The reset between the Kremlin and the White House is dead. Now, the question in Moscow is: what will replace it? With the cancellation of President Obama’s visit here next month, it is unlikely that the president of the United States will devote much of his second term to dealing with President Putin. The White […]

RIO DE JANEIRO — In 1990, an American anthropologist wrote a controversial book: “Is Latin America Turning Protestant?” Two decades later, that same provocative question can be asked of Russia. Who will win: The Church of the Golden Domes? Or the Church of the Catacombs? Before I grapple with Russia, let’s look at what is […]

Why is Barack Obama planning to be in Moscow in early September for a two-day summit with Vladimir Putin? Mystery to me. Thursday’s conviction and sentencing Alexei Navalny make the Putin government increasingly look like a South American military dictatorship from the 1970s. And you can be sure that American presidents, especially Democratic ones, did […]

“These nations, including Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador, have my gratitude and respect for being the first to stand against human rights violations carried out by the powerful rather than the powerless. By refusing to compromise their principles in the face of intimidation, they have earned the respect of the world. It is my […]

The Latin Americans came and left in their presidential jets. But Edward Snowden stayed behind. For the Kremlin, a propaganda coup is quickly becoming hot potato. For over 10 days, the fugitive American intelligence agency leaker has been marooned in legal limbo, living invisibly somewhere in the “transit” area of a busy Moscow international airport. […]

Uncle Volodya went to Finland this week and told three fairy tales. — Gays have equal rights in Russia. — Russia’s new Foreign Agent law, which is killing Russian non-governmental groups, is just a copy of a 1937 American law with a similar name. — Russia’s intelligence agencies have not questioned Edward Snowden, the fugitive […]

Vladimir Putin got out of the G-8 summit in Northern Ireland without any broken china on the floor. In the lead up, Syria’s civil war loomed like a polarizing issue capable of turning the meeting into seven against one. But Putin checked his aggressive instincts. The Russian leader knew he will host the next G-8, […]

Last week, an American friend of mine received two mysterious white envelopes in the mail. On opening them, he found that each contained a black and white photo of his car, each taken secretly, in the middle of the night. Below each photo was printed: his name, his employer and his home address. No, this […]

Journalists love superlatives, and Russia’s southernmost republic, Dagestan, obliges. Of Russia’s 83 regions, Dagestan last year recorded the highest level of political violence — 53 bombings and 405 dead. Last year, Tamerlan Tsarnaev spent six months in Dagestan. Last month, world attention swiveled to Dagestan when Tsarnaev emerged as the lead suspect in the Boston […]