What is CPRF undergoing amidst the war and the totalitarian evolution of Putin’s regime? Does it stand any chance of surviving Putin? And what can the CPRF’s past reveal about its future? Azamat Izmailov traces the party’s evolution

Can poetry be an instrument of historical analysis? How have Russophone poets written about war for the last 40 years? Denis Larionov, a poet and scholar of contemporary literature, discusses and analyzes a sample of poems

How do political technologies and the logic of consumer capitalism affect democracy? Might the successes of the Russian opposition in the media and on social media platforms actually pose a new problem? Historian and journalist Vladimir Metelkin discusses the relationship between new media and politics

How has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine affected the situation in the Kaliningrad region? What is the background and what should we expect in the upcoming regional elections? Journalist and activist Roman Kolevatov provides answers

Why will the most unpopular governor of Saint Petersburg win the upcoming election? How is Beglov significant to the Kremlin and to Putin personally? Political observer Maksim Veselov discusses why Beglov serves as the role model of Putin’s clerk in our new series on elections.

How did “systemic parties” emerge in Russia? What makes a political party “systemic” in general? And why does Vladimir Putin’s regime still need them? Political researcher Fielding Mellish explores these questions