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Wagnerization: How Putin Degraded the Russian State

Founded in 2014 as a private military company owned by the Russian businessman and Putin confidante Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner Group first saw action in Donbas, where it helped separatist forces against the Ukrainian army. Subsequently, it had been deployed in Syria, Libya, and a number of other African countries, usually offering Russia a plausible […]

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The big game: Ulyukaev, Sechin and Russia’s neopatrimonial privatisation

Ilya Matveev// Nov. 21, 2016// OpenDemocracy-Russia The arrest of a federal minister shows that, in Russia, the government and the country’s largest state company are increasingly turning to force. Russia’s Minister of Economic Development Alexey Ulyukaev arrives at Moscow’s Basmanny Court. (c) Maksim Blinov / RIA Novosti. Last week, for the first time in Russia’s […]

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Taking Glazyev’s Plan Seriously

Despite its anti-neoliberal character, Sergei Glazyev’s proposed economic reforms are in the interests of elites and not the population. Sergei Glazyev, the Russian economist and adviser to Putin, is increasingly in the news. He often speaks of “urgent measures” to help overcome the crisis, jump start economic growth and propel a technological leap forward. Liberals […]