Misha’s paradoxical end

By Andrew Wilson and Nina Bachkatov

President Putin wanted to ‘hang Mikheil Saakashvili by the balls’; president Poroshenko declared him stateless – a more classical way to get rid of a trouble maker, a charade for the West and an indirect success for Moscow. Continue reading “Misha’s paradoxical end”

Navalny’s challenge

By Nina Bachkatov and Andrew Wilson

As hundreds of people arrested on 12 June begin to appear in tribunal courts throughout Russia, the events of that day begin to offer a picture of the opposition developing under Alexei Navalny. The demonstrations were a test to confirm whether success of previous rallies on 26 March had been an accident or the signal of a permanent climate of mobilisation. It was also a test of whether the Kremlin’s determination is the sign of a personal challenge between two men, Vladimir Putin and Alexei Navalny. Continue reading “Navalny’s challenge”

Moscow-Versailles

By Nina Bachkatov and Andrew Wilson

The meeting between presidents Macron and Putin was a demonstration of cultural diplomacy at its best. Culture and history provided a key background to this first meeting between the presidents of two countries whose diplomatic relations had suffer of the general Western distaste towards Putin’s Russia. Continue reading “Moscow-Versailles”

Diplomatic defile in Moscow – Russia at work on a Syrian solution

By Andrew Wilson and Nina Bachkatov

For a man described as isolated on the world stage, President Putin has been shaking a lot of hands in the course of a week. The most predictable was his meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel, in the President’s Sochi summer residence on 2 May. Continue reading “Diplomatic defile in Moscow – Russia at work on a Syrian solution”

1917 – A problematic celebration

By Nina Bachkatov and Andrew Wilson

Since late 2016, questions have raised about the way Putin’s Russia can, or cannot, mark the dual centenaries of the February and October revolutions. The need for caution is all too obvious. The history of the Revolution “that shocked the world” has never been simply a matter for historians – in the West, just as in the communist world. Continue reading “1917 – A problematic celebration”

Russia and Trump’s victory: recognising “anti-establishment” diversity

by Andrew Wilson and Nina Bachkatov

The Kremlin was not hoping for a president Trump, but simply as anyone other than Hillary Clinton. But it would certainly have preferred a more ‘traditional’ partner with whom to restore bilateral relations and settle international conflicts Continue reading “Russia and Trump’s victory: recognising “anti-establishment” diversity”