International Relations at the Lenin Library
The following piece is taken from The Russia Reader edited by Bruce Grant and Adele Barker (Duke University Press, 2010). The book is part of…
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The Eurasian Youth Union
The short political program of The Eurasian Youth Union, presented below, perhaps belies the depth and breadth of Eurasianism’s body of philosophy. The Eurasianists are…
Sergei Udaltsov and The Left Front
Sergei Udaltsov and his organizations, which include The Left Front, rose to prominence with the protests that swept Russia after the 2011/2012 election cycle. Udaltsov’s…
The Komsomol(s)
The Komsomol was founded in 1918 as the Russian Young Communist League. Originally, it was an organization independent from, but supportive of, the Communist Party,…
Five Russia-Related Issues to Watch this Semester
The SRAS Newsletter has been on vacation for much of the summer. However, we’ve continued to follow the major issues surrounding Russia. To bring our…
Lara Peterson: Employment in Russia’s Wilderness
Lara Peterson is the Russia, Europe and Near Asia Program Coordinator for the US Forest Service International Programs. She holds dual degrees in natural resources…
A Sovereign Surge, Not a Soviet Resurgence: The Mutualism of Eurasian Reintegration
With the creation of the Eurasian Economic Community’s customs union (“Customs Union”) in 2010, total trade among Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan skyrocketed.[1] Emboldened by such…
United Russia: A House Divided
United Russia is the powerhouse of Russian politics. At its base is the influence of the paternal Vladimir Putin, two-time President and one-time Prime Minister,…
How Does Income Affect Suicide Rates? Regional Evidence from Russia
I believe no man ever threw away life, while it was worth keeping. For such is our natural horror of death, that small motives will…
The Varieties of Capitalism Dichotomy (and Beyond) in Post-Communist States
The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 gave rise to fifteen independent states, as well as a challenge for those who study national political…
Chechnya: A Difficult Cornerstone in Russian Security
Chechnya is a predominantly Muslim region nestled among many turbulent republics in the Caucasian Mountains. Though the deep ethnic, tribal, and religious divisions of the…
Choose or Lose: The Best Campaign Videos in Russian Politics
Editorial note: the following resource first appeared in Russian in Bolshoi Gorod, an independent, Moscow-based Russian-language newspaper that provides considerable coverage of political issues, social…
Mikhail Prokhorov: A Real Future
Mikhail Prokhorov was the only applicant out of a dozen to successfully register as an independent presidential candidate for the 2012 Russian presidential elections. Most…
Vladimir Putin: Presidential Platform, 2012
President Dmitry Medvedev officially nominated Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at the 2011 United Russia convention to replace him as president. In explaining why Putin was…
Russian MiniLessons: Землетрясения и российской помощи – Earthquakes and Russian Foreign Aid
The following bilingual Russian MiniLesson is meant to build your vocabulary by providing Russian phrases within English text. Hover over the bold Russian to reveal…
The Moscow Protest: My Experience
Moscow is very cold in the winter. There isn’t a lot that would motivate a large crowd of people to stand outside in the freezing snow and…
Russian Election Protests: A view from Irkutsk
For several weeks up to the elections for State Duma, flyers and newsletters were handed out throughout Irkutsk by representatives from many different parties, primarily…
Deputy Prime Minister Shuvalov’s Speech in Vladivostok
While I wasn’t able to sit down with my family for a traditional Thanksgiving Day meal, I was treated to a certain Thanksgiving Day surprise. …
Youth Crime under Perestroika
In a Komsomolskaya Pravda article dated April 13, 1993, O. Karmaza wrote that “in recent times, we have destroyed everything that could be destroyed. This applies to…
LDPR: Anti-Crisis Platform
The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), it is often said, is neither liberal nor particularly democratic. They advocate nationalizing most of Russia’s major industries…