Russia

January editorial. Vladimir Putin’s end-of-year press conferences are legendary for both their patience-testing duration and absence of noteworthy moments. This year, the Russian president, who [...]

Let us face it, for many of us 2020 has been a monster of a year, one that seemed devoid of much of the joy and light that makes life enjoyable; much like a member of Brezhnev’s politburo. [...]

One of my favourite things about the upcoming holidays is the amount of time I can spend on reading. Every year, I find at least one book under the Christmas tree and usually, I finish it before [...]

First and foremost, Anna Starobinets’s memoir Look at Him is a testament to the sorrow of losing an unborn child. As such, it’s intended to comfort women and families suffering through the same [...]

December editorial. When discussing Russian politics, it is usually only a matter of time before the conversation shifts to ‘propaganda’, ‘fake news’ and ‘disinformation’. From flat out denials [...]

Conspiracy Culture: Post-Soviet Paranoia and the Russian Imagination by Keith Livers is part of a recent cast of plucky new texts that blur the boundaries between academia and popular culture [...]

While I was still too young to understand, I can clearly remember Vladimir Vysotsky’s deep, hoarse voice bellowing in passionate frustration through my parents’ old Soviet cassette tapes. He and [...]

While reading the introduction to Alexander Griboedov’s Woe from Wit, I have come to the conclusion that if the term “woke” existed and could have been applicable to 18th century Russia, this [...]

Migration to the global cities of the Soviet Union plays an important part in the history of Central Asia and the Caucasus. Exploring the narratives of those moving to these global cities, Jeff [...]

When doctors at Berlin’s Charité hospital confirmed that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny had been poisoned with a military nerve agent, Novichok, speculation mounted over the future of [...]