In March, Russia was faced with the unsavory prospect of a considerable loss of funds kept by Russian enterprises and individuals in Cyprus, traditionally one of the most attractive jurisdictions for Russian businesses A signifi cant portion of those funds was frozen or seized by the Cypriot...

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...

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 December, the Russian authorities made several symbolic gestures designed to sway public opinion both at home and abroad in favor of their policies. Thus, they pardoned Michail Khodorkovsky, Russia’s number one po¬litical prisoner, and declared a large-scale amnesty marking the 20th...

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...

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 political highlight in October became the mass ethnic riot in a Moscow’s uptown district of Birulyevo. The unrest proved the rise of ethnic problems in big cities. While the authorities met the rioters’ local claims (they found the killer and shut down the vegetable warehouse with a...

In November 2014, Vladimir Putin declared that he had no intentions to become Russia’s president-for-life. In spite of Putin’s assurances, this public statement has inevitably sent an alarming signal to society. In November 2014, a court of justice seized the company Bashneft from Vladimir...

In December 2014, Russia’s authorities faced a severe foreign exchange crisis, which forced them to increase the CBR key interest rate to 17% and to order a number of major state-owned companies, including Gazprom and Rosneft , that their foreign exchange reserves should be brought back to the...

In October the current turmoil in Russia’s international relations palpably stagnated. At the same time, Russia’s economic-political scene displayed alarming portents of future troubles in her business environment: it is not an exaggeration to say that, in October, Russia found herself on...