Carnegie Moscow Center
Vladimir Putin’s election as Russia’s president may mark the end of the first phase of Russia’s awakening, but the awakening is not over. A restructuring of the Russian political field has just begun.
Today, Russia is peripheral to many of the major conflicts in the world. While this gives Moscow an opportunity to take care of its own affairs, Russia also needs to define and fulfill its new international role.
Now that Vladimir Putin and his United Russia party have returned to office for the next six years, it remains to be seen how much time he will have for Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin secured his return to power in Sunday’s Russian presidential election. Though that result came as no surprise, the issue of what will come next for Russia is still an open question.
Women in modern Russia still face a number of challenges, but Russian women and their Soviet counterparts have always been rather independent and active.
Public sentiment in many states has turned against nuclear energy following the March 2011 accident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The Fukushima accident was, however, preventable.
There is no reason to believe that the protests and the problems associated with them will end now that the Duma and presidential elections are over.
While Vladimir Putin’s election to the presidency should not change the course of Russia’s foreign policy, his fate will largely depend on his government’s socio-economic and political performance.
Putin's return to the Kremlin may be good news for Dmitri Medvedev and Russia's oligarchs, but the middle class, especially the younger generation, is less optimistic about his re-election and the country's future.
Western governments have the opportunity to demonstrate to the Russian elite that its ability to prosper in the West depends on its behavior inside Russia itself.
Following the Duma election in December, the political situation in Russia changed fundamentally. Social activity has sharply increased, and the new Russian middle class has awakened.
As China's power continues to grow, Russians need to rediscover themselves as a Euro-Pacific nation and strengthen ties to East Asia in order to avoid becoming Beijing's junior partner.
Vladimir Putin is expected to win Russia's presidential election on March 4, but growing popular alienation is likely to erode his power.
Despite the overlapping interests of Russia and China, the two countries are not allies. Moscow will not accept a junior position vis-à-vis Beijing, while the Chinese regard Russia as a fading power.
Russia and China are suspicious of multilateral institutions created by the West and hostile to anything that could justify external intervention in a sovereign state’s affairs, but both are learning to use international forums to their advantage.
Russia has the opportunity to move beyond saving the doomed Syrian regime to save the country itself from civil war and devastation and to bring about a political transition that leads to a stable and democratic Syria.
The regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has lost popular and political credibility, and this will likely result in the regime’s removal from power.
The turbulent events of 2011 in Kazakhstan have forced the country's ruling elite to consider economic and even political change in order to enable their continued rule.
It is in both Moscow and Washington’s interests to find realistic ways to improve bilateral strategic relations.
In a series of long articles in Russian-language newspapers, Putin has acknowledged the many political, economic, and social problems facing Russia and outlined his vision for a stronger country.