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Articles by Vladimir Ryzhkov
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
Why Putin Is Afraid of the People
15 May 12
After Moscow's large protests on May 6 and the following days, we can easily dispel two widely held opinions — that the protest movement had fizzled out and that Putin had overcome his fear of demonstrations. As it turns out, the protest mood among Russians is stronger than ever and the paranoia of the ruling regime is getting worse.
Why Putin's Days Are Numbered
03 May 12
On Monday, Vladimir Putin will take the presidential oath of office for the third time. After 12 years in power, Putin has increased his control over the country's major institutions, the siloviki and state bureaucracy.
Putin's Latest Mockery
17 April 12
President-elect Vladimir Putin's speech before the State Duma last week was his first major public address after being elected in March. He used the occasion to sum up the accomplishments of his Cabinet over the past four years and to outline his future plans as president.
Kremlin Sees Obama as Weak
04 April 12
U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul has encountered a much chillier reception than he apparently anticipated when he agreed to come to Moscow.
Replace Jackson-Vanik With the Magnitsky Act
20 March 12
A number of opposition leaders — including myself, Boris Nemtsov, Alexei Navalny and others — recently made an appeal to the U.S. Congress. We proposed that Congress repeal the outdated 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment and replace it with a tough Magnitsky act.
Medvedev's Swan Song
28 February 12
A week ago, I took part in an unprecedented meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev at his residence at Gorki. This was the first time that he met with 10 representatives of the so-called "nonsystemic" parties — those that were denied registration on politically motivated grounds.
We Want Reforms, Not Revolution
14 February 12
The main lesson from the rival anti-Putin and pro-Putin demonstrations held on Feb. 4 is that both civil society and the authorities are walking down a dangerous path of escalation.
Justice Ministry Is Worst Enemy of Pluralism
31 January 12
I was inundated with congratulations from friends, colleagues and journalists following the Supreme Court ruling a week ago in favor of the Republican Party of Russia, which I headed until it was liquidated five years ago.
The Decembrists' Manifesto
17 January 12
One of the most common criticisms of the "Decembrists 2.0" protest movement is that it has no program, strategy or vision. But the opposite is true. Taken together, the five demands put forward by protesters at the Bolotnaya Ploshchad and Prospekt Akademika Sakharova rallies comprise a coherent program with a clear strategic goal.
A Crisis of Confidence
20 December 11
It is already clear that Russia will experience a systemic political crisis in 2012. The country's leaders and institutions will completely lose the people's trust by next summer. The authorities will become vacillating and weak and will flounder from one crisis to another.
'Opposition' Parties Should Boycott Duma
13 December 11
As it is clear to almost everyone, the State Duma elections results were fabricated. The question now is: Will the Kremlin-approved “opposition” parties finally oppose the ruling regime?
The Dirtiest Elections in Post-Soviet History
02 December 11
A distinguishing feature of the State Duma election campaign is that it was held against a backdrop of voters' plummeting confidence in the party of power for the first time since 1999. In another first, voters will cast ballots Sunday amid a slide in support for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the authoritarian political system he built.
EU Should Not Legitimize Crooks and Thieves
22 November 11
On Dec. 4, Russia will hold the dirtiest, most fraudulent and dishonest "elections" of its entire post-Soviet history. For the first time in the past decade, State Duma elections will be held against a backdrop of widespread discontent and frustration with the authorities — especially in the country's large cities, where voters are best informed about the abuses and corrupt practices of the regime.
Gazprom Over Nature
08 November 11
Russia's first chief of the secret police, Alexander Benkendorf, served two centuries ago under Tsar Nicholas I, and it is his portrait that should be hanging in every office at the Federal Security Service and Interior Ministry.
From Liberal to Lackey
25 October 11
When President Dmitry Medvedev assumed office four years ago, it didn't take long for a deep split between Russia's main liberals to develop. As a result, two new camps formed: liberal modernizers and a liberal opposition.
The Kremlin's Political Cartel
11 October 11
Millions of Russians are again faced with a difficult decision — should they participate in or boycott the Dec. 4 State Duma elections?
Russia for All of Its Citizens
29 September 11
Despite President Dmitry Medvedev's appeal to political parties to avoid whipping up dangerous nationalistic and xenophobic sentiments in their campaign slogans or political platforms, it is already clear that some parties have begun doing exactly that.
If You Can't Beat Other Parties, Absorb Them
20 September 11
The scandal about how Mikhail Prokhorov was first recruited and then cast out of the Right Cause party calls into question whether there is a place for political parties in an authoritarian political system. If there is, can those parties be the initiators and leaders of peaceful or revolutionary democratic change?
'Useful Idiots' Back Medvedev's Re-Election
13 September 11
It was really pointless for observers to have spent the last three years asking the question: "Who is better, Medvedev or Putin?" and to have worked themselves up over the conundrum even more during the run-up to elections each autumn. Make no mistake: Dmitry Medvedev is not an alternative to Vladimir Putin, and vice versa. In practical terms, they are just flip sides of the same coin.
Why the 2000s Were Better Than the 1990s
30 August 11
Most Russians still have negative feelings about the liberal reforms of the 1990s and are more positively disposed toward the 2000s. But at the same time, acts of aggression and nationalistic sentiment are growing throughout society. There has been a significant increase in the number of people wanting to work abroad temporarily or to leave Russia altogether.
Why Liberal Is Such a Bad Word
16 August 11
The liberal opposition is often called upon to repent for the "sins" of the 1990s, a period strongly associated in the public mind with liberal reforms. We are told that as soon as liberals and democrats repent for our mistakes, the public will believe us, vote for us and offer us various forms of support.
All in the Family
02 August 11
Any discussion of who controls Russia typically focuses on the ruling tandem and the differences between the two leaders' public statements and political positions. But this discussion does not fully answer the question of how the elite are perceived by Russians and how stable the social order in the country is.
Konovalov's Ministry of Manipulation
19 July 11
On Friday, the Party of People's Freedom, or Parnas, filed a lawsuit in Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky District Court challenging the Justice Ministry decision on June 22 to not register the party. Unfortunately, the outcome of our appeal is a foregone conclusion.
Europe's No. 1 Violator of Human Rights
05 July 11
Russian authorities have declared a short summer time-out in their conflict with the Council of Europe and its European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Why My Party Wasn't Registered
27 June 11
The Justice Ministry on Wednesday refused to register the opposition Party of People's Freedom, thus denying my party its constitutional right to participate in the December State Duma elections. The ministry also denied the constitutional rights of millions of the party's supporters across the country to choose their representatives in parliament.
Voting With Your Feet Again
21 June 11
In a recent report for the Center for Strategic Studies, economists Mikhail Dmitriyev and Sergei Belanovsky concluded that "serious political changes are brewing in Russia," and that "a political crisis in Russia is already in full swing."
Donating Blood to Help United Russia Stay Alive
07 June 11
There is something sinister in the way ballot boxes were purportedly stuffed during the March 13 Tambov regional elections to boost United Russia's results. It was pulled off under the cover of a blood drive.
Swapping Jackson-Vanik for Magnitsky
24 May 11
Relations between Cold War-era foes Moscow and Washington have long been distrustful, hypocritical, peppered with mutual insinuations and patched together with the most tenuous of threads. But now, on the eve of State Duma and presidential elections, an inevitable crisis is nearing that threatens to tear them apart at the seams.
Why Putin Created All-Russia People's Front
11 May 11
At the latest United Russia conference, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin formally launched his party's State Duma election campaign and, to a large degree, his own 2012 presidential bid. Putin’s political strategy is becoming increasingly clear now.
Leonid Ilyich Putin
26 April 11
At the beginning of the second decade in control of the country, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is becoming more and more like former Soviet leaders — not so much like Stalin, but more like Leonid Brezhnev.
