Kurilla

Contemporary historical writing in Eastern and Central Europe is filled with “presentism,” the idea that major past events should be treated in a way that supports the pursuit of specific,…

While Russia’s federal government has paid close attention to the depiction of Russian history since Vladimir Putin’s first administration began reshaping the symbolic landscape of the country in the early…

Between December 2010 and February 2011, members of Russian society were engaged in a discussion about a new education law, presented on the Internet on a special website. This was…

For many observers, almost everything concerning the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in Russia (December 2011 and March 2012) is predictable. Some thus prefer to look beyond 2012 and prophesize…

Over the past year, the memory wars of the post-Soviet space have intensified. Nation-building in the region, like elsewhere, has long involved the creation of local historical narratives and the…

Former Yukos chairman Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s letter warning of the inevitable “left turn” in Russian politics that would follow an emerging left turn in Russian society was one of the topics…

In the 15 years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has been forced to reinterpret its role in international relations, reformulating its national interests and crafting new methods…

The image of another country depends on a state’s internal agenda much more than we usually admit. Our knowledge of the life and values of the “other” is limited, so…

During the first years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian president Boris Yeltsin’s administration paid little or no attention to the old symbols of Russian national pride. Liberal ideology, as…