Politics
‘Putin could fall if he loses the support of a few hundred people’ Paid Members Public
The Bell editor Viacheslav Dvornikov spoke to political scientist Marcel Dirsus, author of the acclaimed new book, "How Tyrants Fall," about what his study of dictatorships and autocrats suggests is in store for the Putin regime — and how his demise could come about. The full interview is available
Russians still tuning into YouTube despite block attempts Paid Members Public
Russia’s authorities are raising their game when it comes to blocking — or in their words “slowing” — YouTube. At the start of last week, users were complaining that it was almost impossible to watch clips on the platform in 4K resolution; by the end of the week several were finding
Repressive laws target immigrants, chatty soldiers and civil society Paid Members Public
Vladimir Putin last week signed more than 100 federal laws in a single day, several of which take Russia in an even more repressive direction, with new restrictions affecting migrants, servicemen, bloggers, individuals who work with foreign organizations and those who publicly report about protests. * Immigrants face a host of
Russia’s authorities distance themselves from Ukraine’s counter-invasion Paid Members Public
It has already been a week since Ukrainian troops and tanks crossed into Russian territory, opening a new offensive on the Kursk border region, a small territory in southwest Russia. Excluding some short-lived border raids by militia groups, this is the first full-scale military incursion by Ukraine’s troops since
Opposition leaders, newly freed, stoke controversy with first public comments Paid Members Public
The biggest prisoner swap between Russia and the West since Soviet times has freed two of Russia’s leading liberal politicians — figures with genuine ambitions to lead the opposition in exile. Tet far from garnering sympathy for the more than two years they spent in Putin’s prison system, their
Russia’s new elite being pushed into politics Paid Members Public
Russian soldiers who have fought in Ukraine have become a powerful new social class in Russian society. They get state subsidies, extra welfare payments, career boosts, and, for some, a fast track to power. President Vladimir Putin often calls veterans and soldiers Russia’s “new elite,” asserting that the leadership
Russian propagandists slam Olympics opening ceremony Paid Members Public
The opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics — which attracted criticism for its apparent reinterpretation of the Last Supper featuring drag performers — proved a gift for Russian propagandists. They jumped on the opportunity to rehash one of their favorite talking points — the decadence of a liberal Europe that has no
Another Kremlin appointment at Moscow’s once-famed independent university Paid Members Public
Vladimir Putin’s notorious former economic advisor Sergei Glazyev is now a research fellow at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics — the latest sign of the Kremlin’s control over what used to be Russia’s leading liberal university. * Economist Sergei Glazyev was appointed chief researcher at the Higher School
