Alexei Makarkin elaborates on the thesis of Yuri Saprykin about the sources of the “inclination toward evil” in modern Russia and suggests to look for them in the cultural processes of an earlier time.

Yuri Saprykin explores how post-Soviet Russian literature has borrowed from popular works of modern Western literature to create its own vision of the good and evil divide.

Alyona Solntseva writes that amid the “special military operation,” plays and the names of unreliable directors and playwrights have disappeared from theater repertoires. The bans, however, are informal, with no institutions authorized to monitor “ideological purity.”

Ceyda Giray cites several factors – economic, political and geographic – to explain why the mobilization has proceeded in a more orderly way and provoked considerably less protest activity in Tatarstan versus other Russian regions.

Gulnaz Sibgatullina warns against assumptions that regions like Tatarstan univocally support the idea of complete independence from Russia as a means of protecting their minority rights. Profound decolonization for Tatars implies a long-term process of relearning their own history and agency.

Infographics are based on Rosstat data

In the latest chapter of Russia’s “garbage protests” saga, people in the Komi Republic protested against a local landfill project. The Republic’s head Vladimir Uyba, referred to the project’s opponents as “ecological garbage” – and it backfired.

For years, the Siberian city of Tomsk was one of Russia’s last remaining strongholds of local self-governance. But the recent decision by authorities in the Tomsk region to cancel mayoral elections in the capital city now puts this reputation in the past.

Something unusual is happening with judges in Russia’s regions. Over the past two months, dozens of them have been quietly resigning. But no one seems to know why – and few are talking about it.

Can the economic model that developed in the USSR during the Stalin era be called successful? The idea about the model’s specialness is now being spread to audiences of millions, including YouTube channel IZOLENTA and “the Goblin” Dmitri Puchkov, and presented at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Richard Arnold explores Ukrainian and Russian Cossack identity historically and in today’s conflict. This is a PONARS Online Academy video designed to explain Russia-related issues to a broader audience through visuals.

How do we study Russia? What do we get, what did we miss? How can we reinvent the way we have been studying Russia? Mack Tubridy guides us through the main textbooks on Russia.