The End of Putin - By Julia Ioffe. MOSCOW – On the night of Monday, Dec. 5, blogger, anti-corruption activist, and budding politician Alexey Navalny was one of 500 people arrested at a protest denouncing fraud in the previous day's parliamentary elections. Surrounded by some 6,000 people -- an unheard-of number for a protest in the center of Moscow, a dozen years into the apathetic Putin era -- Navalny had delivered an angry, guttural, less-than-diplomatic speech. "We will cut their throats! " he proclaimed, then tried to lead a march down the street to the headquarters of the Federal Security Service, the powerful successor to the KGB known by its Russian initials FSB.
This had not been permitted in advance, so he was bundled up, stuffed into a police van, and shuttled around nighttime Moscow to keep his supporters from picketing his detention. The next day, he was given a 15-day sentence for disobeying police orders. It was true: Russia had changed while Navalny was in jail. What is my electorate? Why then? Putin’s Election Dilemma. Just weeks ago, Russia’s March 2012 presidential election seemed a foregone conclusion, with Vladimir Putin’s “victory”—by whatever means—virtually guaranteed.
So much so that most opposition leaders, with the exception of liberal economist Grigory Yavlinsky, decided to skip the contest altogether, mindful of the experience of 2008, when pro-democracy candidates Vladimir Bukovsky and Mikhail Kasyanov were denied access to the ballot. The 2012 field (again, with the exception of Yavlinsky) narrowed to a handful of Putin’s handpicked “shadow boxers”: Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, nationalist firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky, former Upper House Speaker Sergei Mironov, and ostensibly “center-right” billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.
Another contender, Kremlin-appointed Irkutsk Governor Dmitri Mezentsev—Putin’s old colleague from St. Is Putin's Fake Rival the Real Deal? - By Simon Shuster. MOSCOW – From the crowd that gathered on Jan. 13 at Moscow's Central Telegraph building, just up the block from the Kremlin, you would think someone was handing out envelopes of cash.
There were pensioners, housewives, college students, and school teachers packing into the entryway and spilling out onto the street, all craning to get a look at the narrow head that stuck up above the throng. Even from the back of the crowd you could see it -- the bobbing noggin of the 6 foot, 8 inch, billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who was there to open a campaign office as part of his race for the Russian presidency.
The strange part was that he seemed to be having fun interacting with voters, listening to their lamentations, letting them pinch the fabric of his coat. But here's the really strange part: Everyone there, except for most of the journalists, really believed he could win. "Um. So what about Prokhorov? The lanky bachelor, however, does not come off as a man acting under duress. Kremlin Talks to Opposition as It Readies ‘Victory’ Above and Beyond - By William F. Browder. When my Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, died in police custody in November 2009, I thought that there was a good chance of getting justice for him from the Russian legal system for what I believe to be his murder.
Unlike in many other human rights abuse cases, there was a mountain of documentary evidence proving exactly who killed him. Sergei had given official testimony to Russian investigators prior to his arrest describing how the police were involved in stealing our companies as well as the $230 million in taxes we had paid to the Russian budget. Official police documents show that the same police officers who Sergei testified against arrested him. The sense of an ending - Stephen Holmes, Ivan Krastev Putin and the decline of "no-choice" politics. Blatantly rigged elections are the easiest way for the Putin regime to mimic the authoritarian power it does not possess.
December's protests destroyed Putin's reputation of being in control; even genuinely competitive elections would be unable to restore his legitimacy. The protests in Moscow and other cities following the parliamentary elections in December 2011 did not hail the beginning of a Russian version of the Arab spring. Nor did they represent the belated arrival of a Ukrainian-style coloured revolution. Russia is not Egypt, for one thing. Putin is much younger than Mubarak – he has been in power for eleven years compared to Mubarak's thirty – and the Russian population is much older than the Egyptian one and less charmed by the promise of democracy. Nor does Russia in 2012 resemble Ukraine in 2003. The People vs. Vladimir Putin.
"Putin’s Choice" by Charles Tannock. Exit from comment view mode.
Click to hide this space BRUSSELS – Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin as Russia’s president was always a foregone conclusion. Vlad Putin and the loneliness of the long distance president. Vladimir Putin unexpectedly pulled out of last weekend’s G8 summit in the USA, sending Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in his place.
He gave as his reason the need to finish work setting up his new cabinet, but eminent Moscow journalist and music critic Artemy Troitsky has another explanation for the president’s change of plan. When the newly installed Russian president suddenly decided not to go to Camp David for the G8 summit, experts and analysts, both in Russia and the West, were ready with all kinds of explanations for this move, what message it was supposed to convey to the assembled world leaders and what political convolutions were behind it.
All rubbish – or at best a sprig of parsley to garnish the main reason. Muscovites Go to the Streets as Putin Declares ‘Victory’ MOSCOW — An uninformed tourist who happened to be in Moscow in the past three days could be forgiven for thinking that the Russian capital is under a military siege.
Chechen precinct gives 107 percent. As usual, the restive region of Chechnya went a bit over the top with the election fraud in Russia's presidential contest, with 99.59 percent reported turnout and 99.82 percent of voters backing Vladimir Putin.
One precinct, according to the New York Times, really went above and beyond: The final tally: Putin, 1,482 votes; Gennady A. Zyuganov, the Communist Party leader, one vote. This result was in itself statistically improbable. ‘This Is How You Elect a F*cking President?’ - By Julia Ioffe. MOSCOW — When Duma deputy Gennady Gudkov left Pushkin Square Monday night, the crowd -- estimated by the police at 14,000 -- was just starting to disperse.
They had stood for two hours in sub-zero temperatures, not 24 hours after Vladimir Putin wept after sweeping to victory in Sunday's presidential race with 63.6 percent of the vote. How Russia’s urban middle class can bring an end to Putinism. I first went to the Soviet Union in 1979 as a graduate student.
I was immediately struck by how Soviet citizens walked along — looking at their feet. This was a frightened and cowed population, many of whom remembered firsthand the oppression and violence of Stalinism. La Nausée Russe - Andrei Piontkovsky. Exit from comment view mode. Click to hide this space MOSCOW – The history of successive authoritarian regimes in Russia reveals a recurring pattern: they do not die from external blows or domestic insurgencies. Instead, they tend to collapse from a strange internal malady – a combination of the elites’ encroaching disgust with themselves and a realization that the regime is exhausted. In Sunday’s Vote, It’s Putin vs. Russia. Russia's Activists Regroup. Letter From The economic boom that took place under the watch of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gave birth to a new middle class in Russia.
But now, in the run-up to Sunday’s presidential election, that very group has turned against him and taken to the streets. The speeches at the protests last weekend were uninspiring and off-message. By focusing on vote-rigging, which was not nearly as prevalent as in other recent elections, organizers sidelined themselves. With ‘Election’ Over, Putin Faces a Changed Country. Why are Russians attracted to strong leaders? The Very Short Introductions (VSI) series combines a small format with authoritative analysis and big ideas for hundreds of topic areas.
Written by our expert authors, these books can change the way you think about the things that interest you and are the perfect introduction to subjects you previously knew nothing about. In this week’s VSI column, we give you Russian History: A Very Short Introduction. Grow your knowledge with OUPblog and the VSI series! Russian History: A Very Short Introduction By Geoffrey Hosking After a decade of a chaotic but exhilarating democracy in the 1990s, Vladamir Putin as president and prime minister has been restoring a strong state. This is all part of a well-established historical pattern. Putin returns, but will Russia revert to ‘virtual democracy’? The Russian election cycle is over. President Putin II has once again been crowned leader. It is tempting to assume that the opposition is dispersing and the regime has survived what in retrospect will seem a merely temporary crisis; but this would be premature.
Putin only won such a high percentage of the vote because he pre-selected his opponents. This was also the only reason why his 63.6% was superficially similar to the 71.9% he won in the 2004 election, which was another carefully staged contest against second-string opponents, rather than the 53.4% Putin first won in 2000, when there were still some real dragons to slay. Putin also ran a grab-bag campaign, recycling a host of old tropes and throwing out carrots to various groups of voters; but with no overarching narrative.
Putin is back in charge, but this does not mean that the system he created has emerged victorious. "Putin’s Final Act" by Nina L. Khrushcheva. Exit from comment view mode. Putin's Secret War - By Anna Nemtsova. Click here to see photos from the war zone in Russia's backyard. Russia's Surprisingly Liberal New Cabinet - By Anders Åslund. Russia's recently returned President Vladimir Putin generally likes to surprise, but the reports leading up to this week's cabinet appointments were uncannily accurate. Putin’s New Cabinet Offers More of the Same. "Russia Stays Home" by Javier Solana. Exit from comment view mode. Click to hide this space. Putin Between Assad and Mubarak.
The Temporary Return of Putin Co. The ruling tandem of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev was a clever trick that allowed Putin to keep his hold on Russian political life without violating the Russian constitution, which forbids serving more than two consecutive presidential terms. At the same time, it made it possible for Medvedev to lure the West and Russian liberals with hopes for reform. Putin’s Brezhnev Syndrome - Pierre Buhler. Exit from comment view mode. News Desk: Putin’s Big Mistake? Well, they’ve finally done it. Last night, after some six thousand people came out in central Moscow to protest suspected fraud in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, authorities rounded up three hundred people. Among them was Alexey Navalny, a popular anti-corruption activist and blogger. Vladimir Putin's Cyber Warriors. Early on Tuesday morning, my Web site, Agentura.ru, which covers the activities of Russia's secret services, was shut down by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.
The Kremlin Strikes Back by Amy Knight. A Warning Shot For Putin. Petrushka v. Mr Botox. This Could Be Putin's Last Election. Vladimir Putin, Democracy, and Activism in Russia. Kremlin Moves to Silence Independent Radio. Mission to Moscow. Tightening the Screws - By Julia Ioffe. Why did the Russian Government Install Webcams in Polling Stations? The Kremlin versus the bloggers: the battle for cyberspace. The Kremlin and the hackers: partners in crime? Cleaning Up in Moscow - By Julia Ioffe. Pussy Riot’s show trial. Russia urges Putin to step down. News Desk: Putin: A Used President? A Russian Awakening? - Jeffrey Tayler - International. The Autumn of the US-Russia Reset. The End of the 'Reset' Won't Get Fooled Again - By Julia Ioffe. Putin and the Uses of History. Portrait of the Young Vladimir Putin. 'I, Putin': An Inside Look at Russia's Aging, Lonely Leader - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International. With my little eye.
Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Khodorkovsky: One Man’s Truth, Another Man’s Tyranny. Vladimir’s Tale by Anne Applebaum. Putin Forever - An FP Slide Show. Was There Really a Plot to Assassinate Putin? Putin the Peacemaker? - By Dmitri Trenin. Vladimir the Unstable. Russia’s ‘Public’ TV, Putin-Style.