Institute of Modern Russia

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Nation

Yuri Schmidt (1937–2013)

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14 January 2013

Eminent Russian lawyer Yuri Markovich Schmidt has died in St. Petersburg at the age of 75. “A lawyer by profession and a defender of human rights by fiat of conscience,” was how legendary dissident Vladimir Bukovsky referred to him. Schmidt was involved with the human rights movement since the 1960s. Those whom he represented in courts in the 1990s and 2000s included Alexander Nikitin and the families of Galina Starovoitova and Sergei Yushenkov. Since 2004, Schmidt represented Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The farewell ceremony for Yuri Schmidt will take place between 11am and 1pm on January 16 at the House of Architect in St. Petersburg (52, Bolshaya Morskaya Street.)

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Politics

We All Come Out from the Overcoat (On the Prospects for the Russian Opposition)

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14 January 2013

Alexander Podrabinek

At the start of 2013, protest sentiments in Russian society are alive and well, but the inability of opposition leaders to give these sentiments an organized form and their late reaction to events reduce the chances of success. According to author and analyst Alexander Podrabinek, the prospects for the Russian protest movement will depend to a large extent on self-organization and the search for new forms of opposition activity.

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Politics

Moral Deterioration of Putin’s “Power Vertical”: Outcomes of 2012

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10 January 2013

Tatiana Stanovaya

2012 was an extremely contradictory year. On the one hand, Vladimir Putin has returned to the presidency and has considerably tightened his grip on the regime. On the other hand, for the first time during his rule, a protest movement has begun to rise in Russia, and the country is now divided into a passive majority and an active opposition minority. Tatiana Stanovaya, the head of the analytical department at the Center for Political Technologies and an IMR advisor, considers the outcomes of the past year.

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Politics

“Putin’s decision to grant Depardieu Russian citizenship is an insult to Russian civil society”. Statement by IMR President Pavel Khodorkovsky

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10 January 2013

Although I do not know Gerard Depardieu personally, I have long admired his acting skills. However, as President of the Institute of Modern Russia, a nonprofit aimed to promote human rights and democratic principles, I am compelled to address his misguided comments about the state of democracy in Russia.

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Politics

Gerard Depardieu, Putin’s “Useful Idiot”

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09 January 2013

Vladimir Kara-Murza

The decision by French actor Gerard Depardieu to take up Russian citizenship and his public praise of Vladimir Putin continue to be a hot topic for the international media. According to IMR Senior Policy Advisor Vladimir Kara-Murza, this story is reminiscent of the “useful bourgeois idiots” – the Western celebrities who supported the Communist regime in the USSR.

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Nation

Between Pass and Fail (A Historian’s Perspective)

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04 January 2013

Alexander Yanov

In his recent state-of-the-nation address, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that only those countries which prevail in the battle for the intellect will survive the global competition. However, according to historian and IMR Advisor Alexander Yanov, the Russian leader’s own intellectual level does not leave the country under his rule a serious chance for success.

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Politics

Vladimir Bukovsky: “The Collapse of the System Could Happen Quite Soon”

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03 January 2013

Olga Khvostunova

This spring, Russia will see a new wave of protests, which could lead to a change in government and to the collapse of the current political system. Such is the view of Russian writer Vladimir Bukovsky, a legendary Soviet-era dissident and a leader of the opposition “Solidarity” movement, who spoke with IMR’s Olga Khvostunova.

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Nation

A Life of Integrity: Vladimir Bukovsky at 70

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28 December 2012

Vladimir Kara-Murza

On December 30, Vladimir Bukovsky – writer, scientist, human rights campaigner, and one of the founders of the dissident movement in the USSR – will celebrate his 70th birthday. IMR Senior Policy Advisor Vladimir Kara-Murza recalls the milestones in Bukovsky’s life – and urges the present-day Russian opposition to heed his advice.

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Politics

Clueless in the Kremlin: Vladimir Putin’s Press Conference

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28 December 2012

Tatiana Stanovaya

On December 20, the “Day of the Chekist [Soviet secret police officer],” Vladimir Putin held his annual press conference. The event was expected to be the traditional end-of-year public relations show by Russia’s head of state who has always used such occasions to demonstrate his self-confidence. This time, however, it did not turn out as planned. According to Tatyana Stanovaya, chief of the analytical department of the Center of Political Technologies and IMR advisor, this was the first time that Putin did not control the conversation and appeared visibly weak.

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Politics

The Autumn of the Dictator. Part Three

Opposition

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26 December 2012

Olga Khvostunova

The Institute of Modern Russia completes its series of articles on the political history of contemporary Belarus. In the first two installments, we discussed Alexander Lukashenko's dashing rise to power and the country's transformation under his 18 year-long rule. In the concluding part, we'll focus on various efforts that Belarusian opposition puts into the struggle with Lukashenko's regime. Today, with Belarusian economy sagging and the country's model of "social protectionism at the expense of political freedoms" failing to deliver, it seems that the last dictatorship is Europe is entering its twilight.