Valdai Club

Ofer Zalzberg

Alexander Zhebin

Yahia H. Zoubir

Irina Zvyagelskaya

Konstantin Zatulin

Shi Ze

Oleg Zinkovski

Mohammad Javad Zarif

Natalia Zhiglinskaya Wyrsch

Andrei Zubov

Russian Federation

Professor of Philosophy, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, D.Sc. in History.

Materials

Does Russia Need a Law against Falsifying History?

The State Duma has received a bill stipulating fines and prison terms for denying or justifying Nazi crimes and criminals, or for condemning the outcome of the Nuremberg Trials. Some historians fear this would make it difficult to draw objective conclusions on the events of World War II. Supporters of the bill emphasize that it may help combat attempts to rewrite history.

Russian Orthodox Church Needs to Restore Democratic Foundations of Christian Life

The church’s main problem is similar to that which is facing Russia. The state needs to restore true public self-government and political democracy. The Church needs to create strong church communities and restore the democratic foundations of Christian life.

The Perception of Russian Culture and Its Role in Shaping Russia’s Image Abroad

It would be wrong to say that Russia’s arts and culture still play a fundamental role in shaping the country’s image abroad. They seem to have taken a backseat to politics – often viewed negatively both in Russia and abroad – and to the waves of new Russian immigrants, who have been heading West in large numbers since the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991and who, to put it mildly, are not always on their best behavior.

Could Central Asia See an Arab Spring?

It is obvious that similar phenomena may materialize in Central Asian countries. The more developed a country is, the more probable this scenario and the sooner it may happen. For example, it is much more realistic in Kazakhstan than in Turkmenistan. Kyrgyzstan in fact went through a similar revolution a year ago, although it has not been recognized by academics as one of the first “new type” revolutions.

V-E Day’s Role in Creating an Identity for Post-Soviet Russia

VE Day’s role in creating an identity for post-Soviet RussiaWhy does VE Day matter so much in post-Soviet Russia? One obvious reason is that the triumph over Nazi Germany in WWII is the only victory relevant to the entire nation that can act as a unifying force.