Newsletter
The Alaska summit: Will Trump lift sanctions on Russia? PRO 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 we preview the Putin-Trump summit, set for Friday in Alaska, and ask whether Russia could be on the brink of securing sanctions relief. We
Putin-Trump summit brings Ukraine ceasefire closer PRO Members Public
Negotiations about achieving peace in Ukraine have been upended. Unless there is a last-minute problem, Russian President Vladimir Putin will next week meet his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump to discuss a plan to freeze the conflict. With Putin likely to demand guarantees that NATO will not expand, any deal
The fate of YouTube in Russia PRO Members Public
Hello! Our main story this week is how YouTube has fared in Russia in the year since authorities started blocking it — and what its future could be. We also pay tribute to Derk Sauer, one of the founding fathers of Russian independent media, who died last week, aged 72. Russia
Russia mulls food price controls – again PRO Members Public
Security services turn on unruly tabloid PRO Members Public
Hello! This week we cover the raids and arrests of top figures at the Baza Telegram channel, an outlet with close ties to the security agencies, which appear to have now turned against the publication they fed for years. Baza targeted in Russia’s escalating media crackdown Baza — the Telegram
A new level of repression PRO Members Public
Hello! This week we cover a new piece of legislation that would punish Russians for reading “extremist” content online, in what could be the opening salvo in a massive new ramp-up of repression. Russia to fine people for searching or reading material online Russia is taking its biggest step towards
Sanctions bark worse than their bite PRO Members Public
Hello! Welcome to your weekly guide to the Russian economy, written by Alexandra Prokopenko and Alexander Kolyandr and brought to you by The Bell. This week we look at a possible escalation of the Western sanctions war against Russia. We also look at the Central Bank’s claim that inflation
Censorship in Russia – back to the USSR? PRO Members Public
Hello! This week we look at plans to revive Soviet-era censorship, what the Kremlin thinks of the idea and what it would mean, if anything, for Russian media. Russia gets serious about bring back Soviet-style censorship Talk of reviving official censorship in Russia, while not new, has taken on a
Fear levels rise among the Russian elite PRO Members Public
Hello! Welcome to your weekly guide to the Russian economy, written by Alexandra Prokopenko and Alexander Kolyandr and brought to you by The Bell. This week we examine what the suicide of ex-Transport Minister Roman Starovoit tells us about the pressures facing the Russian elite. We also look at financial
Sacked transport minister dies by suicide PRO Members Public
Hello! Our top story is the shock suicide of Russia’s transport minister, whose body was discovered hours after he was fired amid looming corruption charges. We also look at how a string of internet outages and major disruption at airports could spell trouble for the Kremlin’s support among
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The Bell was founded in 2017 by journalists Elizaveta Osetinskaya, Irina Malkova and Peter Mironenko as a news outlet independent from the Russian authorities, after its founders have been sacked as top editors at the largest Russian news website RBC because of pressure from the Kremlin.
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