Two years ago, on 4 March 2012, Russians went to the polls to elect a new president, and returned Vladimir Putin for his third term in office. Since then he has been putting the finishing touches to his personal ideology. на русском языке
Russia’s unemployment figures look low, but they are rising, and there is a great gulf between the prosperous centre and failing regions.
Global attention is focused on Russia’s hosting of the Winter Olympics, a PR coup for President Putin. But all is not well on the economic front and the scenario the Russian government will probably choose going forward is unlikely to be much help.
Discontent may soon be the norm across all sections of Russian society. But it's unlikely to benefit the opposition or professional classes, says Dmitry Travin.
The first eight years of the last decade were incredibly successful for Russia’s economy, but the crisis of 2008 hit hard and growth remains decidedly sluggish. Dmitry Travin wonders whether the country’s economy will ever be able to regain the Midas touch.
Dmitry Travin introduces a new week-long series on openDemocracy Russia
The Russian regime may present a united front to the world, but behind the scenes the cracks are beginning to show. In the week when Putin fired a senior government member, Dmitry Travin looks at the people and the issues that divide them.
As the Russian government tries to put together its budget plan for 2013-2015, it is clear that it cannot possibly meet all its pre-election promises. Dmitry Travin looks at the financial crisis facing the country (photo RIA Novosti Agency).
As Putin’s new government beds in and shows its teeth against the protesters, Dmitry Travin takes a look at the generational differences among the opposition. Life experience makes many of the older generation more weary of street protest, yet on other fronts people are beginning to speak with one
Russia's ruling tandem have hung their economic policy high up on a mast: oil prices will hold, they say … and, well, even if they do drop, dwindling reserves should just about cover it. As ex-Finance Minister Kudrin realised, this is a foolish game that runs the risk of total catastrophe, writes
On the eve of a Customs Union agreement between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, Russian state television began an information war against Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. By the ferocity of this campaign, it seems Russian leaders have finally lost patience with their one-time ally.
Russian national pride has been badly dented by poor performance at the winter Olympics. It is being widely read as a political failure, reflecting the effects of corruption, and a regime which promotes PR over professionalism
