Institute of Modern Russia

02/16/2024

Alexey Navalny (Алексей Навальный) has died in prison, and it is not a tragic coincidence. We should not lull ourselves to inaction by waiting for an official report that will undoubtedly present a plausible explanation for his death. This was murder. Murder for which the Russian government, and president Putin are personally responsible.

His death follows the harrowing fate of Vasily Alexanyan and Sergey Magnitsky, who were denied medical treatment and tortured to death in prison. This was the same method. Poison, torture and medical neglect - slowly and painfully - this is how the Russian government kills its political opponents, kills its own citizens.

How the world leaders respond will determine the safety of other political prisoners, including my friend Vladimir Kara-Murza, Ilya Yashin, Andrey Pivovarov and many others held in Russia. President Biden was clear in his response to this tragedy. It’s now time for the rest of the world leaders to stand firm and condemn Putin as an illegitimate dictator who murders his political opponents.

12/21/2023

Years of perceived Western weakness have emboldened the Russian leader.

03/31/2022

On March 31, the Institute of Modern Russia’s website, imrussia.org, has ceased publishing. The website will remain online and will be maintained as a digital archive with all the articles preserved and freely accessible.

03/29/2022

The results of the past two months have been devastating for Russian civil society: basic constitutional rights have been severely restricted; military censorship and the state’s monopoly on the truth have been officially introduced; and freedom of speech and assembly has been completely destroyed. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine gave a powerful boost to the Putin regime’s repressive machine. Anti-war protesters are being detained and beaten en masse in police stations, and the courts continue to hand down harsh sentences on trumped-up charges. IMR compiled a list of the most egregious cases of suppression of human rights and freedoms recorded in Russia in February and March 2022.

The results of the past two months have been devastating for Russian civil society: basic constitutional rights have been severely restricted; military censorship and the state’s monopoly on the truth have been officially introduced; and freedom of speech and assembly has been completely destroyed...

03/23/2022

By nearly every available measure, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a disaster for Russia. Yet even as military losses mount and economic sanctions reduce the living standards of ordinary Russians, there is little reason to believe that the Kremlin will change course. By ordering his tanks to cross the border into Ukraine, Vladimir Putin may have made a catastrophic error, but it is an error that cannot be corrected so long as the current regime in Moscow remains in power.

By nearly every available measure, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a disaster for Russia. Yet even as military losses mount and economic sanctions reduce the living standards of ordinary Russians, there is little reason to believe that the Kremlin will change course. By ordering his tanks to...

03/17/2022

The war unleashed by Vladimir Putin in Ukraine will have grave consequences for Russia—political, economic, cultural. However, contrary to the Kremlin’s thinking, Russia’s importance on the world stage, which is being rapidly reconsidered today, is in fact not so great. Modern Russia is beginning to fade into the past.

The war unleashed by Vladimir Putin in Ukraine will have grave consequences for Russia—political, economic, cultural. However, contrary to the Kremlin’s thinking, Russia’s importance on the world stage, which is being rapidly reconsidered today, is in fact not so great. Modern Russia is beginn...

03/16/2022

On February 24, the Russian army crossed the Ukrainian border in several directions simultaneously, thus beginning a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin employed most of its armed forces—around 130,000 people, according to various estimates—that had accumulated along the Ukrainian border over the past four months.

On February 24, the Russian army crossed the Ukrainian border in several directions simultaneously, thus beginning a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin employed most of its armed forces—around 130,000 people, according to various estimates—that had accumulated along the Ukrainian border...

03/09/2022

Last October former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev wrote an article focusing on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, an ethnic Jew. Medvedev mocked and insulted him, implying that Zelensky is a treacherous Jew and a disgusting person. The article was criticized for anti-Semitism and attempts at undermining Zelensky’s political status in Ukraine, but it also reflects complicated attitudes toward Jews in the Soviet Union and Russia.

Last October former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev wrote an article focusing on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, an ethnic Jew. Medvedev mocked and insulted him, implying that Zelensky is a treacherous Jew and a disgusting person. The article was criticized for anti-Semitism and attem...

03/04/2022

IMR's president Pavel Khodorkovskiy calls for immediate action to shelter Ukraine's sky and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe. Read the full statement here:

IMR's president Pavel Khodorkovskiy calls for immediate action to shelter Ukraine's sky and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.

03/03/2022

On February 24, Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine under the pretenses of “demilitarization” and “denazification” of the country. Legal scholar and professor at the Free University Ekaterina Mishina analyzes the legal aspects of the war and looks at the cultural ramifications of the actions of the Russian Federation, which, by President Putin’s will, has turned from a victor nation into an aggressor nation.

On February 24, Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine under the pretenses of “demilitarization” and “denazification” of the country. Legal scholar and professor at the Free University Ekaterina Mishina analyzes the legal aspects of the war and looks at the cultural ramifications o...