Peter Rutland

The abortive interruption of Russian natural gas supplies to Ukraine on January 1 was a humiliating diplomatic blunder. It was an unnecessary crisis, and one that Russia clumsily lost in

On August 4 the Russian government held a meeting to discuss the economic results of the first six months of 2005. They listened to a report by German Gref, Minister

On June 25 President Vladimir Putin met in St. Petersburg with 12 business leaders from the United States, including the leading executives of Conoco-Philips, Alcoa, Intel, and United Technologies. The

Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum. Confounding skeptics who saw him as weak and isolated, President Vladimir Putin has succeeded in eliminating all serious, organized political challenges to his "vertical

The marking of "Russia Day" on June 12 triggered another round of debate about Russian identity. In his speech to a celebratory concert on Red Square, President Vladimir Putin said

On March 4 the Russian government announced the closure of the Federal Fund for the Support of Small Business, an agency created ten years ago with a budget of 25

March 8 is an official holiday in Russia to mark International Women's Day. It is one of the most popular holidays on the calendar, with men buying flowers and chocolates

The economies of the Commonwealth of Independent States have seen five years of steady growth and low inflation, a welcome contrast to the economic slump and financial instability of the

It looks like the Kremlin will manage to ride out the wave of social protests surrounding the monetization of social benefits without having to sacrifice Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. Meanwhile,

Clearly, the recent democratic transitions in Georgia and Ukraine have put the U.S.-Russia relationship under strain. The crucial factor in U.S.-Russia relations may now be the future evolution of the

Over the past year, Russian President Vladimir Putin has completed a radical re-centralization of the Russian political system. Skeptics who doubted that he had the acumen and political support to

On January 27 Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. On January 24, Associated Press received a copy of

Some observers continue to hope that Russian President Vladimir Putin's centralization of power will at least produce more effective economic decision-making, along the lines of South Korea in the 1960s.

Back in the 1980s there was a school of U.S. strategic analysts referred to as "NUTs" -- Nuclear Use Theorists. They argued that it was important to prepare for the

No serious observer can dispute the fact that Russia is no longer a "managed democracy"; it is a bureaucratic-authoritarian regime. On September 13, 2004, President Vladimir Putin announced that the

President Vladimir Putin's September 13 package of reforms to centralize political power was met with consternation by outside observers, who see it as a rollback of democratization in Russia. Independent

During August simmering tensions within the Russian government surfaced, with ministers trading recriminations in public view. Some see the dispute as politics as usual, the struggle for power between rival

Recent statements suggest that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is optimistic about reaching a settlement with Russia over the four islands that Stalin seized from Japan at the end of

Competing oil pipeline projects in the Russian Far East were the topic of a lively symposium among specialists from Russia, China, Korea, Japan, and the United States at the Slavic

The World Bank and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have just released their latest reports on the state of the Russian economy. Both reports are surprisingly bullish about Russia's

This week, in addition to the drama surrounding Yukos and its $7 billion tax bill, Moscow has been in the grip of a banking crisis. Panicking depositors have been cashing

The Yukos affair began on July 2, 2003, with the arrest of director Platon Lebedev. Exactly one year later, Russian police marked the anniversary with a dramatic raid on the

From June 24 to 26, a group of specialists gathered in Zurich at the Center for Security Studies, Swiss Federal Technology Institute, to discuss the role of business in Russian

On June 10, labor unions organized protests in 300 cities across Russia, the first nationwide protests since President Vladimir Putin took office in 2000. A modest crowd of 1,500 gathered

Last week, the Russian police agency responsible for tackling organized crime landed a big fish. At 5.00 a.m. on June 2, 150 GUBOP officials raided 15 locations, arresting four top

Hermitage Capital Management has issued a report highly critical of the management of the Gazprom, Russia's largest company. Hermitage, a minority shareholder in Gazprom, wants Vadim Kleiner, research director of

The past week has seen surprising developments on several fronts in Russia's war on corruption. Taken together, they remind us of the magnitude of the corruption that has such deep

This week Russian President Vladimir Putin has a busy diplomatic schedule. After attending the D-Day ceremonies on June 6, the first Russian president so honored, Putin flew to Mexico, in

Several events this week, seemingly unrelated, neatly illustrate the gradual closing of horizons in Russian democracy. The most dramatic and visible of the three was the June 2 firing of

The mood among western observers of the Yukos oil company has shifted decisively over the past week. They now see the company as a lost cause. The embattled Russian oil

Human rights groups in Russia and in the West have reacted strongly to President Vladimir Putin's state of the nation speech last Wednesday, in which he darkly warned Russian civil

The presidential address which Vladimir Putin delivered to the Federal Assembly on May 26 was bound to be anti-climatic. Wednesday's oration was overshadowed by more dramatic political events this spring,

At the Russia-European Union (EU) summit on May 21, President Putin surprised observers by promising to move ahead with ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 treaty under which developed

Most observers look at the strong economy and President Putin's high popularity rating, and assume that Russia has become a "normal" society, in the words of a recent Foreign Affairs

On May 13 the Russian government approved a packet of 27 laws that are intended to double new house-building by 2010. The proposed laws include a new housing construction code,

This week world oil prices hit their highest level since 1990 - more than US$40 a barrel for Brent crude, and US$35.70 a barrel for Russia's Urals blend. This is

On May 6 the Russian cabinet endorsed an ambitious, twenty year plan to spend US$1 trillion on improving the country's inadequate road system. The plan would boost the paved roads

The Sayano-Shushensk hydro-electric plant, on the mighty Yenisei river in the Siberian republic of Khakasia, is the jewel in the crown of the national electricity company United Energy System. The

Economics dominate Russia's relations with the European Union. Will Russia benefit, or suffer, from the expansion of the EU - and to what extent did these considerations influence Russian policy

On the morning of Wednesday, April 28, the former head of Russia's Federal Bankruptcy Service, Georgy Tal, was shot on the street outside his office in downtown Moscow. The 48-year-old