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The Armenian prime minister Serzh Sargsyan has resigned after mass protests in the streets of Yerevan. In contrast to the Maidan protests which led to the flight of the Ukrainian leader Janukovich, the Kremlin doesn't see the forced resignation in Armenia as a coup d'état, inspired or organized by the West. Caucasus-expert Thomas de Waal explains why.

Many more Russian oligarchs, bureaucrats, companies, and businesses can expect to appear on future U.S. sanctions lists. Russia, not seeing an immediate catastrophic effect, will respond to new sanctions by searching for more enemies within and ramping up anti-American propaganda. The United States, which loses nothing from this policy, isn’t likely to initiate change. So it will be up to the Kremlin to change its approach — before it’s too late, says Andrey Movchan on Carnegie Moscow.

De pogingen van de Russische staat om de berichtendienst Telegram te blokkeren, zijn tot nu toe mislukt. Waarom slaagt het ‘digitale verzet’ via Telegram er, anders dan de demonstraties van Bolotnaja vier jaar geleden, nu wel in om effectief mensen te mobiliseren? Volgens Oleg Klimov omdat Telegram een hedendaagse variant is op de oude sovjetkeuken: een vrijplaats om vrij te praten.