Staunton, January 30 – The old left-right continuum in Russian politics with its differences between conservatives and reformers ceased to be relevant as the basis for analysis and understanding with Putin’s Anschluss of Crimea and the formation of a populist left-right alliance of support, according to Aleksandr Morozov. In a commentary in New Times, he […]
Introduction The early presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine that took place in May and October 2014, respectively proved to be disastrous for the Ukrainian parties of the political far right. Oleh Tyahnybok, the leader of Svoboda, the All-Ukrainian Union Freedom party, obtained 1.16% of the vote in the presidential election, while his party secured […]
Staunton, February 1 – Vladimir Putin has clearly learned the lesson some of his predecessors did not: when times are tough, boosting alcohol prices is a good way to trigger a social explosion. But his decision to cut the price of the cheapest vodka — which went into effect February 1 — is a recipe […]
One of Ukraine’s most famous battles was waged at Ilovaisk (here on Google Maps). As we reported in our summary of the battle which we posted in August, 107 Ukrainians and 300 Russians were reportedly killed between August 7th and September 2, after Ukrainian troops which had been on the offensive suddenly met unexpectedly heavy […]
This is turning out to be a bad week for Europeans hoping to resist the advance of Putinism. Ukraine continues to dither, rather than fight Russian invasion seriously. While Kyiv at last termed Moscow’s violence against their country “aggression,” they demurred from calling it a war, which it is, seemingly not realizing that if Ukraine […]
Staunton, January 25 -Russian actions at the Donetsk airport last week and in Mariupol January 24 show that “except for military blackmail and murders, Putin has nothing to offer either Western leaders or Ukraine,” a conclusion that Vitaly Portnikov argues should compel both to re-examine their willingness to negotiate with him. Ukraine’s defensive actions need […]
Yesterday brought front-page news of the FBI’s arrest of a Russian businessman in the Bronx who, according to the information released by the Department of Justice, had been operating as an agent of Russian intelligence for several years, collecting mainly economic information in the United States. The man in custody is Evgeny Buryakov (39), AKA […]
At the beginning of this week, President Barack Obama explained that Russia, hit hard by Western sanctions, is losing in its confrontation with the West and NATO caused by Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. In his State of the Union address, Obama displayed similar swag and bluster against both the Kremlin and Congressional Republicans, seemingly […]
Staunton, January 23 – The recent statement by Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peshkov, that “there are things more important than laws” is the latest sign of a fundamental shift in Russian governance from the dictatorship of laws that Putin promised when he came to office to a dictatorship of morality resembling the situation in […]
Staunton, January 22 – Russia’s “thick” journals, the pride of its intellectual life for more than a century are dying, the result of changes in the media marketplace. But despite 2015 having been declared “The Year of Literature” in Russia, the Russian government is unwilling to do anything to save them. Indeed, it says, it […]
