Tag Archives: government

A case for Medvedev

Posted on February 7, 2013 by

Dmitry Medvedev outlined an economic program stretching all the way to 2018, the date of the next presidential election. More importantly, he did it in the Kremlin, unlike any of his predecessors, in an apparent attempt to demonstrate he was … Continue reading →

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Closing holes on the horn of plenty

Posted on January 23, 2013 by

2013 in Russian politics will start with the first two important initiatives of Vladimir Putin, after irresolute fire-fighting in 2012, aimed at taking reasoned steps towards preserving his power in the longer term. The purpose of one of these is … Continue reading →

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2012: not quite there yet

Posted on December 31, 2012 by

Many things that prominent Russia-watchers had expected didn’t happen in 2012. Most notably, the new opposition didn’t achieve a breakthrough in the regions, neither was Dmitry Medvedev dismissed, although in September these seemed all but imminent. Also, Vladimir Putin’s rating … Continue reading →

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The kompromat bubble

Posted on December 8, 2012 by

There is a very unique Russian word that has haunted Russian politics ever since the fall of the Soviet Union: kompromat, a Russian-style contraction of ‘compromising material’. Kompromats have a lively culture in Russia. Creating a good kompromat has become … Continue reading →

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Time is politicking out

Posted on September 30, 2012 by

Richard Sakwa, one of my favourite Kremlin-watchers recently published a recap of the main events and processes of the past few months in Russia. Undoubtedly, the most important and strongest statement in the paper was that the politicisation of elite … Continue reading →

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Rearranging that team photo

Posted on August 23, 2012 by

Russian media served a delicious treat to Kremlin-watchers last week. The Minchenko Consulting Group published a report on the “Politburo 2.0”, trying to decipher and to put into context the new setup of the “collective Putin” after the March presidential … Continue reading →

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Pussy Riot as a symptom – Part 2

Posted on August 21, 2012 by

In the first part of this post I was trying to point out some of the more immediate political consequences of the Pussy Riot sentence. I joined the interesting discussion started on Mark Galeotti’s blog, In Moscow’s Shadows, an exchange … Continue reading →

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