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…
Where is the resistance to Putin’s war? If you look only at the streets of Moscow, you might conclude that it doesn’t exist. There are no enormous anti-war demonstrations. No opposition leader is addressing a crowd of half a million people. Most Russians go to work, shop for groceries, complain about prices, and continue with…
Imagine that tomorrow the war in Ukraine ends on Putin’s terms. Russian television interrupts its programming. Putin addresses the nation. Fireworks explode over Moscow. Commentators announce that Russia has defeated not only Ukraine, but the entire collective West. For a few days, the country celebrates, and then comes the much more interesting question: What happens…
The Russian government is constantly fighting corruption. At least, officially. Officials are arrested. Criminal cases make the news. Putin regularly demands that state money be protected from theft. Every few years, another anti-corruption campaign begins. And yet corruption remains everywhere. The reason is not that the Kremlin has been trying to defeat it and somehow…
