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Articles by Maxim Trudolyubov

opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Russia's Catastrophic Geopolitics

A toxic mix of early 20th-century geopolitics and historical ressentiment has become Russia’s ideology.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

A War That Is Both Impossible and Imminent

I cannot recall another time when popular opinion about a possible war diverged so dramatically from expert opinion.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Moscow Tells Its Story in the Passive Voice

In the Kremlin's political playbook, grammar matters.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Authorities Need 'Foreign Agents' to Rally the People

The new law encourages vigilance and suspicion.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Russia Is the New Referee in the Middle East

The Kremlin must feel that it has finally returned to the world stage as a recognized force in international politics.
Feature

Guns, Butter, and Russia’s Enduring Military Power

Russian military analyst Michael Kofman and political scientist Maxim Trudolyubov discuss the state of the country's military.

Pelevin’s New Novel Plays With U.S.-Russian Culture Wars

The book is a riff on news from recent years, telling the story of a secret Russian unit whose mission is to avenge the collapse of the Soviet Union.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Ask Not What the Kremlin Will Do Next

More and more Russians seem to be breaking free of the old habit of trying to guess the party line.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Who Is Mr. Ivanov: Why Russia’s Middle Class Is Shrinking

The middle class has become critically dependent on the government.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Stalin’s Record Approval Rating Is a Sign of Growing Discontent

The country is yearning for a "hero" of the past to correct the ills of society.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Are Russian Show Trials Back?

Recent high profile-arrests have rattled the country.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

When Trust Fails: How Long Can the Russian State Withstand Waning Public Support?

Russians find themselves in the fifth consecutive year of falling real incomes, and the national mood is finally catching up with reality.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

The Putin Touch in Venezuela

The Kremlin knows how to create conflicts and is never in a hurry to end them.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Magnitogorsk Explosion Touches Russia’s Raw Spots

The mood in Russia seems to be turning inward toward domestic issues.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

The Rasps of Putin’s Political Machine

The Kremlin’s finely tuned gears are rusting over.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Moscow in Crisis: How Will the Kremlin Respond? (Op-ed)

A major foreign adventure and a sweeping political reform are the Kremlin's tried and tested options.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Putin’s Managed Democracy Falters

While Putin is credited with swinging the 2016 U.S. vote, electoral troubles are brewing at home.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

The Hidden, Self-Reliant Russia (Op-ed)

The pension age hike has shed light on Russians' tendency to rely on themselves, not the state.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

In Syria, Moscow Is Defending a Narrative, Not a Country (Op-ed)

Moscow does not want a war—but it does want Russians to stick to a war mentality.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Never Apologize: A Russian Bureaucrat’s Creed (Op-ed)

For Russian officials, the trick to keeping your job is knowing who to apologize to.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

The Last Thing Putin Wants Is To Be Russia's Lame Duck President (Op-ed)

The Russian constitution will not allow him to stand for reelection and so Putin is entering lame-duck territory, a situation he will try to avoid at all...
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Putin Is Pushing a War Mentality on Unwilling Russians (Op-ed)

If the president is trying to sell war back home, there may be fewer buyers than he thinks
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

The Kremlin’s Parallel State Is a Feature, Not a Bug (Op-ed)

From mercenaries to hackers, shady public-private partnerships are a part of Putin's regime
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Russian Meddling Is a Meme (Op-ed)

For the Kremlin, the Wall Street Journal running a column by a Russian opposition leader constitutes 'meddling'
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

A Game with Unknown Rules (Op-ed)

The Kremlin's power lies in the unpredictable consequences of breaking unwritten laws
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

The Russian State’s Lost Birth Certificate (Op-ed)

The revolution is modern Russia’s birth certificate, but Russia does not like what it says
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

What to Tell an Alien About Russia’s Upcoming Elections

The country's political system runs on the trust of its citizens
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Why Trump's North Korea Rhetoric Irks Russia (Op-ed)

Russia would prefer Trump didn't try to solve problems at home by fueling conflict with North Korea
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Moscow's Urban Facelift Is Skin-Deep (Op-ed)

The Kremlin should empower Russians throughout the country, not just create showcase urban centers
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

With Trump’s Hands Tied, Putin Is Free to Act (Op-ed)

Putin is free to take his U.S. policy in any direction that he sees fit.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Capitalizing on a Socialist System (Op-ed)

In Russia, business thrives on the backs of people receiving old Soviet services
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Russia's Imaginary Stalin

In Russia, political struggle is waged using historical names as flags. For lack of real political representation we sometimes feel “represented” by...
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Russia Is a Political Hazard Zone

The rift between the elites and the masses in Russia is as real today as it was six or 26 years ago. Neither the annexation of Crimea, nor symbolic gestures...

Moscow's New Housing Megaproject Confronts Soviet History

Moscow is ambitiously planning to demolish more than 10 percent of the city’s entire housing stock — It took the Soviet building industry (and it could...
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Russia, the Catalyst of Change (Op-Ed)

In the 1970s, the Soviet project presented the West with an existential challenge. Russia’s influence in today’s Europe and the U.S is of similar nature...
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

No Beacon On the Hill: Trump's Win in the Mirror of the Soviet Collapse

Russia’s rulers are of course convinced that smart intelligence work did play a major role in the collapse of the Soviet Union. And, of course, thoughts...
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

The Year That Putin Won

The year 2016 looked decidedly more promising for Russia and its rulers than 2014. Domestically, no serious challenge arose to the current social and political...
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

A Young Man, Pokemon and Russian Orthodoxy

A court in Yekaterinburg ruled on Saturday to arrest a young man for playing Pokémon Go in one of the city’s Russian Orthodox Church cathedrals and...

It's Security, Stupid: How Putin Manipulates National Emergencies

The Kremlin has consistently used acts of terror and smaller incidents that threatened public security as pretexts for announcing and maintaining the de-facto...
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

The 'New Normal': Why Kremlin Policy Is Choking Economic Growth

Beaten by low oil prices, squeezed by sanctions, rocked by exchange rates: Russia's economy has long been feeling the strain. As austerity becomes the...

U.S. Politics Caught in a 'Russian Trap'

I don’t know whether the Kremlin even has a favorite in the U.S. elections, but I do know what Russia’s ruling politicians love to watch. They love...
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Panama Reaction Reveals Russia's 2 Value Systems (Op-Ed)

Two schools of thought dominate the Russian discussion of the country's political system and its economic underpinnings.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Kremlin Sees Russians as Expendable

Russian rulers and their closest colleagues have felt for centuries that they were in competition with their neighbors. In fact, the Russian words...
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Kremlin's Domestic PR Campaign Is a Sad Farce

Russia's media and political bosses have managed to shift the nation's attention from Ukraine to Syria in the past few weeks. Damascus and Aleppo...
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Keeping Up With Russia's New Laws

The story of how judges and experts at the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Municipal Court in Russia's Far East misread sacred Muslim texts does deserve attention...
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Russia's Brave New Crisis

The current crisis is unlike those of 1998 and 2008 that most of us remember. It is both longer and very different than the others, and it does...
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Russia Sees Itself as the New Global Dissident

Russian society cannot see itself. In fact, no individual or society anywhere can. For that you need a mirror. The mass media typically provides that...
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Putin: A Soviet Leader for the 21st Century

President Vladimir Putin is known for his love of Russian history.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Organized Resistance Is Impossible in Russia

Many outside observers believe that Russian society lacks individuals who resist the status quo.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Putin's System Is Built on Shaky Foundations

The political regime in Russia is a true work of art, but one that only looks good from a single vantage point — that of its creator.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Russians Are Dangerously Addicted to Putin

Russians now depend on their belief in Putin as much as he depends on their support.
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

How Stalin Instilled a National Sense of Survival

When I learned as a high school student of the tragedies and crimes under Josef Stalin, I immediately wished that I could go back in time to stop...
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Hope in a Dying Soviet Mentality

FROM THE PULPIT / Проповеди
A joint project between Dozhd TV and The Moscow Times
The electoral fraud that outraged so many Russians is actually...
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Better to Be a Car Than a Man

Drivers definitely have a better time of it in Moscow than pedestrians. A number of locations can only be reached by car, and vehicles can simply...
opinion Maxim Trudolyubov

Victims and Executioners

At least 70 years after millions of people fell victim to political repression, Russia has yet to come to terms with the crimes of its Soviet past. But...