policy in Russia, notes Anton Barbashin, a managing editor at Intersection. You… Read more »

Autocrats using ‘toxic election’ to pour scorn on democracy

     

Russia, China and Iran are among several authoritarian regimes seeking to use the U.S. election as an opportunity to project soft power, to undermine the attractiveness of liberal democracy, and… Read more »

West must focus on countering Russian disinformation

     

The president of Bulgaria is the latest figure to warn that Russia is trying to divide and weaken Europe, the BBC reports: Rosen Plevneliev warned of Russian influence in his… Read more »

What the West can do to contain Russia’s aggression, disinformation

     

Even before the December 2011 protests — and his own reelection as president in March 2012 — Vladimir Putin had begun signaling the return of a more authoritarian and aggressive… Read more »

Russia’s ambitions clash with its capabilities

     

Speaking at the 13th Valdai Discussion Club near Sochi last week, Russian president Vladimir Putin again railed at the US for allegedly misusing its global hegemony of the past 25… Read more »

Kremlin’s modus operandi – ideology or kleptocracy?

     

As the Kremlin gears up for Vladimir Putin’s last re-election bid in 18 months, anti-graft crusader Alexei Navalny (left) has emerged as the conduit of choice for rival factions to… Read more »

Once a symbol of hope, Hungary now a study in democratic frailty

     

Protesters with referee whistles disturbed the Hungarian government’s commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the anti-Soviet revolution of 1956 on Sunday, as supporters of Prime Minister Viktor Orban tried to… Read more »

Cold War 2.0? Confront authoritarianism by defending democratic values

     

Gen Sir Richard Shirreff remembers the moment he realized Nato was facing a new and more dangerous Russia. It was 19 March 2014, the day after Russia annexed Crimea from… Read more »