Last year, the town of Krymsk was almost fully destroyed by the largest flood. A year after the disaster occurred, a citizen activist and coordinator of Civil Emergency Corps Volunteers Alyona Popova spoke with IMR Advisor Boris Bruk about the events and lessons of the Krymsk tragedy. Alyona Popova came to Krymsk shortly after the night of the flood and became one of the organizers and coordinators of the “Kind Camp” of volunteers, which provided assistance to the flood victims.
A year ago, at night of July 7, the Krasnodar Krai was struck by the decade’s worst flood. The town of Krymsk was most affected by the disaster – the flood took the lives of 153 persons. The total number of deaths in the Krasnodar Krai was estimated at 171, 7.2 thousand of residencies were flooded, and over 60 thousand people were announced victims. For Krymsk, this is not the first tragedy of that kind; for example, in August of 2002, Krymsk became one of the areas, which were most highly affected by the flood. In 2002, 62 people died and 200 were considered victims.
The G-8 summit held at Lough Erne Resort in Northern Ireland resulted in a compromise on the Syrian issue. This happened despite the fact that Moscow was initially unwilling to compromise on key issues of the Syrian crisis. Political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya talks about why Putin showed unexpected flexibility.
In June, former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, co-leader of the Republican Party of Russia–People’s Freedom Party (RPR–PARNAS), visited the United States. In an interview with IMR Advisor Olga Khvostunova, Kasyanov discussed the opposition’s plans for the new political season and shared his views on the situation in Russia.
In June, under Russia’s presidency of the G20, the Civil20 (C20) Summit was held in Moscow. IMR Advisor Boris Bruk discusses the discrepancy between the declarations and the practices of the Russian authorities.
The Institute of Modern Russia continues the series of publications by prominent scholar Alexander Yanov on the history of Russian nationalism. In this article, the author discusses the historical roots of the current Russian leadership’s “national patriotism.”
The meeting between Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G-8 summit in Northern Ireland left an impression that the White House is ready to cooperate on the Kremlin’s terms. Donald N. Jensen, Resident Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, finds “inexplicable” the US president’s unwillingness to publicly mention human rights in his conversation with Putin.
The founding congress of the All-Russia People’s Front (ARPF), which will now be called the People’s Front for Russia, was held in Moscow in June. It was no surprise that President Vladimir Putin became its leader. Also elected to the front’s central staff were film director Stanislav Govorukhin, Delovaya Rossiya co-chairman Alexander Galushka, and State Duma member and TV journalist Olga Timofeyeva. Political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya discusses whether the ARPF will become a political party and what effect the organization will have on the political landscape.
On September 8, Moscow will hold its first mayoral elections in a decade. Among those running for office are incumbent Acting Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and anticorruption campaigner Alexei Navalny. Author and analyst Alexander Podrabinek weighs the pros and contras of boycotting and participating in the vote.
As Mikhail Khodorkovsky celebrates another birthday in prison, IMR Research Associate Elizabeth Zolotukhina revisits his story and tries to answer a seemingly redundant question: why Khodorkovsky was singled out for arrest, trial, and a lengthy prison sentence.
Our newsletter delivers a digest of analytical articles and op-eds published on our website, along with the latest updates on the IMR activities on a monthly basis.