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Opinion

Fiona O’Brien

Novaya Gazeta Has Been 'Killed,' But Putin Must Not Be Given the Final Word

The legendary newspaper's fate shows why supporting Russian independent journalism is more important than ever before.
Anastasiia Haievska and Jade McGlynn

Don’t Believe Russia’s Propaganda About the Oleshky Evacuation

Before Russia allowed the world to watch it "saving" Oleshky from Ukraine, it had to hide the humanitarian crisis it created.
4 Min read
Sarkis Darbinyan

Russian Companies Want To Avoid Liability for War-Related Damages. That Might Be Impossible.

Russian companies may not be able to use the war as a get-out-of-jail-free card if cyberattacks or Ukrainian drone strikes disrupt their services.
8 Min read
Yan Shenkman

For Russians, Simply Saying 'No to War' Is No Longer Enough

It's easy for your pacifism to be passive when you come from the world's largest country. But the rest of the world doesn't have that luxury.
6 Min read
Yekaterina Lobanova

Let Sleeping Bears Lie? Not in Russia.

Somehow, the conversation around hunting bears has gone from saving lives to having fun and training future soldiers.
6 Min read
OVD-Info

Free the Kremlin’s Political Prisoners – And Stop Sending It New Ones

The Trump administration’s one-off deals won’t empty Russia’s prisons — especially while U.S. deportations are refilling them.
5 Min read
Andrey Sapozhnikov

Scapegoating Russian Tourists Is Dangerous Security Theater

Europe's security problems go much deeper than the simple presence of Russian tourists. Banning them distracts from those harder fixes.
6 Min read
Charles Hecker

Is Washington Getting Special Treatment as Putin Goes After Western Companies?

Only three of the 20 companies Russia expropriated since Trump's inauguration had U.S. links. Any more would spoil the mood, wouldn't it?
5 Min read
Tatyana Rybakova

Will Russia and Serbia Remain 'Brothers Forever' After Shock Election Result?

The Kremlin's response to the fall of Aleksandar Vučić has been surprisingly tepid. That could change as the Student List takes shape.
8 Min read
Polly Jones

The Ghosts of Gulag Survivors Live On in Evan Gershkovich’s Prison Memoir

Experiencing captivity both as the American Evan and the Russian Vanya, Gershkovich's account adds to the legacy of Solzhenitsyn and Ginzburg.
6 Min read
Alexander Ivanov

Dictatorship Isn’t Destiny for Russia’s Indigenous Peoples. They Can Build Independent Democracies.

When Indigenous people seek autonomy, well-meaning liberals warn that they could end up with autocracy. But that is not inevitable.
6 Min read
Nick Anthony

The Digital Ruble Gives the Kremlin a Kill Switch for Dissent

Russians should be concerned about the power the Central Bank's new digital ruble would give the state over their finances.
3 Min read
James D. J. Brown

What Is Russia Trying to Achieve by Arresting a Japanese Journalist?

Russia has a history of arresting foreign journalists as a political gambit — and the relationship between Moscow and Tokyo is rarely simple.
5 Min read
Ramil Niyazov-Adyldzhyan

Kazakhstan's Orthodox Churches Remain Under Russia's Thumb. An Anti-War Priest Paid the Price.

The story of Father Yakov shows the consequences of Kazakhstan not having an Orthodox Church independent of the Moscow Patriarchate.
8 Min read
Roxana Kiseleva

Russia’s Opposition Urgently Needs to Take Sexism Seriously

Women should be given a voice and taken seriously, not brushed aside as if the only problem the opposition faces is that Putin is in power.
6 Min read
Inna Bondarenko

To the West, Rich Russians Can Plead Powerlessness. Everyone Else Must Prove Their Courage.

If a billionaire can say he has little ability to influence Putin, how are Russians with no access to power supposed to do so?
6 Min read
Tatyana Rybakova

From Wildberries to Yandex, Ukraine Is Turning Russian Business Giants' Dominance Into a Liability

Key Russian firms become so powerful that nobody else truly rivals them. That creates a weakness that Kyiv is all too happy to exploit.
6 Min read
Gigi Kwik Gronvall

Plague Research Isn't the Problem. But Russia Still Has Questions to Answer.

The death of a laboratory worker in Irkutsk has turned the spotlight on how Russian laboratories can ensure workers' safety and earn public trust.
5 Min read
Nigel Gould-Davies

Trump’s Russian Diesel Debacle Risks Backfiring

Driven more by domestic political concerns than any real strategy to end the war, Washington's latest moves shows how little Trump has learned.
5 Min read
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