If Putin’s Russia is as strong and successful as the Kremlin says, why has so much ordinary information become harder to see? I’m not talking about troop movements or intelligence operations. Every country keeps real military secrets. What interests me is something else. Over the last few years, Russia has become increasingly reluctant to let…
Inside Russia right now, almost everything works—and almost nothing feels normal. The people who notice these changes most clearly are Russians who left the country several years ago and have now returned for a visit. They remember the Russia they left. They have lived long enough somewhere else to lose the habit of accepting everything…
After more than four years of war, Putin is still behaving as though time is on his side. Russia has lost enormous numbers of men and equipment. Its economy is slowing. The federal budget deficit is growing. Ukrainian drones are reaching deep inside the country. And yet Putin is still not substantially reducing his demands….
After Putin, Russia may inherit the same war, the same security services, the same bureaucracy, the same sanctions, and many of the same people in power. And still become a very different country. Because Russia has spent more than two decades concentrating more and more important decisions at the very top. In a system like…
Do Russians really have a “slave mentality”? It is an ugly expression, and it is often used carelessly. But the stereotype did not appear out of nowhere. Why do Russians so often tolerate things that would provoke mass protests elsewhere? Why do people obey rules they privately consider absurd? Why is it so common to…
Russia is becoming harder to see from the outside. Independent websites are blocked. People can be prosecuted for saying the wrong thing about the war. That leaves foreigners with official media — and their heavily censored picture of the country. In that picture, Russia is remarkably stable. Moscow restaurants are full. New apartment towers go…
The Russian bureaucratic machine works very hard to convince both the outside world and its own citizens that Putin remains overwhelmingly popular and that the country is united behind the war. If you follow the media that is still allowed to operate inside Russia, the population appears remarkably obedient. People do not protest. They cooperate…
Russia’s ruble has done something many people did not expect. After the invasion of Ukraine, sanctions, the departure of foreign companies, exploding government spending, and growing trade problems were supposed to crush the currency. Instead, the ruble has remained surprisingly strong. That strength is easy to misread. It can look like proof that sanctions failed…
