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Navalny’s Future Russia Did Not Include Everyone

Navalny the Nationalist

At various points, Navalny was a staunch Russian nationalist who engaged in far-right discourse as well as a crusader against Putin’s violent regime. These two facets are not mutually exclusive, and shed light on how he managed to build a dedicated and relatively large base of support.

As the World Mourns Alexei Navalny, Authoritarianism Gains Strength

Hope for a New Russia Is Dead

For those both inside and outside Russia who believed in a brighter future and who held on to Navalny’s unique defiance of the Kremlin as a reason to dream, his sudden demise has dealt a final blow to hope — for Russia, for the chances of democracy and for challenges to authoritarianism. It is a message with global ramifications.

Escaping Russia for the United States, via Mexico

Escaping Russia for the United States, via Mexico

New Lines speaks with Michael Masri — a young man from St. Petersburg who staked everything on a dangerous crossing through the Texas desert at the height of summer last year — about his journey and fear of retribution from Vladimir Putin's regime should his U.S. asylum claim fail.

Russia’s Largest Rights Group Survived the Kremlin’s Dismantling. It Is Now Rediscovering Itself

Russia’s Largest Rights Group Survived the Kremlin’s Dismantling. It Is Now Rediscovering Itself

While Memorial has worked under Kremlin intimidation for years, the intensifying of the dictatorial state in the wake of the war in Ukraine has created an entirely new reality for an organization pursuing a mission to investigate Soviet-era crimes and expose present-day political abuses.

How War in Ukraine Has Shifted Fault Lines Across ‘Russia’s Backyard’

How War in Ukraine Has Shifted Fault Lines Across ‘Russia’s Backyard’

Across Georgia, Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaijan, the war in Ukraine has pitted states against their people, stoked long-standing border tensions and thrown historic alliances into sharp relief.

Russian Intellectuals in Exile

Russian Intellectuals in Exile

The current wave of emigration presents an agonizing catch-22: The political thinkers and artists best equipped to analyze, criticize and hold up a mirror to the dictatorship can now see their country only from the outside and don’t know when, or if, they will be able to return.

In War’s Wake, Russia’s Ethnic Minorities Renew Independence Dreams

In War’s Wake, Russia’s Ethnic Minorities Renew Independence Dreams

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 triggered a surge in national movements among Russia’s ethnic minorities, but their grievances with “Muscovy,” as many members of the movements refer to the central power in Russia, are decades, and some might say centuries, in the making.