Category Archives: Kremlinology

A tale of two choices

Posted on January 29, 2015 by

Oil prices tumble, the Russian economy is in recession, the Russian elite is nervous, but Vladimir Putin is smart enough to avoid the traps that the Soviet Union fell into – in a nutshell, this is the argument of Richard … Continue reading →

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Europe’s game – Part 2

Posted on December 8, 2014 by

In the previous entry, I argued that Europe had to push forward with sanctions on Russia, despite the imminent threat of a Russian economic crisis. However, Europe’s game does not end here. It has to carefully observe the movements within the … Continue reading →

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The cost of peace

Posted on September 18, 2014 by

The war in Ukraine is, arguably, a very costly business for Russia’s leaders. No wonder that the political and business elite seem to be increasingly divided on the issue. However, the situation created by the conflict has benefited Russia’s ruling … Continue reading →

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A case against Medvedev #2: the Armenian lesson

Posted on May 9, 2014 by

One of the most publicised reforms carried out during Dmitry Medvedev’s presidency was Russia’s switch to year-round Daylight Saving Time (DST) for economic and health reasons. However, the reform did not quite work out and sparked a lively debate, yet, … Continue reading →

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Storm clouds from Crimea

Posted on April 2, 2014 by

The invasion of Crimea was a reality check for all of us that assumed that Russia had been integrated into a rule-based global system and was working fairly rationally. As I have blogged before, most of us were wrong about … Continue reading →

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Call my bluff

Posted on February 26, 2014 by

There it is: the longer, more violent and potentially more dangerous version of the Orange Revolution turned Ukraine around and put Viktor Yanukovych out to grass for good. Partly because of Yanukovych tragically poor political skills but also because of … Continue reading →

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Bumps ahead

Posted on January 6, 2014 by

2013 was clearly the year of Vladimir Putin. After an embarrassing 2011 and a whacky 2012, the Russian president solidified his grip on the domestic political realm, tightened the screws so efficiently that by the end of the year he … Continue reading →

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