On-line Intelligence Bulletin of the European Press Agency
By Nina Bachkatov and Andrew Wilson
This is not a secret: Vladimir Putin wants to be reelected, with a large margin and a high turnover. But he also wants to show he is in tune with 2018 Russia. Continue reading “Kremlin’s receipe for a “modernised” campaign”
By Nina Bachkatov and Andrew Wilson
The main success of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress held on 30 January in Sochi is that it existed. Up to the last moment, Russian diplomats and experts doubted that the Congress would attract enough Syrian delegates to be credible. There was fears that it might be cancelled for a third time. Continue reading “Sochi: another step towards a Syrian resolution”
By Nina Bachkatov and Andrew Wilson
For months the question was not “Will he or not?” but “when”?. Vladimir Putin finally announced his candidacy to be the next president at a place and a moment nobody expected – on 6 December, in a factory, outside Moscow. Continue reading “Finally he did it”
By Nina Bachkatov and Andrew Wilson
Finally, President Putin has decided once again to keep his cards under his sleeve up to the last minute. Continue reading “The discreet candidate”
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”
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”
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”