The Russia Conundrum

Radchenko, Kirill

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Rainsford, Sarah

Raksha, Alexei

Rastorguyev, Alexander

Ratnikov, Boris

Reagan, Ronald

reiderstvo (corporate raiding)

Research Institute for Fertilisers and Insecto-Fungicides

Roizman, Yevgeny

Roldugin, Sergei

Rosgvardiya

Roskomnadzor

Rosneft

Rosstat

Rotenberg, Arkday

Rotenberg, Boris

Rotenberg, Igor

Rothschild, Jacob

roubles

Rowley, Charlie

Rusal

Russia

as empire

as kleptocracy

as mafia state

as managed democracy

neo-feudal model of

as part of Europe

as sick man of Europe

Russian mafia

Russian Idea, The

Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)

Russians living outside of Russia, needing protection

Russian zone of influence

Ryzhkov, Vladimir

Sachs, Jeffrey

St Petersburg

organised crime

Pushkarsky Park electrical substation banner and murals

Sakharov, Andrei

Salisbury poisonings

Salye, Marina

Samaraneftegaz

sanctions

Sanders, Bernie

Schlumberger

Schools of Public Politics

Schröder, Gerhard

Scott, C. P.

SEB (FSB’s Economic Security Service)

Sechin, Igor

Sedov, Alexei

Seventeen Moments of Spring

Severnaya Neft

Shakespeare, William

Shalamov, Varlam

Shamalov, Kirill

Shamalov, Nikolai

Shamalov, Yury

Shchekochikhin, Yuri

Shcharansky, Anatoly

Shevchenko, Anastasia

Shevtsova, Lilia

Shield and the Sword, The

Sibneft

SIBUR

Silayev, Ivan

Siloviki (‘Strongmen’)

Simonov, Vladimir

Simonyan, Margarita

Skabeyeva, Olga

Skripal, Sergei

Skripal, Yulia

Sky News

Slavophiles

Smirnov, Yevgeny

Snow Revolution see

Bolotnaya (Snow), Revolution

Sobchak, Anatoly

Sobyanin, Sergei

Sochi Olympics

social media

SolarWinds hack

Soldatov, Andrei

Soloviev, Vladimir

Solzhenitsyn, Alexander

Soros, George

Soviet Committee for Science and Technology

Soviet Union

collapse of

nostalgia for

Speransky, Mikhail

Stalin, Joseph

Starbucks

statism

Sturgess, Dawn

Sullivan, Jake

Surkov, Vladislav

SVR

Syrian civil war

Team

TEK Mosenergo

Telegram

Thatcher, Margaret

Third World War

Timchenko, Gennady

Tkachev, Ivan

Tolokonnikova, Nadezhda

Tomskneftegaz

Translator Project

Troitsky, Artyom

Troll Factory see Internet Research Agency (IRA), The

Trump, Donald

Trump, Donald, jr

Tsepov, Roman

Twentieth Trust

Twitter

Ukraine

Maidan Revolution (2014)

as part of Russia

Russian intervention (2014)

Russian invasion (2022)

Russian trolling

see also Crimea

Ulyukaev, Alexey

‘undesirable’ organisations

US,

2016 presidential election

no recognition of Putin as president after, 2024

‘Putin’s Asymmetrical Assault on Democracy’

Russian fear of

Russian ridicule of

storming of the Capitol (2021)

Syrian conflict

USSR see Soviet Union

Vaino, Anton

Vedomosti

Vekselberg, Viktor

Venezuela

Vershbow, Sandy

Volodin, Vyacheslav

Voloshin, Alexander

VTB Bank

VTimes

VTsIOM

Wagner Private Military Company (Wagner PMC)

Warnig, Matthias

Washington Post

Weimar Republic

Western business practices

Westernisers

Western pop music

Western view of Russia

Yakovenko, Alexander

Yakunin, Vladimir

Yanukovych, Viktor

Yashin, Ilya

Yauza

Yeltsin, Boris

young people

Nashi

Open Russia and

YouTube

Yuganskneftegaz (YNG)

Yugoslav war

Yukos oil company

Yushchenko, Viktor

Zakharova, Maria

Zolotov, Viktor

Zuckerberg, Mark

Zykov, Andrei

Zyuganov, Gennady

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY

In the early 2000s, Mikhail Khodorkovsky was the wealthiest man in Russia, the head of the giant Yukos oil company, and ranked 16th on the Forbes list of world billionaires. But his pro-democracy, anti-corruption views led to a clash with President Vladimir Putin, who had him arrested in 2003. Convicted on politically motivated fraud charges, Khodorkovsky spent ten years in Putin’s prison camps, recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. Since his release in December 2013, Khodorkovsky has lived in Switzerland and the UK. He now leads the philanthropic Open Russia organisation, promoting political reform in Russia, including free and fair elections, the protection of journalists and activists, the rule of law and media independence. He has been described by the Economist as ‘the Kremlin’s leading critic-in-exile’. You can sign up for email updates here.

MARTIN SIXSMITH

Martin Sixsmith studied Russian at Oxford, Leningrad and the Sorbonne. He was a Slavics Tutor at Harvard and wrote his postgraduate thesis about Russian poetry. From 1980 to 1997 he was the BBC’s correspondent in Moscow, Washington, Brussels and Warsaw. From 1997 to 2002 he worked for the British government as director of communications and press secretary to several cabinet ministers. He is now a writer, presenter and journalist. He is the author of non-fiction titles including Russia – The Wild East, Putin’s Oil and The Litvinenko File. His bestselling 2009 book, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, was adapted for film and became the multiple Oscar-nominated Philomena, starring Steve Coogan and Judi Dench. You can sign up for email updates here.