Analysis - Institute of Modern Russia

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Ukraine Goes to the West

Details: Politics

Ukraine Goes to the West

Details: 12 December 2013; Alexander Podrabinek

Mass protests in Ukraine, provoked by President Viktor Yanukovich’s rejection of the EU association agreement deal, are about to enter their third week. As some policy experts speculate on potential developments in the standoff situation, writer and publicist Alexander Podrabinek discusses what the Ukraine protests mean for Russia.

Lost Cause: On the 20th Anniversary of the Russian Constitution

Details: Law

Lost Cause: On the 20th Anniversary of the Russian Constitution

Details: 11 December 2013; Ekaterina Mishina

December 12 marks the 20th anniversary of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. According to some estimates, over $600,000 were spent on pompous celebration activities. Meanwhile, as IMR legal expert Ekaterina Mishina notes, the constitution has begun to be treated as a fetish, while its real content is ignored. Legal initiatives and veiled statements calling for defiance of the constitution’s direct instructions are not a rare case anymore.

Two Big News Events about the Fight against Corruption

Details: Law

Two Big News Events about the Fight against Corruption

Details: 10 December 2013; Ekaterina Mishina

This November Information Science for Democracy (INDEM) Foundation published a significant book titled Russian Corruption: The Scale, Structure, and Dynamics. This book represents the results of a series of sociological studies conducted by INDEM between 2001 and 2010. IMR Advisor Ekaterina Mishina, a prominent Russian legal expert, analyzes this publication in the context of the Russian government’s latest attempts to fight corruption.

On Russia’s European Choice

Details: Nation

On Russia’s European Choice

Details: 09 December 2013; Alexander Yanov

The Institute of Modern Russia continues its series of articles by Alexander Yanov on the history of Russian nationalism. In this new essay, the author discusses the issues that prevent Russia from joining the “European family.”

Creating a Distraction: On the State and Religion in Russia

Details: Nation

Creating a Distraction: On the State and Religion in Russia

Details: 06 December 2013; Alexander Podrabinek

The initiative of Duma member Elena Mizulina to enshrine a role for Orthodox Christianity in the Russian Constitution and the proposal by Civic Platform party leader Mikhail Prokhorov to adopt a special religious code greatly differed in style—but, according to author and analyst Alexander Podrabinek, both of them contradicted the principle of a secular state.

The Fatal Error of Viktor Yanukovych

Details: Politics

The Fatal Error of Viktor Yanukovych

Details: 05 December 2013; Tatiana Stanovaya

Following Viktor Yanukovych’s refusal to sign an association agreement with the EU, thousands of protest actions (comprising between 200,000 and one million participants, according to differing data) broke out in Ukraine, resembling the Orange Revolution of 2004. Political scientist Tatyana Stanovaya discusses whether the current events in Kiev will lead to a change of government.

Romes Old and New

Details: Politics

Romes Old and New

Details: 05 December 2013; Donald N. Jensen

On November 25, Pope Francis held a thirty-five-minute private meeting in Rome with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Donald N. Jensen, Resident Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, the Kremlin’s and the Orthodox Church’s attempts to improve relationship with Vatican are a part of Russia’s strategy to demonstrate that Moscow can provide an alternative to Washington.

Russia: Ten Years Without a Parliament

Details: Politics

Russia: Ten Years Without a Parliament

Details: 05 December 2013; Vladimir Kara-Murza

On December 7, 2003, Russia held parliamentary elections that were, for the first time in the country’s post-Soviet history, assessed as not conforming to democratic standards. The liberal opposition was thrown out of Parliament, and the Duma, in the words of its own speaker, became “not a place for discussion.” IMR Senior Policy Advisor Vladimir Kara-Murza, a candidate in the 2003 elections, notes the catastrophic fall in standing of Russia’s legislative branch of government over the past decade.

“Going to That Demonstration Was a Selfish Move: I Wanted to Have a Clean Conscience”: Natalia Gorbanevskaya in Her Own Words

Details: Nation

“Going to That Demonstration Was a Selfish Move: I Wanted to Have a Clean Conscience”: Natalia Gorbanevskaya in Her Own Words

Details: 04 December 2013

On December 4, Natalia Gorbanevskaya was read her last rites at the Russian Orthodox Church of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple and buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Gorbanevskaya—poet, translator, human rights activist, first editor of the Chronicle of Current Events, participant in the August 1968 Red Square demonstration—died on November 29 at the age of 77. In 2005, she took part in the filming of Vladimir Kara-Murza’s documentary film They Chose Freedom. Below are excerpts from her interview.

The “Enlightened Nationalism” of Lev Gumilev

Details: Nation

The “Enlightened Nationalism” of Lev Gumilev

Details: 02 December 2013; Alexander Yanov

The Institute of Modern Russia continues its series of articles by Alexander Yanov on the history of Russian nationalism. This installment is dedicated to the teaching of Lev Gumilev, a prominent Russian historian who has been proclaimed the founder of the “integration” of the Eurasian space by the current Russian authorities.

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