This piece originally appeared in Issue 2/2017 of New Eastern Europe. Subscribe now.

Casting aside a longstanding tradition of American exceptionalism, Trump is remaking the United States into a more consumer-friendly version of autocratic Russia. This is alarming and deeply demoralising. But it could also suggest that the American and Russian societies now simply share the same underlying plight.

For most observers, the current state of the Russian opposition is simultaneously despondent and hopeful, defeated and resurgent. On March 26th, thousands of people came out to protest against corruption and express their anger at Vladimir Putin’s regime. The demonstrations were catalyzed by Alexei Navalny’s exposé of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s offshore accounts, yachts and vineyards that he secretly owns at a time of economic decline and expenditure cuts.

Late Saturday, the President of the United States Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call. The Kremlin gave an official statement mentioning “the fight against terrorism, the situation in the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli conflict, strategic stability and non-proliferation, the situation with Iran’s nuclear programme, and the Korean Peninsula issue,” adding that aspects of the Ukraine crisis had also been discussed. Its tone was typical of official statements from any country.

This piece originally appeared in Issue 1/2017 of New Eastern Europe. Subscribe now.

According to some in academia and journalism, Russia seems to be obsessed with masculinity. Stereotypical images of strong and heroic traditional masculinity permeate mass media and popular culture - who is not familiar with pictures of a horse riding, bare-chested Putin, or with Soviet-style military parades proudly displaying their disciplined soldiers? As part of a political discourse, these images play an important role in contemporary Russian politics and history, and are key to understanding Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Recently there was speculation in the press about a possible abdication by Russia’s strongman, Vladimir Putin. Having dominated Russian politics for more than 15 years, Putin is being confronted with a harsh reality. A recent Bloomberg survey polling economists indicates that Putin’s economic policy was scored an “F”, the lowest possible grade, by 27 per cent of respondents. Another 50 per cent awarded him the next two poorest grades. Bill Clinton’s famous dictum, “it’s the economy, stupid”, which he used to explain his victory over President George Bush the elder, could be equally valid for Putin.

Those who have watched the Netflix series House of Cards may be surprised to read how close it is sometimes to reality. Both candidates in this year’s election for president of the United States – Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump – have accepted donations from Ukrainian oligarchs and Ukraine’s former president, Viktor Yanukovych, who is in hiding in Russia. Yanukovych is wanted by Interpol and by Ukraine for mass corporate raiding of Ukraine’s state budget and leaving the country bankrupt, murdering EuroMaidan protestors and committing treason when he supported Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Since 2014 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, NATO has increasingly been focusing on the threat posed by Vladimir Putin. In response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and ongoing violations of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the Donbas region, the Alliance is deploying four new battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. On June 17th, NATO concluded one of its largest military exercises to date, the 10-day Anakonda 2016 involving some 31,000 Alliance troops in Poland. Meanwhile, the NATO-Russia Council has been largely moribund except for one meeting this spring that produced very little.  

A review of Richard Sakwa’s Frontline Ukraine. Crisis in the Borderlands. Published by I. B. Tauris, London, 2015.

The celebrations of Victory Day in Russia each year are increasingly pompous and spectacular. Over the last few years, the cult of the “Great Victory” has become a quasi-religion and the main narrative in uniting Russian society.