Institute of Modern Russia

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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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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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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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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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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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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.

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Putin’s Address, or Playing the Spiritual Leader

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21 December 2012

Tatiana Stanovaya

On December 12, Vladimir Putin delivered his annual state-of-the-nation address. This address had been eagerly anticipated, since it would be the president’s first statement of policy since the winter protests, following on the heels of a significant toughening-up of legislation and the beginning of persecution of the opposition. The question the public wanted answered was what would the “Putin line” be in these new political realities? Tatyana Stanovaya, head of the analytical department at the Center of Political Technologies and an advisor at the IMR, tries to read between the lines of Putin’s answer.

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Politics

Putin's Response

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20 December 2012

Vladimir Kara-Murza

In response to the passage of the Magnitsky Act in the U.S., Russia’s authorities are introducing a blanket ban on adoptions of Russian children by American citizens. The Kremlin’s behavior has already been compared to that of the terrorists who use children as a “human shield.” According to IMR Senior Policy Advisor Vladimir Kara-Murza, the Putin regime is reaching a new level of turpitude.

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Politics

The Double Standards of Russian Politics

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13 December 2012

In an attempt to improve the Russian government’s public image, Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev is looking to cut the figure of a man who can quickly and effectively solve major problems. According to IMR analysts, however, the problems and solutions discussed by Medvedev are often far removed from the actual needs of the situation.