Economic conditions for most Russians are about to get much worse, say analysts [HT: Paul Goble]. That makes grim reading for the Kremlin alongside news that Vladimir Putin’s personal support hit… Read more »
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who aims to unseat Vladimir Putin in presidential elections next year, was arrested ahead of a rally on Friday, raising the possibility of a month… Read more »
Russians are not so restricted by a“’cultural code’ of serfdom and paternalism” that the only way forward is to rely on “an enlightened ruler who bases himself on a group… Read more »
On Sept. 12, Vladimir Putin quietly passed a landmark date: He had spent 6,602 days as the top leader of Russia, The Washington Post notes: Although not widely acknowledged, this figure… Read more »
In an implicit acknowledgement that public support for Vladimir Putin may be soft and in fact falling, the head of the domestic politics section of the Presidential Administration says that… Read more »
In Russia’s once-quiet provinces, young people took the lead in last weekend’s anti-corruption protests, AP reports. According to user data compiled from a social media page for people who said… Read more »
A rare and large-scale protest took place in Belarus on Saturday, when hundreds took to the streets to protest a tax — the so-called “tax on parasites” — against the under-employed,… Read more »
A day after Russia saw its largest wave of unsanctioned protests in years, opposition leaders on Monday cheered the turnout as a sign of widespread dissatisfaction with President Vladimir Putin…. Read more »
Like the Soviet nomenklatura, the Putin elite is dangerously isolating itself from the Russian people, setting the stage for a populist challenge against its privileges, says Yevgeny Gontmakher, the Moscow… Read more »
Europeans are waking up to the fact that Russia is trying to do by peaceful means what the Soviet Union once threatened by violent ones: overthrow democratic governments, James Kirchik… Read more »