The Language of a Successful Dictator: How to Remain Popular Without Ending Repressions
Olesya Zakharova on Vladimir Putin’s argumentation schemes
Political actors
The Folly of Shoigu’s New Siberian Cities
Nick Trickett questions why the Russian government is thinking about building new Siberian cities, when there is still plenty of work to do in developing the existing ones
Do Digital Technologies Serve People or Autocrats?
Gulnaz Sharafutdinova reports on how Russia’s authorities are investing heavily into a ‘smart city’ agenda which could enable a slice of better governance
Who are Navalny’s Digital Dissidents?
Andrei Semenov and Jan Matti Dollbaum paint a socio-political portrait of Alexey Navalny’s online followers
Mishustin and the Politics of Stagflation
Nick Trickett believes Russia’s government is fighting a losing battle against inflation
Navalny groups threatened with ‘extremist’ label
Grigorii Golosov reviews the legal implications of the government’s ‘extremist’ label for Alexey Navalny’s supporters
Foolproofing Putinism
Fabian Burkhardt on why Mikhail Mishustin might be one of the most ambitious Prime Ministers in recent Russian history
Alexei Navalny and his potential supporters
Stepan Goncharov investigates the levels of support and opposition to Alexei Navalny across Russia
Navalny’s return puts the spotlight back on Russia’s security services
Kirill Shamiev sees Alexei Navalny’s return to Russia — and subsequent arrest — as another reminder of why reform of Russia’s security services is long overdue
2020 in Russia: the year when politics became a crime
Ivan Davydov on key developments in Russia in 2020
The prospects for Putin’s ‘long state’
Alexander Morozov on why Putin has not become an Atatürk for post-Soviet Russia