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.
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.
Women lay flowers to pay last respects to Alexei Navalny at a monument in Moscow on Feb. 20, 2024.
(AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Alexei Navalny’s successors — not western leaders — are best placed to carry on the fight for Russia’s future. But they’ll only succeed if Navalny’s cause isn’t seen as anchored to western ideals.
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, a city on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s far east.
Kokhanchikov/Shutterstock
Under Vladimir Putin homophobia has become a government policy reminiscent of Stalin’s era.
Andrey Vladimirovich Menshikov, mostly known by his stage name ‘Legalize’, but also for his membership in D.O.B and Bad Balance, is used to grating the Kremlin.
KabanDanish/Wikimedia
Vladimir Putin and his KGB men have steadily extinguished the artistic freedom the genre enjoyed in the 1990s, with Ukraine’s invasion adding yet another nail in the coffin.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, Ivan the Terrible and Vladimir Putin.
Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP. Valery Sharifulin/AP.
Ultimately, Putin’s bequest to his people is grimness, not greatness. The next generation of Russians will be untrusted and unwanted in many of the world’s most prosperous and welcoming nations.
Widespread outrage at Vladimir Putin’s decision to introduce partial mobilisation has focused attention on his ability to rule by decree.
Vladimir Putin appears larger than life on screen as he addresses an audience at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on the eighth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea in March 2022.
(Vladimir Astapkovich/Sputnik Pool Photo via AP)
There’s no question the Russian population is subject to a Russian media largely loyal to the Kremlin. But that doesn’t mean Vladimir Putin lacks genuine supporters.
While Mikhail Gorbachev was feted in the West — he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 — he was widely despised in Russia by those both mourning and celebrating the end of Soviet power.
Mikhail Gorbachev addresses American business executives in 1990.
David Longstreath/AP
Monica Attard witnessed the death throes of the USSR – and the birth of a brave new world – as the ABC’s Russia foreign correspondent. In 2022, a return to an Orwellian regime looms.
The live protest on one of Russia’s main state-owned TV news bulletins is a blow to Putin because of his near total control of broadcasting in the country.