Author name: admin

We might not have a complete picture, but based on current reports there does not yet seem to have been a surge in state-ordered political murders. Among opposition politicians, the poisonings of Alexei Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza occurred before the latest international developments. A series of suspicious deaths have been reported within high business circles, possibly suggesting battles — under the cover of war — among security service […]

In both countries, a successful spin dictatorship had trouble dealing with political challenges generated by continued modernisation — in particular, protests organised by a highly educated, cosmopolitan part of the population. The first, immediately after the start of the war, led to the exodus of some 100 to 200 thousand people — there are no fully reliable statistics. It’s not clear whether that reflects a wartime unwillingness to speak frankly or a genuine