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Opinion

Natalia Morozova

Handing the Donbas to Moscow Will Doom its People to Suffering

As draft peace proposals include the handover of Ukraine’s Donbas, we cannot ignore the rights abuses Moscow committed in occupied territory.
Yan Levchenko

How Russia’s Cultural Life Continues Despite the War

There are still brave publishers willing to sell provocative books, albeit it with content warnings and blank packaging like cigarettes.
4 Min read
Konstantin Pakhalyuk

Russia’s Nuremberg Revival Is About the Future, Not the Past

The hope for many in today’s elite is that by wrapping themselves in the symbols of Nuremberg, they will ensure that no tribunal ever judges them.
8 Min read
Boris Bondarev

Trump’s Peace Plan Favors Russia. Putin Still Won’t Accept It.

To Putin, this proposal is proof of his victory. But there is much in its pages that he won’t agree to.
5 Min read
Jyri Lavikainen and Karen-Anna Eggen

Russia Wielded Migration Against Europe Earlier Than You Think

The FSB's fingerprints are all over thousands of migrants crossing Russia's arctic borders in 2015-16. It was a test for more recent manipulations.
5 Min read
Nigar Hasanova

When Russia Is Upset, 'Accidents' Keep Happening

Once again, Moscow has damaged a diplomatic building in an airstrike. This follows a pattern of retribution that stretches plausible deniability.
3 Min read
Sergei Shelin

The Truth About Kremlin Elite Nepotism Isn't So Simple

It isn't the genealogy of Russia's elite that matters, but where they sit in the spider's web of Kremlin patronage.
5 Min read
An Anonymous Writer in Russia

What Do Russians Have to Look Forward to in 2026?

I recently asked a Russian friend what her hopes for the future were. "No plans. Only December," she said.
5 Min read
Tatyana Rybakova

Congratulations to Russia's Agriculture Ministry for Soaring Food Prices

With the industry regulated into a corner, the price of staples like sunflower oil and rye are climbing. Officials are only making things worse.
6 Min read
Inna Bondarenko

My Revolut Account Was Frozen for Having the Wrong Passport

Overzealous regulation and cautious corporations are making it as hard for Russians to live in the EU as the Moscow does for them to remain.
6 Min read
Jason Corcoran

Visa Bans Don't Hurt the Russians With True Power

Rich Russians with multiple passports or golden visas can open doors with their money, while ordinary Russians become increasingly alienated.
5 Min read
Julian Waller

Russia's Defense Ministry Is Undergoing Generational Change

Installing technocratic bureaucrats without their own patronage networks helps the Kremlin rein-in the leaders of the military and security services.
5 Min read
Lucy Ash

Russian Orthodox Priests Don’t Practice What They Preach

To endorsing "holy war" and living in luxury, the actions of Russia's religious elite are miles from the spiritual values they profess.
7 Min read
Ilya Yashin

By Blocking Russian Exiles’ Accounts, Revolut Is Hitting the Wrong Targets

Sanctions should try to weaken the social base that supports Putin, not reinforce Kremlin claims of Russophobia toward ordinary people.
4 Min read
Tatyana Rybakova

Russia's Self-Imposed Isolation Reaches a New Frontier: Medicine

Moscow's blind patriotism and shunning of anything foreign means Russians will have to pay higher prices for less effective medication.
6 Min read
Boris Bondarev

Don't Blame Putin Alone for Russia's Misdeeds – It's the System

Yes, the Russian system is repressive. But imagining that Putin is behind every headline is an unhelpful distortion of how the system works.
6 Min read
Valery Panyushkin

How ‘Masha and the Bear’ Upset This Putinist Activist

The idea of a little girl living without adults, bossing around a bear and other talking animals, proved too much for this Russian political scientist...
3 Min read
Tatiana Stanovaya for Carnegie Politika

Carnegie Politika: Russia’s System Is Beginning to Eat Its Own

There are no longer any political guardrails on the country’s powerful security agencies, and the number of arrests of officials will only grow.
4 Min read
Tatyana Rybakova

Russia's Central Bank Has Lost What Remained of Its Independence

Russia's budget is impossible to balance. The regulator just made a significant concession to Putin and the increasingly powerful Finance Ministry.
7 Min read
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