Home - Institute of Modern Russia

The Price of the Opposition: Should One Walk in the Counsel of the Wicked?

Details: 25 November 2013; Alexander Podrabinek

The participation of Russian opposition politician Vladimir Ryzhkov in a recent Kremlin meeting with Vladimir Putin has reignited the debate about whether it is acceptable for the democratic opposition to engage with the leader of an authoritarian regime. Author and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek contends that such rituals only benefit the authorities.

Details: Politics

A Warning to Medvedev

Details: 25 November 2013; Tatiana Stanovaya

Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin gave the police and security forces an opportunity to take revenge for their losses during Dmitri Medvedev’s presidency. Practically all of the initiatives of the former Russian president and current prime minister have been revised—a state of affairs that Medvedev has usually taken lying down. However, in November, for the first time in eighteen months, Medvedev decided to publicly criticize a bill introduced to the State Duma by Putin. In response, the president as good as threatened the head of the Russian government with dismissal. According to political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya, Russian business is being put at the mercy of the security forces.

Details: Politics

Sandbox for Russia’s Opposition

Details: 19 November 2013; Alexander Podrabinek

The leaders of Russia’s opposition are increasingly beholden to the “theory of small deeds,” trying to improve certain aspects of the political and social life. Author and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek contends that the opposition should aim to dismantle, not improve Russia’s current regime.

Details: Nation

From Economic Crisis to Political Crisis

Changing Middle-Class Attitudes in Moscow and St. Petersburg, 2008–2012

Details: 19 November 2013; Sasha de Vogel

During the 2011–2012 electoral cycle, Russia saw unprecedented mass protests by representatives of the country’s growing middle class calling for more democracy and less corruption. Political scientists point to the unraveling of an unspoken “social contract” between Vladimir Putin and Russian society. In this study, Sasha de Vogel, managing editor of the Journal of Globalization and Development, analyzes the causes and nature of the Russian middle class’ protest.

Details: Politics

Will There Be a “Thaw” in Russia?

Details: 15 November 2013; Donald N. Jensen

At the end of October, Kremlin Chief-of-Staff Sergei Ivanov and his deputy Vyacheslav Volodin attended a meeting of municipal mayors from the Moscow region and indicated that they wanted their audience to be more responsive to voters’ needs and more open to the involvement of civil society. Donald N. Jensen, Resident Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, contends that there is no sign that the Kremlin will permit anything that threatens the president’s power or fundamentally alters Russian politics.

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.