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

Details: Analysis

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

Details: 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.

How Russian authorities try to highjack Navalny’s “smart voting”

Details: Analysis

How Russian authorities try to highjack Navalny’s “smart voting”

Details: 09 September 2021; Igor Slabykh

On September 5, the Moscow Arbitration Court ordered that Google and Yandex search engines hide search results for the term “smart voting.” The blocking measure comes in response to a claim filed by an obscure wool-trading company to protect its trademark recently registered under the same name. The entire affair clearly aims to disrupt opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s campaign aimed at outvoting United Russia voters. Backed up by the security agencies, it has been clumsy and cynical, barely maintaining a veneer of legality.

What to expect from a single voting day: expert forecast

Details: Analysis

What to expect from a single voting day: expert forecast

Details: 09 September 2021; Institute of Modern Russia

On September 17-19, Russia will hold a series of elections on various levels of the power system—for the State Duma, for the headship of 12 federal subjects, as well as for seats in the legislative assemblies of 39 regions. Russian and Western political scientists agree that, overall, the vote will play out according to the 2016 scenario, with candidates from the pro-Kremlin United Russia receiving the majority of votes. However, some surprises can still happen, especially if the turnout of opposition-minded voters is high.

Putin and Ukraine: Power and the construction of history

Details: Analysis

Putin and Ukraine: Power and the construction of history

Details: 08 September 2021; Dmitry Shlapentokh

Vladimir Putin’s article “On the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians” offers the Russian president’s view of the two peoples’ common history, which was not as harmonious as he alleges. Crucially, Putin clearly believes that Ukraine’s identity, its very existence, is the result of power projection and its historical narrative can be changed. This thinking has serious political implications.

Why Russia fails to protect intellectual property

Details: Analysis

Why Russia fails to protect intellectual property

Details: 31 August 2021; Igor Slabykh

On average, 62 percent of software in Russia is estimated to be pirated. For decades, the country has been on the U.S. watchlist of the world’s most vicious intellectual rights infringers. Even the Russian government is implicated in using software counterfeits.

Lessons in politics: The struggles of the Russian regions’ vaccine rollout

Details: Analysis

Lessons in politics: The struggles of the Russian regions’ vaccine rollout

Details: 27 August 2021; András Tóth-Czifra

The problem of Russia’s slow vaccination rate is multilayered, with high vaccine hesitancy and insufficient production providing only partial explanations. Vaccine rollouts have varied widely across Russia’s regions, and local officials have struggled to maneuver the country’s centralized political system, a reluctant population, and regional specifics. Regional differences reflect the deeply rooted political issues of governance and public trust.

Nord Stream II: Germany’s choice, everyone’s problem

Details: Analysis

Nord Stream II: Germany’s choice, everyone’s problem

Details: 23 August 2021; Vera Michlin-Shapir

The controversial Nord Stream II pipeline, which is reportedly expected to be finished by the end of August, has caused deep divisions along political and ideological fault lines in the West. While discussions on the issue mostly focus on the geopolitical or business side of the project, how the pipeline plays into the Kremlin’s strategy of informational-psychological influence has remained largely neglected. As such, Nord Stream II could be seen as a political win for Moscow.

How the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan threatens Russia

Details: Analysis

How the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan threatens Russia

Details: 11 August 2021; Dmitry Shlapentokh

The U.S. departure from Afghanistan marks the culmination of the long turbulent period that began with the 1979 Soviet invasion. During this time, Afghan Islamists emerged as the adversary of both the U.S. and the USSR/Russia, and the discord between the latter helped them survive and persevere. While some Russian observers might see the U.S. withdrawal as a defeat and weakness, this development might bring about more problems for Moscow than benefits.

Report review, Reiderstvo 2.0: The Illegal Raiding Pandemic in Russia

Details: Analysis

Report review, Reiderstvo 2.0: The Illegal Raiding Pandemic in Russia

Details: 06 August 2021; Institute of Modern Russia

On August 6, Michael Calvey, one of Russia’s most prominent foreign investors, was sentenced to five and a half years of suspended prison term for embezzlement in a case that has become “emblematic of the country’s reputation as an often treacherous place to do business.” Earlier this summer, similar conclusions were drawn in a report titled “Reiderstvo 2.0: The Illegal Raiding Pandemic in Russia,” which was prepared by the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) at George Mason University. IMR reviews the report, which highlights reiderstvo’s “devastating effects” on Russian business.

Bard College declared “undesirable” in Russia. What now?

Details: Analysis

Bard College declared “undesirable” in Russia. What now?

Details: 15 July 2021; Institute of Modern Russia

On June 21, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office recognized Bard College as an “undesirable” organization, making it the first education institution to be blacklisted in the country. With the further stiffening of the existing “undesirables” law and the Putin regime’s overall aversion to foreign influence, the precedent is set for targeting other Western educational institutions in the future.

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