Tag Archives: kirienko

On the “new elite”, railway troubles and others

Russian regional officials are still appointing war participants to various positions, mostly to signal loyalty to the Kremlin, but some of the more recent appointment may represent a slight an potentially consequential shifting of gears. Meanwhile, Russian Railways will be … Continue reading

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On new normals, regional finances and others

Thoughts on number-crunching after the elections and why research into falsification is important. Why did Putin have to have 87%? Musings about regional finances in early 2024. And some stories from the regions that didn’t make the cut in Bear … Continue reading

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On schools and verticals

With the launch of the “School of Mayors” in November, the Kremlin took another step towards the corporatization of public administration in Russia. This happens alongside a severe restriction of local democratic institutions. This would carry risks even in a … Continue reading

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A mayor issue

The issue of direct mayoral elections and of local representative democracy in general is triggering protest movements and referendum initiatives in several Russian regions. This is partly due to national and regional politics becoming less and less pluralistic. However, the … Continue reading

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Agents of Control

Where do Russia’s new appointees in the occupied Eastern Ukrainian territories come from, and what do these appointments tell us about Russia’s designs with the occupied territories?

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Putin’s endgame

Vladimir Putin unveiled a set of sweeping constitutional amendments, Dmitry Medvedev’s government resigned, Russia’s new prime minister is a little-known tax official and Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov is “temporarily incapacitated”. And all of this happened within a couple of hours. … Continue reading

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NY Dispatches: crackdown on Navalny

Recent weeks saw the Russian authorities conducting an unprecedented crackdown on Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, which included labeling it as a “foreign agent”. Below I am trying to answer the questions of what triggered this crackdown and whether the goal … Continue reading

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