Zelensky and Yermak find themselves tied to one another and somewhat interdependent: the former on the staffing policy of his head of administration, the latter on the political survival of his patron.
While Baku appears inclined to pursue a “business only” arrangement with the European Union, it’s unclear whether that would be acceptable for Brussels.
If the scale of Ukrainian drone attacks is maintained at the levels of March and Russian air defenses do not improve, Ukraine will be able to keep damaging Russian refineries faster than they can be fixed, slowly but steadily eroding the country’s refining capacity.
Ukraine’s decision not to hold presidential elections amid the Russian invasion and martial law has raised sensitive questions about Zelensky’s position.
The suspected shooters in the Crocus City attack were Tajiks, which has caused a backlash against labor migrants in Russia. Relations between Tajikistan and Russia, however, are unlikely to be impacted.
Rather than radical anti-terrorist measures or some kind of “retribution against Ukraine,” the return of the death penalty and a stricter migration policy are being touted as possible responses to the attack at Crocus City Hall. But neither of those initiatives is guaranteed or imminent.
In this episode of the Carnegie Politika podcast, host Alex Gabuev is joined by Alexander Baunov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment and editor-in-chief of Carnegie Politika. Together, they delve into the implications of Russia’s official election results for the future of Putin’s political regime.
Today’s coerced voters are a world away from the unfortunates who a decade ago were secretly driven to special polling stations. In this month’s presidential election, administrative and corporate mobilization was given pride of place.
