Democracy à la Putin

On 18 September, there are parliamentary elections and local elections in Russia. However, Vladimir Putin has drastically curtailed the political playing field and hardly any serious opposition remains. The anti-corruption activist and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny is threatened with a new trial, opposition politician Boris Nemtsov has been killed and the free press has been restricted. Yet the Kremlin is still uneasy. The euphoria about the annexation of Crimea has worn off, the war in Ukraine is not popular, the economy is not thriving and labour unrest is rearing its head. This evening, Laura Starink will talk about the stability of Putin’s regime, the East-West crisis regarding Ukraine and the tenability of Russian’s ambitions on the world stage.