• The oligarchs who emerged under Yeltsin's rule gave up their involvement in Russia's domestic politics. They earned their money in

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  • Every day the war lasts we see new sanctions on Russia imposed by the West. How effective are they? Read the personal blog and

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  • After de meeting of the presidents Putin and Lukashenko, the 28th of May in Soch, it remains crystal clear: Russia is the only country that can truly influence the behavior of the Belarusian regime. Therefore, it’s only a matter of time before Western pressure is transferred from Minsk to Moscow.
    by Artyom Shraibman

  • The perceptions by the German government of Putin’s Russia appear to converge with the views of the Biden administration. Both acknowledge the link between the Kremlin’s repressive domestic policies and aggressive foreign policy. But in German government, there is a wide gap between the views and correspondingly tough responses.
    by Hannes Adomeit

  • As the spat on Russia's hacking of the US information technology firm SolarWinds shows, Russia again damaged its own interests. It was classical espionage, but American pundits framed it as Kremlin sabotage.
    by Mark Galeotti

  • So far it is two cheers for Biden's approach to Russia, Some of the sanctions will be more effective than others. By calling Putin a 'killer' with respect to Navalny, but at the same time inviting him for a meeting, he shows he has sticks and carrots to offer.
    by Matthew Sussex

  • The image of Putin’s Russia in Germany has suffered tremendously in the past few weeks. In the wake of a series of ever more implausible denials, the Kremlin’s credibility has seriously been eroded. Government and leading figures in the political parties have called for sanctions, both against the Lukashenko regime and Putin’s Russia, including stopping the North Stream 2 gas pipeline project. It remains to be seen whether the current shocks of the Kremlin’s behaviour will lead to major policy changes or, as in the past, end in business as usual.
    by Hannes Adomeit

  • In the relationship between Russia and Europe, illusions about rapprochement are gone. However, the relation is not confrontational either. It's in Russia's interest to strengthen economic and technological ties with the EU, argues Dmitri Trenin, director of Carnegie Center Moscow on the website of his think tank.
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  • The Trump administration and the U.S. Congress want to block the Nord Stream 2 project because they think it will make European countries too dependent on Russian energy and damage Ukraine. However, it’s unlikely that the U.S. will succeed, writes Todd Prince for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
    by Todd Prince

  • What can Ukraine's new president Volodymyr Zelensky do to help solve the Donbas conflict? With its policy of 'passportization' the Kremlin is escalating the conflict, Andreas Umland argues. More sanctions are needed to force Russia to change its policy. Or Europe will pay dearly.
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  • 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. Putin invoked the 1990s to show that life could be worse, if not for his 20 years in power. We republish a slightly abridged report of the show, written by Steve Gutterman for Radio Free Europe, followed by quotations of Putin's most remarkable statements.
    by Steve Gutterman

  • Political fragmentation, fights between the elites and a total absence of a positive domestic agenda. Political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya signals three key domestic risks of the year 2019 for those in power.
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  • In their own ways both Russia and the West consider themselves at war with each other. Wars bring their own zero-sum logic, so it would seem appropriate to ask the most basic of questions: who ‘won’ 2018? Our columnist Mark Galeotti weighs in.
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  • The United States’ latest round of sanctions has hit Russia hard. In the future, the Russian state will have to share the emerging

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

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  • Column      Dutch businessman Jeroen Ketting has been

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  • As Trump and Putin met for the first time during the G20, they apparently didn't speak about a very sensitive issue: the economic

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  • After Donald Trump took power a ‘reset’ of U.S.-Russian relations wasn’t even attempted. Why was a ‘grand bargain’, being so far

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  • On December 29 president Obama kicked out 35 Russian diplomats in response to Russian interference with the American

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  • Владимир Путин требует для России положения сверхдержавы, и избрание Трампа может сыграть ему на руку. Но на чем основаны

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  • Before the elections the Russian leadership was praising Donald Trump. After his victory the Kremlin should worry about mercurial

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  • Россия уже больше двух лет находится под международными санкциями; большинство российских регионов ощущают экономические последствия

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