By Elena Chinyaeva With half of May in Russia constituting one long holiday, Russian national holidays are perhaps the best illustration of how the ideological foundations on which the modern Russian state is being built remain controversial. The only hope is that common sense will... MORE

By Ilya Malyakin This article continues the theme addressed in "Neo-feudalism Russian-style: Room for one baron only," co-authored with Marina Konnova in an earlier edition of Prism. On May 6, Petrozavodsk, the capital of the Republic of Karelia, saw the beginning of a run-of-the-mill court... MORE

By Aleksandr Tsipko The outcome of the latest State Council session on April 22 was something of a surprise. Putin, who was until recently rigidly insistent on the need for a rapid transition to the free sale and purchase of land, backed down. First, he... MORE

By Mikhail Zherebyatev The people protest, the monopolies remain in place, and the government blames the local authorities for everything. The recent rally in Voronezh to protest against the hike in prices for communal services was possibly the largest antigovernment demonstration since Russia's first president,... MORE

By Taras Kuzio The closure of the OSCE missions to Estonia and Latvia on December 31, 2001, was a significant boost to the self-confidence of the ruling elites of both countries. Lithuania, with only 10 percent national minorities, adopted an inclusive citizenship policy and no... MORE

By Zaal Anjaparidze Georgia is witnessing a new stage in the regrouping of its domestic political forces and leading political figures in anticipation of the impending post-Shevardnadze period. That period could begin earlier than expected. Speculation both that President Eduard Shevardnadze could resign before his... MORE

By Volodymyr Zviglyanich "The main thing is not how the votes are cast, but how they are counted." (Stalin) The recent parliamentary elections in Ukraine attracted an unprecedented amount of attention in the Western press, something not seen since the time of the Chernobyl disaster... MORE

By Taras Kuzio In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the only republic with no institutions of its own was the Russian SFSR. This was rectified only in 1990 by President Boris Yeltsin, who sought to build a power base independent of the Soviet Union,... MORE

By Elena Chinyaeva March 26 of this year marked the midway point of President Vladimir Putin's first term as president and, as such, was a convenient date for drawing intermediate conclusions about his presidency. In reality, Vladimir Putin has been in power de facto since... MORE

By Mikhail Zherebyatev In early 2002 State Duma deputy Aleksandr Chuev, head of the tiny Christian Democratic Party of Russia, published his own version of the Federal law "On traditional religious organizations in the Russian Federation." Chuev belongs to the pro-presidential and simultaneously pro-governmental faction--which... MORE