Cristian Nitoiu, London School of Economics and Political Science
Putin is superficially more popular than ever, but his extravagantly militaristic policy and Russia’s economic isolation mean he’s walking a tightrope.
Loren Graham, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Some Russians are looking back admiringly to a tyrannical scientist from Stalinist times – and using the new field of epigenetics to bolster their case.
As tensions run high over Russia’s gas supplies to the Ukraine, and by extension parts of Europe, the reality for the EU is less than perfect: it will need Russian gas for the foreseeable future.
After all night talks in the Belarusian capital Minsk, the outcomes of the four party talks in the so-called Normandy format (Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany) have neither brought a major breakthrough…
This week our series on Russia’s relations with its neighbours reaches China, Moscow’s one-time great communist rival with whom it found much in common in the opening years of the 21st century. Neil Munro…
Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande’s push for peace in Moscow has helped fuel optimism about the prospects for Russia’s spluttering economy. On the morning of the meeting, the rouble had strengthened…
This latest part of our series on Russia’s relations with its neighbours focuses on the huge empty land of Mongolia, Moscow’s original Soviet satellite state in the 1920s. These days it sits on the verge…
The Russian rouble started 2015 in much the same way it finished 2014: badly. After losing nearly 50% of its dollar value between July and the end of the year, the rouble lost a further 7% in January…