Author: Nik Sharma
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The Western romance with Alexei Navalny needs to stop
OPINION Alexei Navalny, a major voice of Russia’s opposition, has had quite the year. After being poisoned with novichok at the hands of the FSB in August 2020, he spent five months recuperating in Germany. Upon returning to Russia in January of this year, he was arrested at the airport, triggering widespread protests across the…
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Konstantin Kotov and the sorry state of freedom of expression in today’s Russia
OPINION On the 16th December, Russian activist Konstantin Kotov was released from a penal colony situated 100 kilometres from Moscow. He had served eighteen months after being convicted for violating the country’s numerous rules that regulate protesting and mass actions. Kotov was first arrested during the anti-Kremlin protests that rocked Moscow in the summer of…
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Nagorno-Karabakh: Russia’s struggle to be mediator in the Caucasus
OPINION The Caucasus, a region that has long been characterised by warfare and instability, has seen some of its most violent fighting in decades between Armenia and Azerbaijan, over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. This conflict is the latest in a series of shocks to what Moscow considers the Russian sphere of influence, which appears…
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The complicated relationship between Russia’s youth and their President
OPINION This year marks twenty years since Vladimir Putin won his first election as Russian President, a post that he shows no signs of leaving in the near, or even mid-term, future. Earlier this year, members of his party proposed amendments to the Russian constitution which would ‘zero’ the number of terms that he has…
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The West may have to choose caution when dealing with Lukashenko
OPINION The man commonly referred to as ‘Europe’s last dictator’ is in crisis. Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, has lost his legitimacy as the leader of the Belarusian people. Demonstrations sprung up across Belarus after official results of the presidential election on the 9th August declared that he had won 80% of…
the scroll 