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☆ Russians are spending big on travel and cognac. But the boom is just one 'last growth spurt,' says an analyst.
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-12 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Russia's consumer sentiment hit a high in June as its wartime economy boosted spending. The sentiment index has risen since April 2022, despite the Ukraine invasion. Go to newsletter preferences Thanks for signing up! In June, Russia's consumer sentiment hit a high not seen since the 2000s, according to Levada Center, Russia's last major independent pollster. Levada's consumer sentiment index has been moving steadily upward since April 2022, barely two months after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Persons: — Organizations: Service, Levada Locations: Ukraine, Russia

☆ Behind Putin’s Potemkin Vote, Real Support. But No Other Choices.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-18 | by ( Paul Sonne | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Kremlin stage-managed Russia’s presidential vote over the weekend to send a singular message at home and abroad: that President Vladimir V. Putin’s support is overwhelming and unshakable, despite or even because of his war against Ukraine. Mr. Putin, they said, won more than 87 percent of the vote, his closest competitor just 4 percent. The Levada Center, an independent pollster, reported last month that 86 percent of Russians approved of Mr. Putin, his highest rating in more than seven years. But while the figures may suggest unabiding support for Mr. Putin and his agenda across Russia, the situation is more complex than the numbers convey. The leader of one opposition research group in Moscow has argued that backing for Mr. Putin is actually far more brittle than simple approval numbers suggest.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Potemkin Organizations: Ukraine, Levada, Mr Locations: Russia, Moscow

☆ Why the scale of Putin's landslide win matters so much
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-18 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

As of 7 a.m. Moscow time on Monday, Putin has secured around 87% of the vote in the presidential election. This marks a record win for Putin, who took home 77% of the votes in 2018. His opponents — who are far from Putin's level of clout and influence — were pre-approved by Russia's election commission and posed no serious challenges to the incumbent leader. David Szakonyi, a political science professor at George Washington University, told Business Insider last week that voter turnout is an extremely important metric for Putin. AdvertisementTo be sure, there are other factors at play in Putin's victory besides Russia's strong economy.

Persons: —, Vladimir Putin, Putin, David Szakonyi, Szakonyi, Denis Volkov, Volkov, Alexei Navalny, Josef Stalin Organizations: Service, Business, George Washington University, Putin, Monetary Fund, Levada, New York Times, Times Locations: Moscow, Ukraine, Russia

☆ Vladimir Putin set to win 2024 Russian presidential election
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-17 | by ( Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Minutes after polls closed on Sunday, the head of the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) said Putin was in the lead with 87.9% of the vote, with 24.4% of the count in. More constitutional changes in 2020 removed presidential term limits, potentially allowing Putin to stay in power until 2036. Russia also held the presidential election in four Ukrainian regions it annexed during its full-scaled invasion. APThe election comes after more than two years of war which have exacted huge costs on the Russian population. After the election, Russia is set to continue to press home its growing advantage in Ukraine.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Putin, Russia’s, Joseph Stalin, – Putin, ”, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Alexey Navalny, Navalny, Novichok, “, Navalny’s, Yulia Navalnaya, Molotov, Ella Pamfilova, Dmitri Lovetsky, Levada Organizations: CNN, Kremlin, Russian, Election Commission, Russian Security Service, Sunday, CEC, West Locations: Soviet, Russia, Ukraine, Moscow, St . Petersburg, Germany, China, North Korea, Iran, Avdiivka, United States, Europe

☆ Merely winning has never been enough for Putin — and this year's presidential election is no different
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

There's little doubt Putin, 71, will win, even as the Ukraine war drags into its third year, analysts say. After all, his challengers — who were approved to run by the country's election commission — are far from his level of clout and influence. But for Putin, merely winning has never been enough — and 2024 looks no different. Putin needs to show that Russians really want him to leadFor Putin, it's not about winning. As Thomas Graham, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote on March 7, "Just winning has never been enough for Putin.

Persons: —, There's, Putin, it's, It's, Thomas Graham, David Szakonyi, Elvira Nabiullina, Nabiullina, they're, Vladimir Putin Organizations: Service, Business, International Monetary Fund, Council, Foreign Relations, George Washington University, Profit, Central Bank of Russia, Putin Locations: Ukraine, Russian, Policymaking, Russia, Polish

☆ Russians vote in an election that Putin will win, but the Kremlin is looking for a landslide victory
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Mikhail Svetlov/Getty ImagesThere are no surprises over who will win Russia's presidential election this coming weekend with incumbent, Vladimir Putin, set to win a fifth term in office, keeping him in power until at least 2030. The heavily stage-managed vote taking place from Friday to Sunday is not expected to throw up any nasty surprises for the Kremlin which told CNBC months ago that it was confident Putin would win the vote comfortably. That's particularly the case in a country where Russian opposition figures are not represented on the ballot paper or in mainstream politics, with most activists having fled the country. "According to official data, Putin received 77.5% of valid votes in the 2018 presidential election that saw a turnout of 67.5%. Russian opposition activists, most in self-imposed exile in order to evade arrest, imprisonment or attack, have also condemned the election.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Mikhail Svetlov, Putin, That's, Alexei Navalny, there's, Vladislav Davankov, Leonid Slutsky, Nikolay Kharitonov, Russia's, Yekaterina Duntsova, Boris Nadezhdin, Andrei Kolesnikov, —, Diego Herrera Carcedo, Andreas Tursa, Russian Federation's, Yulia Navalnaya, Dmitrii, we're Organizations: Kremlin, CNBC, New People, Liberal Democratic Party, Communist Party, Russia's, Commission, Levada, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Putin, Teneo, Russian Democratic Society, Festival Locations: Kremlin, Ukraine, Russia, Klishchiivka, Donetsk Oblast, Europe, Kyiv, Crimea, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk, Russian, London, Sirius, Sochi, Stavropolsky Krai, Krasnodar Krai

☆ Russia presidential election: Putin set to sweep to fifth term in power
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) approved only three candidates to oppose Putin: Leonid Slutsky of the Liberal Democratic Party, Vladislav Davankov of the New People Party and Nikolay Kharitonov of the Communist Party. “A vote for Slutsky and LDPR is absolutely not a vote against Putin,” he said. Although the ruling United Russia party has declared its “full support” for the president, Putin is running as an independent candidate, placing himself above party politics. A local election commission member prepares a polling station for early voting in the Republic of Karelia, March 10, 2024. Polls are set to open in Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka at 8 a.m. local time on Friday (4 p.m.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Putin, Joseph Stalin, Leonid Slutsky, Vladislav Davankov, Nikolay Kharitonov, Slutsky, “, ”, Stringer, Yekaterina Duntsova, Boris Nadezhdin, Alexey Navalny, Navalny “, Navalny, “ Putin, Yulia Navalnaya, Don’t, Natalia Kolesnikova, Dmitry Peskov, Peskov, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s, Dmitry Serebryakov Organizations: CNN, Kremlin, Commission, Liberal Democratic Party, New People Party, Communist Party, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, United, Getty, CEC, Russian Security Service, The New York Times, TASS, Russia Locations: Alaska, Kaliningrad, Ukraine, Russia, Soviet, United Russia, AFP, Moscow, Republic of Karelia, Avdiivka, Russia’s, Kamchatka

☆ Putin is coasting towards another term in power. Here’s what to know about Russia’s presidential election
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

CNN —Russia is holding a presidential election that is all but certain to extend Vladimir Putin’s rule throughout this decade and into the 2030s. But this is not a normal election; the poll is essentially a constitutional box-ticking exercise that carries no prospect of removing Putin from power. But that is not to say Russians expect the election to change the direction of the country. Russia’s elections are neither free nor fair, and serve essentially as a formality to extend Putin’s term in power, according to independent bodies and observers both in and outside the country. In order to vote against Putin, you just need to vote for any other candidate,” he said on February 8.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Putin, Alexey Navalny, Natalia Kolesnikova, Joseph Stalin, Putin’s, Dmitry Medvedev, euphemistically, —, Abbas Gallyamov, Gallyamov, ”, Callum Fraser, Nikolay Kharitonov, Leonid Slutsky, Vladislav Davankov, Davankov, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Boris Nadezhdin, Yekaterina Duntsova, Duntsova, Leonid Volkov, Volkov, Stringer, Alexey Navalny –, –, Yulia Navalnaya, “, “ Putin, Don’t, Navalnaya Organizations: CNN, Russian, Duma, Getty, Levada, Central, Commission, Royal United Services Institute, Communist Party, Slutsky, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Kremlin, CEC, Freedom, Putin, European Union, Foreign Affairs Locations: Russia, Ukraine, AFP, Soviet, Lithuanian, Vilnius, Chechen, Grozny, Moscow, Russian

☆ Despite scenes of defiance, plenty of Russians support Putin as election nears
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-12 | by ( Matthew Chance | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

“Even though Alexey Navalny is dead, there is always hope,” she said, “I think there are always people who do not support Vladimir Putin,” she added. But as this election approaches, you can’t discount what so many ordinary Russians tell you, face to face. Asked about the war in Ukraine and if he held Putin responsible for Russia’s involvement, he replied: “No, we support him in it. What is unclear now, though, is how much longer that support will last, especially if Russian war casualties mount, crackdowns on dissent gather pace and economic hardships dig in. Even before the public mourning of Navalny, thousands of Russians came out to support the nomination of an anti-war presidential hopeful, Boris Nadezhdin, whose candidature was ultimately rejected by the Russian election authorities.

Persons: Russia’s, Vladimir Putin, Alexey Navalny, Alexey, “, Vera Savina, Yulia, ”, Putin, Dmitry, CNN “, ” Sergey, Artyom, CNN Artyom, Boris Nadezhdin Organizations: Moscow CNN, CNN, Russia, Getty, Levada Center Locations: Moscow, Ukraine, Russia, Navalny, AFP, Soviet, Komi Republic, Russia’s, Russian

A leading state television channel opened with its host railing against the West and NATO. THE KREMLIN MEDIA DIETThe Kremlin regularly meets with the heads of TV stations to give “special instructions on what can be said on air,” said Ovsyannikova. State television broadcasts dull debates between representatives of Putin's opponents. GRANULES OF TRUTHRussian propaganda is “sophisticated and multifaceted,” said Francis Scarr, a journalist who analyzes Russian television for BBC Monitoring. Even those soothed by the Kremlin’s propaganda also could long for a real choice at the polls.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin, Putin, whittle, ”, PUTIN’S, Anna Politkovskaya, Evan Gershkovich, “, Marina Ovsyannikova, Sam Greene, Half, Jade McGlynn, —, Francis Scarr, McGlynn, Greene Organizations: West, NATO, NTV, Russia, Center for, Levada, King's College, Putin, State, BBC Monitoring, Kremlin Locations: Ukraine, Russia, State, Victoria, Russian, Crimea, Soviet, Washington, West, Ukrainian, Avdiivka, King's College London, RUSSIAN

☆ Russia’s presidential election is nearing. We already know who the winner will be
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-25 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —Russia is nearing a presidential election that is all but certain to extend Vladimir Putin’s rule throughout this decade and into the 2030s. The president’s dominance over the Russian electoral system has already been reinforced as the election looms. Voting will be held from Friday March 15 until Sunday March 17, the first Russian presidential election to take place over three days. The region makes up more than a third of Russia’s total territory but has only about 5% of its population. In order to vote against Putin, you just need to vote for any other candidate,” Navalny said on February 8.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Putin, Alexey Navalny, Maxim Shemetov, Joseph Stalin, Putin’s, Dmitry Medvedev, ” Callum Fraser, Nikolay Kharitonov, Leonid Slutsky, Vladislav Davankov, Davankov, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Boris Nadezhdin, Yekaterina Duntsova, Duntsova, Leonid Volkov, Volkov, Vladimir Nikolayev, euphemistically, Abbas Gallyamov, Gallyamov, Alexey Navalny –, –, ”, ” Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, “, “ Putin, Don’t Organizations: CNN, Russian, Duma, Federal, Reuters, Kommersant, CEC, Royal United Services Institute, Communist Party, Slutsky, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Kremlin, Freedom, Putin, Levada, EU, Foreign Affairs Council, European Union Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Russia’s, Soviet, AFP

Greece has become the first majority-Orthodox Christian nation to legalize same-sex marriage under civil law. Public opinion in majority Orthodox countries has mostly been opposed, too. Civil unions may become more common among Orthodox countries gravitating toward the European Union. Greek Orthodox showed relative tolerance, with half of Orthodox saying homosexuality should be accepted and a quarter favoring same-sex marriage. As head of the Russian Orthodox Church, he oversees the world's largest Orthodox flock.

Persons: ”, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, “, George Demacopoulos, ” Demacopoulos, —, Vladimir Putin, “ perversions, Putin, Kirill, Moscow, Tiny Montenegro, Aleksandar Vucic, ″, ___ Smith, Yuras, Stephen McGrath, Illia Novikov, Veselin Toshkov Organizations: European Union, Pew Research Center, Orthodox Christian Studies Center, Fordham University, Ukrainian, of, of Human, Russian Orthodox Church, Kremlin, Russia’s, Levada, MONTENEGRO Serbia, Balkan, Serbian Orthodox Church, of Human Rights, Orthodox, Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Associated Press, Gec, Lilly Endowment Inc, AP Locations: Greece, Montenegro, Cyprus, Russia, Eastern Europe, Washington, New York, European, UKRAINE, Ukraine, RUSSIA, Russian, BELARUS, Belarus, SERBIA, MONTENEGRO, Serbia, ROMANIA, MOLDOVA Romania, Romania, Bucharest, Moldova, BULGARIA, Bulgaria, Pittsburgh, Tallin, Estonia, Belgrade, Kyiv, Sofia

☆ Russians are freezing as Soviet-era infrastructure in the country crumbles —and Moscow keeps spending on war
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Heating systems are breaking down in Russia's harsh winter, leaving many people freezing. Much of Russia's Soviet-era infrastructure needs modernizing. AdvertisementHeating systems are breaking down in Russia's harsh winter, leaving many people freezing as Moscow continues to spend on its war in Ukraine. The brutal conditions are made worse because Russia's infrastructure is poorly maintained, with many of its facilitates dating from the Soviet era, according to media reports. About 40% of the communal heating grid in the country needs to be replaced urgently, she added.

Persons: —, Svetlana Razvorotneva, Vladimir Putin, Denis Volkov, ” Organizations: Service, Financial Times, Reuters, “, Levada Center Locations: Russia, Moscow, Ukraine, Siberia, Soviet, St . Petersburg, The, Russian, Nizhny Novgorod

☆ What You Can Still Complain About in Russia: A Cat Thrown From a Train
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Anatoly Kurmanaev | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The tragedy gripped Russia for days. Federal lawmakers convened a special committee and an investigation was launched, as hundreds of volunteers searched for the victim in subzero temperatures, and state news media ran live updates on the fallout. Eventually, the victim — Twix the cat — was found dead. A national outcry over the demise of a pet who was mistakenly thrown from a long-distance train by an attendant has highlighted both the limits of and the demand for an emotional outlet in wartime Russia. A combination of propaganda, a crackdown on dissent and public fatigue with the inconclusive war has turned internet curiosities into a focus of national attention for days, even weeks.

Persons: Denis Volkov Organizations: Levada Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Russian

☆ Opinion: The real story behind Russia’s new ‘Stalin Centers’
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-20 | by ( Opinion Jade Mcglynn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —Last month, a new ‘Stalin Center’ was opened in Barnaul, Siberia. According to the independent Levada Center, Stalin has taken first place in their ‘who is the greatest figure of all times and all people’ survey since 2012. Students of a military-sponsored school attend the opening of a series of busts of Russian leaders, including Josef Stalin (center), in Moscow, on September 22, 2017. What the West gets wrong about Stalin and PutinMoreover, these comparisons divert attention from important differences between the Stalin and Putin regimes. That is abundantly not the case in Putin’s Russia, where the government instead encourages a ritualistic patriotism and political apathy.

Persons: Jade McGlynn, “, Read, ’, Jade McGlynn Jade McGlynn, Stalin, Vladimir Putin’s, Josef Stalin, Alexander Zemlianichenko, Memorial, Gorbachev, Yury, Putin, Vladimir Putin, Alexander Nemenov, demonize ’ Stalin, —, weren’t, Mikhail Bulgakov Organizations: Center for Strategic, International Studies, CNN, Communists, Kremlin Russian Communist Party, Levada Center, YouTube, Communist, Reuters, Kremlin, Putin Locations: Putin’s Russia, Barnaul, Siberia, Russian, Penza, Bor, Communist, Russia, Vladimir Putin’s United Russia, Moscow, Perm, Baltic, Laski, Ukraine, today’s Russia, Kyiv, Putin Russia

☆ Putin fears the wrath of soldiers' wives as the Kremlin tries to 'pay off' potential protesters, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-03 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Russian soldiers and their wives are becoming increasingly unhappy with long deployments. The outlet reported that the Kremlin believes most wives are more concerned about the paycheck than their husbands returning from war. AdvertisementThe report comes after the wives of deployed soldiers held a rare public protest in Moscow on November 7. In its latest briefing note, the MoD cited that On 27 November 2023, a prominent online group for soldiers' wives published a manifesto against "indefinite mobilization." Recent requests by soldiers' wives to hold protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg have been denied.

Persons: —, RkeSEZILBt — Slava, @Heroiam_Slava, doesn't, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Ella Pamfilova Organizations: Service, Ministry of Defence, MoD, Kremlin, Levada Locations: Russian, Moscow, London, St, Petersburg, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Ukraine

☆ Putin fears the wrath of soldiers' wives, as the Kremlin tries to buy-off potential protestors, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-26 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russian soldiers and their wives are becoming increasingly unhappy with long deployments without rotation. AdvertisementThe Kremlin is concerned that the disgruntled wives of conscripted soldiers unhappy with long deployments could become a significant political headache, reports say. The Kremlin believes that most wives are more concerned about the paycheck than their husbands returning from war, the outlet reported. The report comes after the wives of deployed soldiers held a rare public protest in Moscow on November 7. AdvertisementRecent requests by soldiers' wives to hold protests in Moscow and St Petersburg have been denied.

Persons: —, RkeSEZILBt — Slava, @Heroiam_Slava, doesn't, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Ella Pamfilova Organizations: Service, UK Ministry of Defense, Russian, St, Levada Locations: Russian, Moscow, The, London, St Petersburg, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Ukraine

☆ Kremlin says Putin will 'win confidently' if he runs in the 2024 presidential election
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Kremlin says it's confident that Russian President Vladimir Putin will win the 2024 presidential election if he decides to run for another term in office. Neither Putin, 71, nor the Kremlin has confirmed he will run for another six-year term in office, taking his presidency up to 2030 and potentially beyond. But I have no doubt that if he puts forward his candidacy, he will win confidently," Peskov said in emailed comments to CNBC. "Society is consolidated around the president," Peskov added. Since then, he has alternated the roles of prime minister and president with other senior officials while always remaining the senior party.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Putin, Dmitry Peskov, Peskov, Alexei Navalny Organizations: Kremlin, Senior, CNBC Locations: Russia, Ukraine

☆ The Kremlin plans to raffle off houses and holidays to shore up support for Putin ahead of an election: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Kremlin is reportedly launching a nationwide raffle ahead of next year's presidential election. The project aims to support Putin amid Russia's challenges with Western sanctions, the report said. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe Kremlin plans to shore up support for Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of next year's election by launching a nationwide raffle, according to the independent Russian outlet Meduza. The prizes up for grabs include 300 trips across Russia and 30 housing certificates, which are vouchers that can exchanged for real estate, Meduza reported. Meduza reported that more than 400,000 people have already entered the raffle and that Russian news outlets and regional media have been instructed to promote the event.

Persons: Putin, —, Vladimir Putin, Meduza Organizations: Service, Russian, Kremlin, United, Levada Center, CNN, Freedom Locations: Russia, United Russia, US, Ukraine

☆ After Wagner's Prigozhin, who will stick their head above the parapet in Putin's Russia?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( Nathan Hodge | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The Kremlin has vehemently denied speculation that the Russian state might have been involved in the crash. It’s worth remembering that Prigozhin never had particularly high name recognition in Russia, at least certainly not before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. That changed in late June after Wagner’s march on Moscow raised the unsettling possibility of civil war in Russia. Alexey Navalny, who succeeded Nemtsov as Russia’s most galvanizing opposition leader, is currently in a Russian prison colony, along with many others who have peacefully opposed Putin’s war on Ukraine. Killed the leaders.”No evidence has surfaced that points to the involvement of the Kremlin or Russian security services in the crash.

Persons: Yevgeny, Wagner, Vladimir Putin’s, Putin, “, ” Putin, Dmitry Peskov, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Joe Biden, I’d, Biden, Prigozhins —, Prigozhin, Prigozhin —, —, Igor Girkin, ultranationalist, Matthew Chance, bouquets —, Boris Nemtsov, Alexander Ermochenko, Alexey Navalny, Nemtsov, Navalny, ’ ” Organizations: CNN, Embraer, Kremlin, Reuters Locations: Moscow, Russian, Ukraine, Russia, Ukrainian, Bakhmut, St . Petersburg, Russia’s

☆ The resilience of Russia's stock market and its economy is a complete mirage masking deeper pain, Yale researchers say
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The functioning of Russia's stock market is an illusion, two Yale researchers told Insider. That apparently stellar performance of the Russian stock market this year is ultimately an illusion meant to mask deepening pain in the country's economy. It's a move that was intended to prop up Russia's stock market, the researchers said. "The Russian stock market performance is very misleading, It is a Roach Motel of assets," Sonnenfeld told Insider. Other experts have warned of more pain for Russia's economy as its costly war in Ukraine drags on.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Steven Tian, Ukraine haven't, that's, Tian, Sonnenfeld, Putin Organizations: Yale, Investments, Service, Yale School of Management, Putin, Levada Locations: Wall, Silicon, Moscow, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Baltic, Russian, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan

☆ Opinion: How Prigozhin’s mutiny will resonate in Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Chris Good | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +20 min

Chris Good: You have spent a lot of time talking to Russians and developing a deep understanding of Russian public opinion. How will Prigozhin’s rebellion resonate in the Russian public consciousness, in your view? But especially now that it’s all sort of failed in the dust, there’s certainly opinion that it’s very good that it ended. Good: In the book, you talk about public opinion in Russia as involving a set of contradictions. Do you think of Russia as having public opinion, per se, and how you would characterize that public opinion, or the state of mind of Russians, throughout this war?

Persons: Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Ukraine —, Jade McGlynn Jade McGlynn, Jade McGlynn, ”, Vladimir Putin, Chris Good, there’s, Yulia Morozova, Reuters I’ve, ’, Prigozhin, McGlynn, Prigozhin’s Wagner, It’s, Putin, they’re, Putin —, ‘, Gennady, Zyuganov, ‘ Yeltsin, it’s, Stringer, Russia —, jockeying, they’ve, dismissible, Alexei Levinson, Masha Gessen, I’m, Masha, you’re, We’re, ’ Wagner, Roman Romokhov, he’s, Ramzan Kadyrov, —, you’ve, Russia wouldn’t, Bill Gates Organizations: CNN, War Studies Department, King’s College London, Reuters, Communist, Southern Military District, Getty, Telegram, Soviet Union —, Twitter, Facebook, Sputnik Locations: Moscow, Ukraine, Russia, Russian, Rostov, British, Don, Putin Russia, That’s, aggrievement, Chechnya, AFP, Kyiv, Soviet Union, It’s

☆ ‘Everything Changed’: The War Arrives on Russians’ Doorstep
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | Anatoly Kurmanaev | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To some in the region, the assaults on Shebekino, the most sustained attack on a Russian town since the start of the war, made clear Moscow’s lack of concern for their fate. In social media posts, they used the hashtag #ShebekinoIsRussia, a cry for attention from the wider public across the country, which has largely carried on with daily life. In interviews, some in Shebekino expressed anger at how state television anchors struggled to pronounce the town’s name, even as they lauded the evacuation efforts. “It seems that in Moscow they don’t understand what we have going on here,” said Ruslan, the English teacher. Levada’s director, Denis Volkov, said it was too early to say whether the escalation of border attacks would rally Russians around the flag.

Persons: Shebekino, ”, Ruslan, Denis Volkov, “ Organizations: Levada Locations: Moscow, Kremlin, Shebekino

☆ Putin accuses the West of creating Nazis while comparing the war in Ukraine to WWII, in what experts are calling a perversion of history
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

He sought to portray the war in Ukraine as part of a plot to destroy Russia. Putin has sought to portray the war in Ukraine as a battle against Western powers who he claims are determined to destroy Russia. A real war has been unleashed against our Motherland," he said during a parade in Moscow on Tuesday. During the war, Russia was allied against fascist powers with Western powers including the UK and US. "They've even said that the West created Nazis," he added, calling it a "grotesque perversion of and distortion of history".

With Russia embroiled in conflict again in Ukraine, in what the Kremlin says is a fresh existential battle for national survival, memories of the Soviet dictator loom large. "Firstly, thank you for the victory (in World War Two)," said 21-year-old Madina in a typically mixed view of Stalin's legacy among people on the streets of Moscow. said Moscow resident Andrei, 31, praising Stalin as a strong unifying personality whose war victory should be lauded. Today, Gori's Stalin museum, located on the town's Stalin Avenue, is the town's most famous tourist attraction, drawing visitors from across the world. In 2010, the Georgian government ordered the town's Stalin statue removed, saying he did not deserve it.

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