media
The Russian Lobby in the United States
In this thorough investigation, historian Laurence Saint-Gilles sketches the contours of the Russian lobby in the United States and identifies its preferred themes, before examining the conditions that have enabled this lobby — whose members have sometimes been established on American soil for many years — to penetrate deeply...
They Made Putinism: Mikhail Lesin (1958-2015) from Russia Today to Hollywood
Vladimir Putin did not conceive and build Putinism alone. This is the fifth part of the series "They made Putinism", written for Desk Russia by historian Cécile Vaissié. Dubbed by some as "enemy number 1 of Russia's independent media", Mikhail Lesin played a decisive role in reshaping the media...
They Made Putinism: Alfred Koch, the man of Privatizations and NTV
Vladimir Putin did not create and build Putinism alone. Historian Cécile Vaissié presents in Desk Russie the fourth part of her series "They made Putinism". This time, she tells the story of a man who has the reputation of "speaking the truth" without mincing his words. You might also...
They Made Putinism: Gleb Pavlovsky (1951-2023), the Sorcerer’s Apprentice in the Green Jacket
After her portrait of Vladislav Sourkov, the Kremlin's éminence grise, historian Cécile Vaissié offers Desk Russia the second part of her series "They made Putinism". Indeed, other people than Vladimir Putin have, with him, designed and built Putinism, and made it work. One of the main "builders" of Putinism,...
The Power of Propaganda
Former Soviet political prisoner Russian journalist Aleksandr Podrabinek analyzes the power of Kremlin propaganda that very much resembles George Orwell’s Ministry of Truth from the novel 1984 and regrets the weakness of Western reactions to this far-from-new phenomenon. Russia’s war against Ukraine has once again demonstrated the importance of information...
The Destruction of the Soul in Putin’s Russia
In no Russian regime has propaganda held such a large place as it does in the Putin regime. Propaganda was very visible during the Soviet period, but it had not penetrated the soul and minds as it does today. Propaganda now replaces diplomacy and often harms it. Why this...
The Consequences of the American Withdrawal from Afghanistan as Seen from Russia: the Impact in Europe, the Fate of NATO
The precipitous withdrawal of the Americans from Afghanistan was initially welcomed with jubilation in Moscow. Russian media were not only gloating because the Americans had suffered an even worse setback in Afghanistan than the USSR. In the eyes of the Kremlin, this American rout is a harbinger of future...