Sergei Guriev has spoken about his decision to flee Russia, stating frankly that he left because “I don’t want to sit in jail.” Guriev, a leading economist once very much part of the Russian establishment who wrote speeches for Dmitry Medvedev, described how the increasing pressure from investigators over a report he had authored criticizing […]
It is safe to say that publicly challenging Putin means that you may find yourself facing charges of money laundering, extortion, or the regime’s curiously esoteric understanding of hooliganism. The experiences of Pussy Riot, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and Alexei Navalny have all shown the repercussions that dissent entails. Now, however, it seems that even disagreeing with […]
Sergei Guriyev, one of Russia’s best economists and administrators of economics scholarship, has resigned from his post of dean of the Russian Economic School (RES) and has refused to run for a seat on the supervisory board of Sberbank. Guriyev is in Paris for now, where his family lives and where his wife, the brilliant […]
Alexei Kudrin, head of the Committee of Civic Initiatives (CCI), has said that the possibility that he will be appointed prime minister is “minimal,” emphasizing that he has some antagonisms with the political leadership of the country. The ex-Minister of Finance “for now” is engaged in “direct political activity.” Kudrin made this statement at an […]
Putin’s rule in Russia is based on his careful management of an institutionalized patronage system which has allowed him to navigate the “clan” factionalism of Russian business and political elites. Through unusually high commodity prices, and a 7 percent growth rate over the past decade, Putin was able to rely on large surpluses to placate […]
The resignation of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov — the Kremlin’s “grey cardinal” — has prompted a raft of articles speculating as to the true cause for Surkov’s departure. This article suggests that his involvement in the corruption-plagued Skolkovo project, inaugurated by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, became Surkov’s pink slip . –Ed. On […]
In my early youth, a friend of the family who had consecutively passed through the hell of German and Stalin’s concentration camps gave me A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich [by Alexander Solzhenitsyn] to read. Ever since, for many years, I have hungrily read everything I could about Stalin, about the hard years […]
The efforts to morally discredit the opposition, set against the backdrop of new criminal cases against the leaders and rank-and-file participants of the protest movement, is a good way to finally bury the political landscape of Russia under concrete, or in a bog (in the literal sense, not to be confused with Bolotnaya Square. The […]
During his five-hour dialogue with the Russian people, Vladimir Putin did not express his support for the government of Dmitri Medvedev. He said that it’s too early to dismiss that government, and did not even argue against some sharp criticisms by the former finance minister Alexei Kurdin, who during that live broadcast stressed on several […]
