Publication

This report reviews the cat and mouse game the Putin regime has played with greater political freedom. In response to the domestic protests that arose in 2011 and the secessionist violence in the Donbas region of Ukraine, the Kremlin decided to permit more decentralized patriotic activism in Russia, which included unofficial rallies and a greater role for volunteer political leaders. This flirtation with decentralized, voluntary activism did not last, however. The static regime in Moscow reasserted its control, which the report’s author argues isn’t necessarily a bad thing for activists. Static regimes, after all, are easier than others to reform or even dismantle.