Institute of Modern Russia

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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”

Two scholars discuss the lessons of the Soviet collapse

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01 November 2021

Liya Wizevich

In the runup to the 30th anniversary of the USSR’s dissolution, prominent Russian experts Vladimir Mau and Vladimir Gelman discuss the inevitability of the Soviet collapse, the fall of 1991 as a period of revolution, and the impact of the following decade’s legacy on modern Russia.

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A bitter celebration: the concept of judicial reform in Russia turns 30

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28 October 2021

Ekaterina Mishina

Thirty years ago the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic approved the Concept of Judicial Reform, whose main goal was to transform the courts into an autonomous influential actor independent from other branches of power. Professor of the Free University (Svobodny Universitet) and legal scholar Ekaterina Mishina reflects on the state of the judicial system in modern Russia—and finds obvious signs of counter-reform.

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News

IMR is launching a new project “The Kremlin complex: strengths and weaknesses of the Putin regime”

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28 October 2021

Institute of Modern Russia

The Institute of Modern Russia is launching a new research project dedicated to examining the strengths and weaknesses of the Putin regime and identifying myths and misconceptions about Russia in the Western public discourse. Our goal is to identify the regime’s attributes that are perceived in the West as strengths, and to give them a critical appraisal with a focus on their ambivalent nature.

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IMR’s new report: “The Rise and Fall of Sputnik V”

How the Kremlin used the coronavirus vaccine as a tool of information warfare  

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28 October 2021

Institute of Modern Russia

IMR is releasing a new report titled “The rise and fall of Sputnik V: How the Kremlin used the coronavirus vaccine as a tool of information warfare.” It is the first report in IMR's a new series dedicated to examining the strengths and weaknesses of the Putin regime. Based on rigorous content analysis of the coverage of Sputnik V by Russian and Western media, this study highlights the limits of the Kremlin's propaganda and disinformation campaigns as well as the Russian government's eschewed priorities, which resulted in the deep public mistrust for Sputnik V and the failures of the domestic vaccination campaign. 

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Why the Kremlin is increasing pressure on Ukraine

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26 October 2021

Mykola Vorobiov

The Ukraine situation remains an important factor in the relationship between Moscow and Washington, as testified to by the agenda of American diplomat Victoria Nuland’s recent visit to Russia. In defiance to that, Russian authorities openly decry the “pointlessness” of negotiations with Ukraine’s current administration.

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Opinions

• Longreads
• 30 Years of the USSR's Dissolution

Vladimir Gelman: “Russia’s leadership is increasingly facing problems of succession and lack of perspective”

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17 October 2021

Olga Khvostunova

December 26, 2021, will mark 30 years since the Soviet Union was officially dissolved. As such, the Institute of Modern Russia has launched a series of interviews with experts to discuss the post-Soviet decades and identify key issues of the Russian transition and their impact on Russia’s political system and society today. In the fourth installment of the series, political scientist Vladimir Gelman spoke about the reasons for the failure of democratic reforms in Russia, the emergence of a “negative equilibrium,” the propaganda of a fictional ideal of the “good” Soviet Union, and the country’s democratic potential.

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Opinions

“They keep attempting to extract testimony in exchange for my life”

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11 October 2021

Vera Chelishcheva

Ten years ago, at the age of 39, Vasily Aleksanyan, a Yukos lawyer, left this world; his tragic fate haunts many people to this day. For the cold-blooded torture he was subjected to while in detention is impossible to erase from one’s memory.

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Whither legitimacy? Lessons of Russia’s rigged elections

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06 October 2021

András Tóth-Czifra

The September 17-19 elections in Russia, which included voting for State Duma deputies and heads of federal subjects, as well as filling seats in the regional legislative assemblies, did not lead to the upset for the Kremlin that Putin critics had hoped for. But despite United Russia’s regaining a Duma supermajority, a closer look at its performance across various regions reveals important nuances about the public mood in the country, allowing inferences to be drawn about the Putin regime’s political trajectories.

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Scholars discuss a new book on Navalny adding touches to a portrait of the Russian opposition leader

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30 September 2021

Liya Wizevich

On September 20, University College London’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies (UCL SSEES) hosted the first academic book launch for Navalny: Putin’s Nemesis, Russia’s Future? co-authored by Dr. Jan Matti Dollbaum, Morvan Lallouet, and Dr. Ben Noble, and published by Hurst and Oxford University Press. The three authors discussed the book with Professor Gulnaz Sharafutdinova of King’s College London, delving into the authors’ endeavor to understand who exactly Alexei Navalny is and how his activities and the Kremlin’s strategies have shaped one another.

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Analysis

The Biden-Zelensky summit: security, threats, and “working on mistakes”

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15 September 2021

Mykola Vorobiov

The recent summit between Presidents Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House demonstrated that Washington and Kyiv are ready to cooperate, despite some unresolved issues, including Ukraine’s aspiration to join NATO and the future of Nord Stream II. Against the backdrop of Russian aggression, these issues could pose a serious threat to European security.