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'Russian corruption can and should be fought'

One of the most well-known Russian economists, Sergei Guriev, spoke about Russian corruption and Western enablement at De Rode Hoed in Amsterdam on...

Russia facing Europe: a roadmap for improvement

In the relationship between Russia and Europe illusions about rapprochement are gone. However, the relation is not confrontational either....

As Trump leaves Syria, Putin becomes the region's power broker

The decision of president Trump to withdraw the American military from northern Syria clears the way for Russia to become the referee in Syria and...

Economist Guriev speaks to popular vlogger Dud about his flight from Russia

Economist Sergei Guriev, who on October 16 in Amsterdam will hold the third RaamopRusland ‘October Lecture’ The Price of Bribe, recently gave...

Is minister of Defense Shoigu applying for post-Putin?

For the first time in his seven years as minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu gave a lenghty interview to a mainstream Russian newspaper. Shoigu,...

Unorthodox appeal: priests defend Moscow protesters

An open letter written by Russian Orthodox priests in defense of those imprisoned over recent protests in Moscow is that rare case when the use of...

Future without Putin no longer taboo issue

The Russian elite is engaged in an indirect debate about a future without Putin. Until recently this was unthinkable - or in any case unmentionable...

Berlin Game: the Hubris of Russia's Gunman Geopolitics

Two weeks ago in Berlin a Chechen enemy of the Kremlin was murdered by, presumably, a contract killer dispatched from Moscow. Germany...

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact: No ‘Alternative’ Soviet Facts, Please.  

The anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Non-Agression Pact between Hitler and Stalin is hotly debated these days. Dutch historian Jeroen Bult...

U.S. attempts to block Russian gas pipe to Europe likely to fail

The United States is about to introduce sanctions against companies involved in building the gas pipeline Nord Stream 2. The Trump administration...

After Putin not much will change in Russia's foreign policy

This fall Dmitry Trenin, director of Moscow Carnegie Center, publishes his new book Russia, an ultra-concise overview of 120 years of Russia's...

“Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact”: a logical consequence of the Munich Betrayal

Signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was a difficult, but unavoidable step for the Soviet leadership on August 23 1939, argues the Russian...

Only radical reforms can stop Russian economic stagnation

This August marks 20 years that Vladimir Putin is in power. The first decade his economic policy produced an unprecedented growth, but after Putin...

'Russophobia' is a label to deflect criticism from the Kremlin

In an article published last week, Russian journalist Leonid Ragozin argued that ‘Russophobia exists and that it affects politics in the West’....

Why pro-Kremlin journalists stood up for arrested colleague

A rare show of solidarity between pro-Kremlin and independent journalists helped investigative journalist Ivan Golunov stay out of jail. Dozens of...

Russophobia exists and it affects politics in the West

Russian state propaganda labels any suggestion that Russia might be blamed for some wrongdoing as Russophobia. Does it mean that Russophobia is...

Putin doesn’t want to kill liberalism, only optimism

In his interview with the Financial Times Vladimir Putin buried liberalism. Commentators fumed, but our columnist Mark Galeotti, author of the sobre...

Putin replies to angry voters

Russians watch Putin's annual call-in show for clues about what the future will bring, but the president took them back to the past. Facing...

Apartment raiders, a profitable industry in Moscow

Last week Russian investigative journalist Ivan Golunov was arrested on fabricated drugs charges. His newssite Meduza suspected his arrest was...

'The future of Russia is evolution to a European parliamentary democracy'

In a hall with over 400 (mostly) students at the Campus The Hague Mikhail Khodorkovsky, ex-CEO of oil company Yukos, former prisoner and opponent of...

How the Russian Orthodox Church became the State God Corporation

The Russian Orthodox Church was always an arm of the state. But after the collapse of communism it grew greedy fingers of its own and factually...

Russian Foreign Intelligence might be in for a more prominent political role

There are signs that the political influence of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service SVR, headed by Sergei Naryshkin, is growing. After Stalin and...

Russian-Dutch settlement on Arctic Sunrise is a recognition of international law

For the first time since 2013 a major bilateral dispute between Russia and the Netherlands has been settled. It is a small breakthrough in the tense...

Russia’s Sovereign Internet Law Will Kill Innovation

The Kremlin’s domestic policy bloc increasingly tries to run Russia as a corporation. It’s not surprising, therefore, that they have resorted to...

Are Putin and Trump Exchanging Ukraine for Venezuela?

On May 6 Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during the Arctic Council in Finland talked for about an...

Venezuela is a cheap gamble for Moscow

For Russia challenging the US self-proclaimed 'sphere of influence' in Venezuela is a very cheap gamble, says our security expert Mark Galeotti. An...

Russian Army is Boosting Image and Influence

During the wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya the Soviet Army was highly unpopular. Putin completely recreated the image of the military with slick...

Russia and NATO both think time is on their side

According to Russia all military and political cooperation with NATO has  effectively ended. It sounds alarming, but does it mean we're sliding...

Is Nazarbayev blazing a trail for Putin?

Less than a day after president Nursultan Nazarbayev announced that he would step down after 30 years in power Kazakh parliament decided to rename...

Russia’s Global Ambitions in Perspective

Many think that Russia's agressive foreign policy is of the making of president Vladimir Putin. In this report for the Carnegie Endowment for...

No Country for Investors: Russia’s Latest Shock Arrests

The arrest of mega-investor Michael Calvey in Moscow once again shocked the world of business. Why are people so surprised, asks Andrey Movchan of...

A realistic German Ostpolitik is hampered by old illusions

­­­­­The new German foreign minister Heiko Maas created a stir by calling for a ‘new Ostpolitik’, aimed at making Russia respect...

Can Tsar Vladimir Morph into Uncle Vova?

Putin's annual address to parliament and the people differed from last year's. In spite of an obligatory threat to target the US with missiles, the...

'Putin Lived, Putin Lives, Putin Will Live'

Last spring, longtime Kremlin aide and 'managed democracy' architect Vladislav Surkov said Russia faces 100 years or more of geopolitical solitude...

Bold steps on the Internet: Kremlin’s capability to cut off Russia

After six years of unabated attack on Internet freedoms in Russia, the Kremlin is making another bold step. The Duma in first lecture adopted a new...

Loznitsa’s film 'Donbass' shows the grotesque nature of the war in Eastern Ukraine

Shown at the Rotterdam Film Festival and now available in select theatres in the Netherlands, Sergei Loznitsa’s latest film paints a hopeless...

Viral Freedom: Kirill Serebrennikov’s Leto and its Popular Appeal

While his film 'Leto' (Summer) is shown at the Rotterdam Film Festival, theater and film director Kirill Serebrennikov is in court, accused of fraud...

Tensions between Kremlin and Minsk rise after 'Integration Ultimatum'

Four sacks of potatoes and a piece of lard were the Christmas gifts president Lukashenko brought for his meeting with Putin on  December 29....

The Twilight of Putin’s Political Monopoly?

Political fragmentation, fights between the elites and a total absence of a positive domestic agenda. Political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya signals...

So who 'won' 2018?

In their own ways both Russia and the West consider themselves at war with each other. A political war, one fought by diplomacy and destabilisation,...

War of prosecutors suggests tension within Russian elite

He or she who controls the prosecution has a lot of power. Prosecutors provide impunity and revenue for you and your allies, and the law for your...

Putin is passé for populists

The West still fears Putin as an attractive example for populists all over the world. But twenty years in power and the presidential office in...

Appeal to the West: Stop Alienating Ordinary Russians

Be it at the end of Putin's presidency in 2024 or before, things will inevitably change in Russia. But in which direction? Will we witness a...

State, space and society. Public participation in the development of the Zenit Arena

The World Cup 2018 in Russia appeared to be flawless and therefore a success for president Putin. But to what extent did civil society participate...

‘Everyone Likes Naturalness and Sincerity’: Sincerity Rhetoric in Contemporary Political Discourse in Russia

In the run-up to the Russian presidential election of 2018, the concept of sincerity played a central role in the political language of various...

'With its cyber troops the Russian military has become political'

On October 16 Andrei Soldatov held the second October Lecture of RaamopRusland. Research journalist Soldatov wrote two books about the Russian FSB...

Is there a Successor for Putin?

While Putin's ratings since the pension reforms have gone down substantially it is the army that fills the gap. That is remarkable for a country...

Emotions run high on film about perennial Russian question

In Moscow the new film 'The Story of an Appointment' by Avdotia Smirnova is the talk of the town. Opinions about the plot around a young officer...

Independence for Ukrainian Church is no guarantee for national unity

In anger over the decision to grant the Ukrainian Orthodox Church independence from Moscow the Russian Orthodox Church broke off relations with...

Kremlin calculus seems driven by dreams of war

We can keep laughing at the Russian military intelligence service, says our columnist Mark Galeotti, but we should try to understand what the...

Protest vote disturbs Kremlin's control over regions

The results of recent regional elections were for United Russia the worst since elections for regional leaders were introduced in 2012. ...

Special troops of GRU will be growing headache for the West

Ruslan Boshirov, one of the suspects of the poison attack on Skripal, has been identified by research group Bellingcat as a decorated member of the...

Poison has become the fingerprint of Russia

It seems medieval and extremely cruel to get rid of an adversary with poison. It has become almost a business card of the Russia of Putin. Why does...

Public attack on Navalny by top military undermines Putin’s inner circle

Viktor Zolotov’s threat video message to Alexei Navalny underscores the increasing incoherence of the authorities’ strategy for dealing with...

Russia Is Moving Deeper Into China’s Embrace

What is new about the big joint military drills of Russia and China in the Far East is not its scale, but the fact that for the first time Russia...

Why Putin's system can't be reformed

Public discontent over a plan to raise Russia’s pension age showed the weakness of Putin's rule. The governing elite is paralized until Putin...

Russia’s hipster nationalism works

Patriotic history exhibits, unashamedly nationalist videos, pyrotechnic military Olympics: the Kremlin is turning to Russian creativity as a tool of...

Let’s not succumb to destabilising myths of spheres of interest

For decades Russia and the West are looking for a ‘reset’ of their relations. To no avail. Who’s to blame? That’s the wrong question, says Sir...

Russians shocked by pension reform plan and prepared to resist

The government’s pension reform plan has shocked the majority of Russians.  In focus group discussions they expressed confusion, fear, and...

After Helsinki Russia is in doubt how to relate to Trump

The Helsinki summit quickly lost its significance. Trump was confronted with domestic pressure and reversed his statements. The Russian government...

A Tragic Attack and Some Unlikely Explanations

The death of four foreign cyclists on July 29 in Tajikistan – a country and region generally safe and hospitable for tourists – has highlighted the...

Footprints of the Russian Military Intelligence Agency GRU are everywhere

The Russian GRU is back in charge. Be it in the Mueller indictment, the annexation of Crimea, the Skripal case, the downing of MH17, in Syria,...

The blame game: flawed visions of Russia's future

Dmitri Trenin, the head of the Carnegie think tank in Moscow, recently spoke in The Hague about the tensions surrounding Russia. Hannes Adomeit, a...

Does identity building in Nazarbayev’s Kazakhstan mean an exit from the Russian world?

With roughly 21 percent ethnic Russians, Kazakhstan inhabits the largest Russian minority of the five Central Asian republics. But this has so far...

Russia’s alienation from the West: who is to blame?

In a speech at Clingendael in The Hague Dmitri Trenin, director of Carnegie Moscow, argued that the West is to blame for the alienation of Russia....

Will the World Cup see Putin in the net?

Column On June 14 the World Cup starts in 11 cities in Russia. It's about sports, money, prestige, security and corruption. But if all goes...

The Orthodox churches and the 'Church war' in Ukraine

The relations between Ukraine's two biggest Orthodox churches, the church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP) and the church of the Kyiv...

German-Russian Rapprochement? Not likely to Happen Soon

Do we witness a ‘reset’ in German-Russian relations? On Iran and Nord Stream 2 a rapprochement between Putin and Merkel is possible, writes security...

World Cup offers Chechnya opportunity to play Middle Eastern politics

Grozny is not a venue during the FIFA World Cup. But the capital of Chechnya will host the soccer-team of Egypt. That is not a coincidence, says...

Russia will stand strong and rely on itself

On May 18 Dmitri Trenin, director of think tank Carnegie Moscow, presented his views on the tensions between Russia and the West at a conference in...

Moscow's balancing act in Syria: reigning in both Iran and Israel

Russia has been in the spotlight, as the escalation between Israel and Iran on Syrian soil risks dragging Moscow into a new confrontation. Russia...

How Western Sanctions Will Alter Ties Between Russian Big Business and the Kremlin

The United States’ latest round of sanctions has hit Russia hard. In the future, the Russian state will have to share the emerging risks and...

The problem with men in Russia

Many years Dutch businessman Jeroen Ketting had been looking for a Russian business partner, with whom he could further develop his companies. He...

Armenia and Russia learned some lessons from the past

Russia's president Putin was among the first foreign leaders to congratulate Nikol Pashinian after becoming Armenia's prime minister as a result of...

Can Russia Save Iran From Itself?

The survival of the Assad regime lies entirely in the hands of its two main supporters: Russia and Iran. Therefore Netanyahu was in Moscow to...

Burden of the battle of Stalingrad: no easy living in a city with a heroic past

More than 75 years after the Battle of Stalingrad the people of the city are still struggling with the past, writes Maria Dobroskokina. Memories of...

Testcase Telegram: will Putin be Stolypin or one of the Kims?

The ban on the messaging app Telegram demonstrates once again that Russia's regime is committed to subordinating business interests and freedom to...

Why Armenia changes hands without Moscow's interference

The Armenian prime minister Serzh Sargsyan has resigned after mass protests in the streets of Yerevan. In contrast to the Maidan protests which led...

Winners and losers in sanction war

Many more Russian oligarchs, bureaucrats, companies, and businesses can expect to appear on future U.S. sanctions lists. Russia, not seeing an...

Georgia wants to join NATO and appease Russia

In Georgia, the majority of the population is still in favour of NATO membership. At the same time, the government tries to appease neighbouring...

Cooking Towards Communism: Domestic Cooking and the Khrushchev Regime’s Struggle for the Communist Way of Life

During the Khrushchev-era, domestic cooking was not merely a mundane aspect of Soviet everyday life. In fact, the regime perceived it as a leftover...

Russia pursues 'dark power' and the West has no answer

The nerve agent attack on British soil is a classical who-dunnit from a Cold War spy novel. More interesting than the murky details is the context....

Russia Is Offering an Olive Branch, Not Nuclear War

President Vladimir Putin’s recent address to the Federal Assembly about boosting Russia’s defense capabilities made quite a splash in the...

Similar but not equal: the image of Ukraine on Russian news websites

Ukraine and Russia are more than just neighbours. The history of these two countries, for instance, are closely connected. But since 2013-2014,...

Putin’s ‘Greater Russia’: misunderstanding or mission?

The controversy that broke out in February 2018 over what Russian president Vladimir Putin did or did not say in a meeting in 2006 during a...

Russian losses in Syria give Putin headaches

The American bombardment of Russian mercenaries in Syria has made it clear that the Russian intervention in Syria is not over, Russian victory is...

Economic stability in 2017, uncertainty in 2018

Higher oil prices, state investment and Central Bank interventions have maintained a relative stability in the Russian economy in 2017, but it is...

Did NATO cheat on Russia? Promises made but Russia didn't cash

The enlargement of NATO to Central and Eastern Europe is a controversial issue. What was the meaning of the suggestion of American...

Speaking out or remaining silent: engaging with the legacy of Stalin

(English translation of Kessler's start of the debate) For more than a quarter of a century Joseph Stalin ruled over Soviet Russia. Eighty years...

Foreign Minister Ukraine: ‘European values not for sale'

The Council of Europe is on its way to restore the voting rights of the Russian delegation in the Parliamentary Assemblee (PACE). In Paris MP's of...

How even Yandex is being brought under control

Yandex is Russia’s most famous IT company and search-engine. The company was often far ahead with innovations, rivalling Google. In 2012, when...

'Without European Court Russians will be unprotected'

The possibility that Russia will withdraw from the Council of Europe is increasing every day. The secretary-general of the Council, Thorbjorn...

US-Russia policy shaped by war in Washington

The incoherence in US-Russian relations has many causes, from mutual misunderstanding to Trump’s own spur-of-the-moment style. But a key factor,...

How alarming is Turkey’s purchase of Russian arms?

The decision by Turkey to buy a Russian missile defense system, has caused concern in NATO. Is Turkey drifting away from the West with the help of...

Islamic State and Christian State are kins but no twins

In september Alexander Kalinin, the leader of the fundamentalist Russian-orthodox organisation 'Christian State - Holy Russia' was arrested. His...

Russia’s dual response to the West creates confusion

Russia’s survival logic is based on duality: being both with the West and against it. Western misperceptions of this duality make the West’s...

Russia confuses taste with justice

There is a peculiarity that is pervasive in Russian society: social appeals to a repressive government to uphold one’s personal standards of taste...

Kremlin's puzzle: how to frame Putin's re-election?

This autumn marks the start of an insecure election year in Russia. On 18 march 2018 Putin will most likely be re-elected for his fourth...

The praetorian guard of Putin must quell internal unrest

Putin's creation of a National Guard, in 2016, is the most striking reform of law-enforcement agencies of the last decade. In case of unrest the...

Conspiracy theories dominate East-West relations: time for realism

The big Russian-Belarusian military exercise Zapad-2017 is in full swing. Speculations as to what Russia is up to abound. The Kremlin, bizarre as it...
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