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NL Religion and Russian Identity: Implications for Ukraine
The Kubinka Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces, source (Wikimedia Commons) This article was written by one of our guest authors and published in English. Would you also like to contribute to the FMS with your analysis on international politics and democratisation? Mail your submission to info@foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl In recent years, the interplay between religion and nationalism [...]
The fate of dissident Mikhail Krieger
Mikhail Krieger during an interrogation (Source: Antonina Favorskaya / Sota / Moscow Times) A Russian-Ukrainian anti-war activist recounts his life behind bars in his correspondence. For two posts on social media, he was sentenced to seven years in a penal camp. Miсhail Krieger was born in 1960 in Dniepropetrovsk - now Dnipro - in Ukraine's Soviet republic. [...]
The West and Russia after the war
Statues in Moscow's Red Square of former Soviet leaders (Source: Pixabay) What on earth should we do with Russia when the war in Ukraine is over? Whatever the outcome of that war (Ukraine wins, an unsatisfactory peace deal or Russia still wins), we will have to relate to a country in Europe that has been a [...]
Alexei Navalny: symbol of the fight for democracy
Photo: Opposition leader Alexei Navalny during a march - Wikimedia Commons Less than a month before the Russian parliamentary elections, Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader and political arch-enemy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence. According to prison authorities, Navalny felt unwell and lost his [...]
New naval base in Abkhazia next step Russian irredentism
Photo: Postage stamp of Abkhazia from 2008 - Wikimedia Commons You would think Russia would have its hands full with its all-out war in Ukraine that has been going on for more than a year and a half now. However, Ukraine is not currently the only victim of Russian expansionism. Recently, the breakaway region of Abkhazia, internationally recognised as part of [...]
"How Putin chipped his teeth": Stories from the front in Ukraine
Of course, life at the front consists of a lot more than successful recaptures and deadly defeats making the news. Some soldiers told me - on the basis of anonymity - their experiences in short stories and anecdotes. These recollections are not glorious or heroic. They are stories about the actual circumstances of men and [...]
How walls are still seen as a solution in 'Fortress Europe'
Today marks exactly 23 years since the Berlin Wall fell. For Europe, it seemed the impetus to blur borders and bet on unity and free mobilisation. Divisions caused by physical walls seemed to be a thing of the past. Today, however, walls are on the rise again Between Poland and [...]
Approaching winter opens Europe's gas labyrinth
As winter approaches, European countries are increasingly concerned about where their energy should come from. While Hungary, Serbia and Turkey are negotiating to open Russia's gas tap, other countries are instead relying on their neighbours' reserves. Last week, available [...]
Sham referendums and reservists - Putin's convulsive attempt at reversal
Kharkiv after a missile strike, 2022 (Flickr) Referenda have been announced in the Russian-occupied regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson to join the Russian Federation in the near future. The annexation referendums not only disregard the sovereignty of the Ukrainian state, but at the same time are mainly intended to further mobilise [...]
Retrospective Interview Russia expert Gijs Kessler
On Monday 23 May, we spoke with Russia expert Gijs Kessler, affiliated with the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam. A specialist in the social and economic history of the Soviet Union and Russia, Kessler lived in Moscow between 2002 and 2016. He recently published his book "Russia: country that wants to be different".
