Staunton, November 21 – On the first anniversary of the beginning of the Maidan demonstrations, Vitaly Portnikov says, it is important to understand that “Putin lost Ukraine even before the Maidan, before the dispersal of the students, before the bloodshed, before the occupation or Crimea and before the war in the Donbass.” He lost it, […]
Staunton, July 4 – The Izborsky Club, a group of intellectuals and writers put together by Aleksandr Prokhanov to promote Russian nationalist and traditionalist views, clearly has had a major influence on Vladimir Putin’s thinking and policies, including his annexation of Crimea and support for the idea of “a Russian world.” But now that Prokhanov […]
Staunton, June 22 – With the occupation of Crimea and with the encouragement of the Kremlin, many Russians believe they are on their way to becoming a super power once again, but the most thoughtful among them recognize that Russia lacks two if not three of the elements a super power must have. For a […]
Staunton, June 22 Russia has been able to defend and then expand its empire only when it has “recruited new and good people,” according to Vitaly Averyanov, the director of the Institute of Dynamic Conservatism and a leader of the influential Izborsky Club headed by Aleksandr Prokhanov. Averyanov told a St. Petersburg meeting of that […]
Staunton, June 14 – By his instrumental use of nationalist slogans in the current “chauvinistic storm” about Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has blocked the growth of a genuinely contemporary Russian nationalism and reduced it instead to a state-controlled ideology he will dispense with whenever he wants, according to Fedor Krasheninnikov. The Ekaterinburg commentator says that he […]
Updated Daily. Soccer fans angry at the murder of their fellow fan, joined by anti-migrant nationalists, rampaged in a Moscow suburb. Russian state propaganda has grown more aggressive and pompous, magnifying Russian imperialism and whipping up hatred of foreigners and dissidents. What are we measuring when we poll public opinion when people are mainly dependent […]
