It is too soon to speak about North Korea rejoining the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The changing of the ruler in that country is no reason to believe that the situation will evolve. But we certainly mus...
Russia’s top leadership is unprepared for negative developments, showing a surprising complacency, with revival of the smug ‘safe haven’ rhetoric which was a feature of the run up to the crisis ...
Now that Moscow city authorities have finally agreed upon the route the opposition is to take on its next mass rally on Feb. 4, the main obstacle confronting the anti-Kremlin demonstrators is the Russ...
Russia Profile brings you some of the best analysis on top stories in Russia today. But there’s always more behind them. Each Friday, our writers provide their own take on the news, offering unique commentary to put events into a different perspective. This week, Dan Peleschuk wonders about Prokhorov’s presidential bid, Andrew Roth questions the “ethnic card” in Russia, and Tai Adelaja explores Domodedovo’s financial dilemma.
The film “Vysotsky. Thank You for Being Alive,” directed by Pyotr Buslov, is a reaffirmation that the iconic Soviet musician and poet Vladimir Vysotsky is still loved and admired by millions of Russians. According to the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), the movie was chosen as the film of the year by nine percent of the poll’s respondents. Vysotsky has also been ranked second to Yuri Gagarin as the idol of the 20th century, the poll, which was conducted in 2010 showed. The success of the movie was virtually guaranteed by the scores of immensely different age groups who have taken an interest in the cult figure of the 1970s.
Russia’s Sochi will play host to the Valdai Discussion Club Middle East section’s conference “Transformation in the Arab World and Russia’s Interests” on February 17-18, 2012.
The Valdai International Discussion Club held the Moscow-Astana videoconference “Elections in Kazakhstan and the outlook for Eurasian integration” at the RIA Novosti press center.
The Working Group on the Future of U.S.-Russia Relations held its fourth meeting on December 16 and 17 in Moscow. Along with reviewing the current state of bilateral relations and their future through the lenses of the electoral cycles in Russia and the United States, the meeting addressed Russian-U.S. cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.
The theses contained in the report “Russia should not miss its chance: Development scenarios” were prepared by the working group comprising Russian and international experts ahead of the VIII annual Valdai Discussion Club meeting, themed “2011-2012 Elections and the Future of Russia. Development Scenarios for the Next 5-8 Years”.
The Valdai Index represents the combined opinion of leading world experts that participated in Valdai Club conferences with respect to Russia’s development in the political, economic, social, cultural and international spheres. Download Russia Development Index 2010-2011 in Russian (PDF)
The report examines how the Russia’s and United States` ties with the countries in post-Soviet Eurasia affect the bilateral relationship. The authors argue that despite the initial successes of the “reset” in Russia-U.S. relations, disputes relating to post-Soviet Eurasia represent “a ‘landmine’ in Russia -U.S. relations that could ‘detonate’ at any time and seriously complicate cooperation on other issues.
Poll
What will be Russia’s position on escalation of the tensions between Iran and the Western countries?
Over two decades China has made a huge success in implementing its long-term foreign strategic policy while Russia is still struggling to engage Africa. A critical assessment shows that Russia's problem of winning Africa back stems primarily from lack of political will and concrete policy agenda. After the collapse of the Soviet system, Russia revised its foreign policy concept which underlines new directions to develop political contacts and expand economic cooperation, but in the case of Africa, policy implementation has been slow and most often with little vigour and business-like flavour.
SCO might be amenable to the idea of a co-security partnership with NATO. In this regard, the organization would like to work together with the regional powers in fighting the Common cause of combating terrorism and stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan.
Russia’s top leadership is unprepared for negative developments, showing a surprising complacency, with revival of the smug ‘safe haven’ rhetoric which was a feature of the run up to the crisis of autumn 2008.
It is too soon to speak about North Korea rejoining the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The changing of the ruler in that country is no reason to believe that the situation will evolve. But we certainly must use this window of opportunity to make some progress toward reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Russia has economic and diplomatic interests in Iran's continued alienation from the West. Russian firms benefit from the reluctance of Western companies to invest in Iran due to the numerous unilateral and multilateral sanctions imposed on its government for its nuclear activities. These tensions preserve Russian firms as Iran's major economic partners.
Since the 1990s many Russians have harbored an aversion toward toward American participation in managing Russian affairs either directly or through U.S. political and economic advisers. Regardless of his alleged authoring of the “Reset” policy, McFaul is famous in both the United States and Russia as a supporter of the American policy on democracy promotion worldwide.
Vladimir Putin has so far failed to present a coherent economic program. What is clear, at least in broad strokes, is how the prime minister understands the global economic crisis.
Russia has announced a plan for the rapid construction of a total of eight Borei class SSBNs by 2018, with one new submarine to be commissioned every year starting in 2013.
Russia supports Iran because of fears of potentially dangerous (from its point of view) actions of the U.S. non-proliferation regime, which becomes more repressive, according to the Russian side. Therefore, Moscow uses the talks with Iran as the ability to protect against the NPT norms of their audit in a less favorable direction for Russian interest.
Kudrin’s firing is a very important event, much more than Putin’s anticlimactic announcement over the weekend that he was going to demote Medvedev and return as president himself.
Now that Moscow city authorities have finally agreed upon the route the opposition is to take on its next mass rally on Feb. 4, the main obstacle confronting the anti-Kremlin demonstrators is the Russian winter.
Russian leaders are concerned about the gains made by Islamist forces in the region, particularly in Egypt. The twin dangers of popular overthrow of local autocrats and subsequent electoral victories by Islamic parties have raised fears about an Islamist takeover in one or more Central Asian states.
The EU is applying punishments while losing leverage within the country. Meanwhile, Russia has exploited the rift to acquire control of various Belarusian assets.
Europe’s financial crisis isn’t bad news for everyone. Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, is poised to take advantage of the instability
The avowed white supremacist is the most extreme example of a perplexing issue for Russia’s anti-Kremlin protests, which began as a reaction to a December parliamentary election. That many nationalist have swung into opposition against Vladimir Putin is troubling for the Kremlin which considered such conservatives among their core constituency.
