Systemic Strain and the Logic of Escalation
A figure once known as an anti-Navalny attack dog now presents himself as the head of the Russian opposition. Several outlets have circulated a leaked report this week claiming that Putin is in hiding, fearful of a coup. Observers abroad and many within Russia’s pro-war camp are beginning to register growing tensions in Putin’s world.
To Leave or Not to Leave: How Russian Technocrats Undermined Western Efforts to Isolate Russia
In 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine, the West’s concerted policy was to isolate the Russian economy and to ensure that Western companies left the country. In practice, a legal exit and an economic exit have proven to be two different things.
Dagestan’s Divided House: Europe’s Ethnically Most Complex Place
Imagine a region where more than thirty distinct ethnic groups share the same administrative borders, speak fourteen mutually unintelligible languages, have coexisted for centuries and yet still struggle to define a common identity. This is Dagestan, a republic on Russia’s southern frontier with Azerbaijan and Georgia, and arguably the most ethnically complex territory in Europe.
The Kremlin’s Telegram Dilemma
The Kremlin has waged a sustained assault on internet freedoms in Russia throughout the full-scale war. In recent months, this effort has focused on Telegram, a widely used messaging platform.
Weapons of the Weak: What Today’s Russian Humor Reveals
Jokes, songs, rumors and small acts of sabotage do not directly threaten power, but they reinforce distrust of the “strong.” The prevalence of satiric and critical discourse is an indicator of social tension and therefore something that deserves close attention.
Big Data, Digital Research Methods, and Circumnavigating Archival Challenges
Since 2022, severely curtailed access to archives has made the study of the history of the former Soviet Union more challenging.
Non-Political-Yet-Political Theater Comes to Washington
A remarkable moment has dawned on Washington stages, as theater artists and their audiences struggle to blend resistance to a hostile federal administration with an artistic imagination that transcends the political. Two noteworthy productions – Inherit the Wind at Arena Stage, and The Crucible at the Washington National Opera – elevate political messages embedded in the original works by given them contemporary readings.
The Rise of Mr. Nobody
Pavel Talankin had a routine job filming school activities in a small town 1,600 kilometers east of Moscow. In 2022, he realized he was documenting something that was not routine at all, the spread of pro-war indoctrination among children. That was a story.
Reflections on Russia’s Nuclear Behavior
Given the failure to renew the 2010 New START Treaty limiting Russian and American nuclear weapons, now is an auspicious time to revisit Russia’s nuclear behavior.
Conditional Ownership: Russia’s Two Property Regimes
Large private holdings are being nationalized, re-privatized, or quietly transferred to actors deemed politically reliable. What once appeared as exceptional cases has become a pattern. Redistribution is becoming a structural feature of governance.
Ukraine is enduring its coldest winter since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion.
In this video report from Ukraine, journalist Simon Ostrovsky documents the impact of continued Russian missile and drone strikes on the country’s energy infrastructure. Widespread power cuts and blackouts have left millions without reliable electricity during extreme winter conditions.
The Dangerous Legacy of Alexander Herzen
After Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine began four years ago, negative comments about the nineteenth-century writer and opposition figure Alexander Herzen intensified across Russian social media.
Cheburashka’s Second Coming
The story of Cheburashka, a seemingly innocuous cartoon and film character, has much to tell us about today’s Russia and its cultural landscape.
Trump Is Not Doing Russia Any Favors
As Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine nears its fourth anniversary, Russian President Vladimir Putin has rarely projected greater confidence of success or greater aggression toward civilian targets in Ukraine. President Donald Trump’s diplomatic team may entertain concessions to Moscow on Ukraine, but his overall foreign policy is unfolding in ways that militates against Russia’s long-term interests.
Dark Winter
For the past few days, Kyiv has been wrapped in a thick coat of ice. From tree branches to electrical cables, everything glistens in a frozen stillness. The streets and sidewalks have turned into a giant open-air ice-skating rink, causing joy for some and worried, unsure steps for clumsy people like me. Where there is enough snow, children use any support they can find – from trash bags to old-style wooden sleds – to race down the city’s many hills.
Chechnya: Laboratory of Authoritarian Identity Engineering
In the aftermath of two devastating wars, Chechnya’s leadership under Ramzan Kadyrov has pursued a deliberate campaign of constructing a “new Chechen identity.”
Moldova Heads West
On the morning of October 22, 2025, less than a month after a critical parliamentary election, a petite, almost fragile-looking brunette-haired woman, 53 years old, approached the podium in the Moldovan parliament… As she stepped forward, a white-clad military band struck a chord and a voice introduced the Moldovan president, Maia Sandu.
Civic Myth, Imperial Reality: Putin’s Political Nationalism
In Russia, now in the fourth year of its invasion of Ukraine, the public sense of “we” is shifting from an ethnic-religious basis to a civic and emotional one. Though many expected blood-and-soil nationalism to prevail, it has not. Being Russian is increasingly defined by citizenship, attachment to the state, and a declared feeling of Russianness.
Learning from Ukraine: Lessons of Resistance
In this acceptance speech for the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, Karl Schlögel argues that the familiar vocabulary of war and peace has failed us, and that Europe must relearn judgement, responsibility, and courage.
George Kennan’s Legacy in 2025
George Kennan’s “X Article” and “Long Telegram” mark the dawn of the Cold War, but he a historical figure and not much more? George Kennan’s legacy is still current and demands sustained consideration at present.