The crisis in Ukraine has put the EU on high alert not only because of the prospect of war on its border, but also because the conflict between Ukraine and Russia threatens energy security in the rest of the continent as 30 per...
Vladimir Vladimirovich celebrated his [Orthodox] Christmas holidays in his newly gilded city, Sochi, a gentle irony for the legions of Olympic workers for whom he cancelled the Christmas holidays a few weeks before. One wonders...
What’s going on in Ukraine matters to democracy around the world. In Ukraine, we are seeing the population protesting against their government’s steps that are reminiscent of Ukraine’s Soviet past. The protests are for di...
Backlash against LGBT discrimination in Russia is gathering strength, with calls for boycott against the 2014 Winter Olympics. But what do Russian LGBT activists have to say on the matter? We have seen that violence against the...
In 2014 the geopolitics of oil production changed dramatically. Due to the recent U.S. shale boom, Saudi Arabia – the world’s largest oil exporter – lost its position as a ‘swing producer’ in the oil industry which ha...
Commentary on the situation in Syria generally revolves around a handful of well worn subjects; the regime’s use of chemical weapons, how the West finds the regime abhorrent, the fact that Russia and China are supporting such...
The Polish vodka Sobieski states on its website that vodka’s “birthplace was in Poland” and not in Russia, as many believe. However what draws attention to the product is the use of whistleblower Edward Snowden in...
A powerful short film created by the organisation All Out is aiming to raise awareness on the issues surrounding safety for gays and lesbians during Russia’s Winter Olympics next year. While the Russian government has att...
In Russia, support for Bashar al-Assad’s regime cuts across political lines. Deep suspicions of Western motives for military intervention, combined with a domestic history of Islamist rebel groups, lead even the staunches...