Tag: Russia

Soft Power the Russian Way: Proxy Groups in the Contested Neighbourhood

     

  Anxious about losing ground to Western influence in the post-Soviet space and the ousting of many pro-Russia elites by popular electoral uprisings, the Kremlin has developed a wide range… Read more »

Nations in Transit: Europe & Eurasia – grim portrait of decline, small reasons for hope

     

While economic downturns are threatening the stability of the former Soviet Union’s “entrenched dictatorships,” the migration crisis is fueling populism in Eastern Europe, and reforms in the Balkans are in… Read more »

Video shows ‘Putin’s New Praetorians’ training to suppress a Moscow Maidan

     

On April 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would develop a national guard to fight terrorism and crime, but a recently released video (above) from Open Russia purports to show the guard training to… Read more »

How Russia sanctions bite the Kremlin

     

The West’s unprecedented step to sanction post-communist Russia [in the wake of the invasion of Crimea] proves that the liberal democracies no longer consider Russia as a responsible partner or… Read more »

Russian rights defender receives political asylum

     

Russian rights defender Nadezhda Kutepova has received political asylum in France, RFE/RL reports: Kutepova, the director of the Planeta Nadezhd (A Planet of Hope) nongovernmental organization, left for France in… Read more »

Panama Papers give glimpse through keyhole of kleptocracy

     

The Panama Papers are a glimpse through a keyhole of an orgy of tax evasion, money laundering and kleptocracy – amid the legitimate financial planning – hosted by the world’s… Read more »