The problem of Russia’s off-the-books oil tankers Paid Members Public
Hello! Welcome to your weekly guide to the Russian economy — written by Alexander Kolyandr and Alexandra Prokopenko and brought to you by The Bell. This week our top story is a look at Russia’s shadow oil tanker fleet and what the West could do about it. We also look
Russian schoolchildren forced to commemorate ‘genocide of the Soviet people’ Paid Members Public
In the latest installation of forced propaganda in Russian schools, students across the country were forced to kneel en masse in front of a five-pointed star — an army symbol — to mark the “genocide of the Soviet people.” It follows an intensification of war-time messaging in the Russian curriculum following the
Russia tries to downplay importance of US aid for Ukraine Paid Members Public
On state TV over the weekend, Russian propagandists tried to minimize the importance of the US House of Representatives approving $61 billion of military aid to Ukraine after months of delay. The key message on Russian airwaves was that most of this money would remain in the States, and would
Team Navalny film about 1990s oligarchs divides Russia’s opposition Paid Members Public
The 1990s were a turbulent period following the collapse of the Soviet Union — and 30 years later it remains the most controversial era in modern Russian history. The rapid democratization of society and the switch from a planned to a market economy was accompanied by poverty, rampant crime and the
Russia’s surging budget revenues Paid Members Public
Hello! Welcome to your weekly guide to the Russian economy — written by Alexander Kolyandr and Alexandra Prokopenko and brought to you by The Bell. This week our top story is a surge in tax revenues for the state. We also look at new sanctions on Russian metals. Bumper budget income
AI-powered internet censorship Paid Members Public
Russia’s internet watchdog wants to use artificial intelligence to block access to restricted information on the Russian internet. AI should help the agency block unwanted content three times faster — within an hour of publication — and strike down content more accurately, the authorities say. * Russia’s Roskomnadzor communications regulator plans
Unprecedented flooding unlikely to shake trust in Putin Paid Members Public
The main topic in Russia over the last few weeks has been the catastrophic flooding in the Orenburg region in the southern Urals, along the border with Kazakhstan. In Orsk, rising river waters burst through a poorly constructed dam, completely flooding the city of some 200,000 people. A few