Tag Archives: ratings

NY Dispatches: The future of United Russia

Falling popularity, surprising electoral upsets, candidates that run as independent for fear of being too closely associated with the party… Russia’s ruling party, United Russia, is going through some tough months. Or make it years? Yet, despite the growing challenges, … Continue reading

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NY Dispatches: Putin’s trust rating

The grotesque revision of the methodology behind the Russian president’s trust rating by the state-owned VTsIOM pollster following a comment by Putin’s spokesman does not only show how malleable statistical data are in Russia. It also tells a lot about … Continue reading

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Shoigu’s Game

One of the underreported stories of the past years in the Western media was how Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu became one of the most visible, most popular and strongest figures in Russian politics. This is perhaps because Shoigu has … Continue reading

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The rise of the regions

The main story of the year 2018 in Russia was the rise, in indignation, of Russia’s regions. While there has been growing tension between Russia’s federal subjects and the federal government for years, 2018 changed the calculation for the Kremlin … Continue reading

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Problem solvers

The FIFA World Cup has ended, and with it, so did a month-long distraction of the Russian public from public affairs. At the same time, the summer political recess or “cucumber time” began. The hope in the Kremlin was that … Continue reading

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Putin’s endgame? Part 1: the problem of power

In the first part of No Yardstick’s series on the issues shaping Vladimir Putin’s fourth presidential term, we will first look at the core psychological question of the term: the projection of power in a period most think will be … Continue reading

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For the want of better

Just a couple of months ago, it might have seemed that the theme of Vladimir Putin’s fourth presidential campaign would be the story of a strong leader in a country besieged from all sides. Diverting the anger of voters towards … Continue reading

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