Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech before presenting the Russian Hero of Labour gold medals in June 2023.
(Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russia has tied its currency to gold to evade sanctions. Shifting the ruble away from a pegged value and into the gold standard itself is aimed at making it a credible gold substitute at a fixed rate.
Western governments must honestly assess the mistaken assumptions that have undermined effective policies in the past and articulate what a better future would look like for the Russian people.
While Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield have been mixed, its operations in Crimea and the Black Sea have been rather more successful.
Foregone conclusion: a Russian soldier casts his vote at a polling station in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, March 2024.
Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
Russian disinformation expert Ilya Yablokov tells The Conversation Weekly podcast about the president’s shifting relationship with conspiracy theories.
Vladimir Putin faces token opposition in the polls this weekend after his regime has viciously cracked down on opposition figures. He’s likely to be even more repressive in his next term.
A centralised system of government has allowed Putin to project power, but the country’s health care, schools, infrastructure and general quality of life have sharply deteriorated.
Russian President Vladimir Putin looks set to extend his leadership.
Contributor/Getty Images
While Putin is all but guaranteed to win, war fatigue, electoral engineering and extreme risk-aversion suggest that the Kremlin is anxious to get these elections over and done with.
A Ukrainian tank fires at Russian positions in Chasiv Yar, the site of fierce battles in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Feb. 29, 2024.
(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Opposition from soldiers’ wives is an underestimated form of resistance against Vladimir Putin.
A makeshift memorial in honour of Alexei Navalny at the monument to the victims of political repression in Saint Petersburg on 16 February 2024.
Olga Maltseva/AFP
Sending ground troops to Ukraine could provoke a wider and vastly more dangerous war with Russia,
Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, attends the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 16, 2024, the day it was announced Navalny was dead.
Kai Pfaffenbach/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
The quick rise of Yulia Navalnaya in Russian politics closely mirrors the story of other female politicians who gain prominence after their husbands or fathers are no longer able to lead.
Most of Vladimir Putin’s opponents are either dead, in jail or in exile. But it might just be ordinary people who can take over the battle for democracy in Russia.
Will war fatigue be a factor?
Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance via Getty Images