In July 2014, against the backdrop of an escalating conflict in Ukraine and the crash of a civilian passenger airliner in the active combat zone there, the OECD's sanctions against Russia were severely toughened. A ban was imposed on the issuance of long-term loans (for periods over 90 days) to...

The situation in eastern Ukraine and Russian-Ukrainian interstate relations saw a certain de-escalation in June 2014. In particular, Russia recognized new Ukrainian President P. Poroshenko. However, the situation remains to be tense. The east Ukrainian armed groups cannot see how they may exist...

Against the backdrop of dramatically fluctuating oil prices, the main news of January were the plans declared by the Russian government, in particular the budget expenditure cut by 10%, the possibility of privatization of certain big state-owned entities, and the renewal of external borrowing....

In December, President of Russia Vladimir Putin delivered the Annual Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly. During the traditional press conference he expressed his approval of the policies pursued by the RF Government and the Bank of Russia, noting that the current situation was...

In September 2013, voters cast their ballots on Russia’ single voting day. The results of voting differed greatly from one region to another: in some regions, where the voting procedure had become a mere formality, United Russia managed to win from 40 to 80% of the votes cast, while in the...

The October 2012 single day of voting produced approximately the same results for United Russia as were achieved by it in the 2011 parliamentary elections. The CPRF also had a good showing at the polls. The two other parliamentary parties – Fair Russia and the LDPR – did not manage to...

In March 2014 Russia announced the accession of Crimea based on the results of the referendum held on 16 March 2014. In response the U.S. and EU introduced visa sanctions and a ban on the possession of assets in their jurisdictions for Russian officials (and in the U.S. this also extended to...

February saw a sharp deterioration of Russo-Ukrainian relations in the aftermath of the bloody conflict in Ukraine that led to President Viktor Yanukovych’s flight into Russia and to the Crimean parliament’s refusal to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities. Russia’s authorities have so...

February saw yet another flare-up in the ongoing turf war between economic clans, first of all between Ivan Sechin's and Arkady Dvorkovich's groups of influence. The latest flare-up was so strong that it even spilled over into Russia's state-owned TV channels. Thus, in one of its programs aired...

January 2013 saw yet another surge in protests in Russia – now caused by Vladimir Putin's approval, on New Year's eve, of the draft law banning U.S. citizens to adopt Russian orphans (it should be noted that Russia's authorities have so far failed to offer the orphans anything worth mentioning...