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Articles by Andrei Malgin

opinion Andrei Malgin

Alexievich Gets the Solzhenitsyn Treatment

Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970 and his book "The Gulag Archipelago" was first published in the...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Keeping Tabs on Moscow's Strategic Friendships

Despite the fact that Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday denied plans to establish a major Russian air base in that country, demonstrators...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Buying Russia's Risky Bonds

The Finance Ministry announced that it will soon reinstate the practice of issuing government bonds to the public.
opinion Andrei Malgin

What Is Putin's Game Plan in Syria?

According to a number of sources, Russia has increased its military presence in Syria. The international community has been debating why on earth...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Kremlin Doesn't Understand International Law

Whenever an appeal reaches President Vladimir Putin to spare someone getting crushed by Russia's repressive judicial machine, he always replies with...
opinion Andrei Malgin

FSB Has Russia in a Choke Hold

Let's recall the events of these days 16 years ago. On Aug. 9, 1999, Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin acting head of the Russian government. On the...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Russian Society Is Increasingly Paranoid

A paranoid person harbors unhealthy suspicions and sees in random events conspiracies and intrigues against him by his enemies.
opinion Andrei Malgin

Putin Needs Another Victory in Ukraine

Ukrainian media raise the alarm every few days that the Russian army is about to attack and seize this or that town.
opinion Andrei Malgin

Kremlin in a Tizzy Over West's 'Russophobia'

The propaganda campaign by President Vladimir Putin's regime has convinced Russians that the West, and especially the United States, devotes a lot...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Kremlin Propaganda Leaves No Russian Behind

The Kremlin shelled out big money last week to host the so-called "World Congress of Russian Press" that brought together representatives of more...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Russia Will Not Hand Over Its Children!

Last week President Vladimir Putin told participants in a business forum, "Today, as you know, they are already taking talented children to study abroad...
opinion Andrei Malgin

It's Not the End for Russians and Ukrainians

I once took a hiatus from journalism to open a media-related business: a newspaper consisting entirely of classified ads.
opinion Andrei Malgin

Peas In a Pod: Putin's Russia and Mussolini's Italy

I have a copy of the Polish magazine "Wprost" with a cover photo of President Vladimir Putin wearing a Hitler-style mustache. And underneath, in large...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Russia Slips Back to Suffocating Stagnation

I spent the years of my youth in the latter part of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev's rule — a period now called "the years of stagnation...
opinion Andrei Malgin

No More 'Extremist' Toys for Russian Children

Former Soviet leader Josef Stalin received an urgent message from the Soviet secret police, the NKVD, on March 15, 1935, reporting that the Balakirev...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Putin's Love Affair With Europe's Far Right

It has long been customary for Kremlin spin doctors to claim that black is white and white is black — even when there is no apparent need to distort...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Nemtsov Death Is Politkovskaya Part Two

Back in 2006, President Vladimir Putin learned of the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya while on a visit to Germany. He told German journalists...
opinion Andrei Malgin

'MaiDOWN' Banners Show Inhumanity

A so-called "Anti-Maidan" march was held last weekend in the center of Moscow. It coincided with the anniversary of revolutionary events in Maidan...
opinion Andrei Malgin

There Will Be No World War, Russia Is Alone

A recent report by the Atlantic Council think tank advocating the provision of lethal military assistance to Ukraine highlights the threat posed...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Russia Is Denying the Obvious in Ukraine

Everybody knows that so-called Novorossia in eastern Ukraine is awash with modern Russian weapons. Social networks publish photos and videos daily showing...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Kremlin Troll Army Shows Russia Isn't Charlie Hebdo

Their Internet nickname is "trolls" and their job is to promote a particular ideology on social networks. From several investigations into their...
opinion Andrei Malgin

On Which Side Are You, Masters of Culture?

The phrase, "On which side are you, masters of culture?" is well known in Russia as the title of an article Maxim Gorky published during the rule...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Russia's Propaganda Machine Goes Global

When I visited Italy six years ago, the country boasted six Russian-language newspapers. Now only one remains: La Nostra Gazzetta. In fact, that newspaper...
opinion Andrei Malgin

The Slow Death of Russian Independent Media

Ominous storm clouds were gathering over the Ekho Moskvy radio station last week. That is serious because Russia only has one opposition-minded television...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Russia's State Media Get Away With Murder

Russia's media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, issued an official warning to radio station Ekho Moskvy last week. According to Russian law, if the station...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Can Ukraine Get Crimea and the Donbass Back?

The annexation of Crimea was clearly illegal and contrary to international standards.
opinion Andrei Malgin

Russian Children Are Pawns in Kremlin's Game

When the U.S. passed its Magnitsky law in late 2012, barring entry to the U.S. for 60 Russian officials implicated in the prison death of Sergei...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Corruption Is the Backbone of Putin's Power

The Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper ran a major interview with Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Ivanov a few days ago. When asked about the corruption plaguing...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Ukrainian Refugees to Repopulate Siberia

Stalin loved to resettle entire populations, casually transporting huge numbers of people over great distances like cattle. For example, over just two...
opinion Andrei Malgin

The KGB and Me

I was lucky as a young man. Unlike my fellow college-age friends who were stuck behind the Iron Curtain, in 1977 I was given the opportunity at age...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Power in the Kremlin Comes With a Price

Putin's ability to play on Russians' fears has allowed him to consolidate immense power over his 15 years in office, writes columnist Andrei Malgin...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Putin's Media Lives in an Alternate Reality

I earned my degree in journalism back in the 1970s from universities in both Moscow and Warsaw. Instructors at both institutions used the same archetypal...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Putin's Policy Aims Unclear, But All Hurt Russia

Pro-Russian separatists and government troops are fighting bloody battles in the area that Ukrainians call southern and eastern Ukraine, but that Putin's...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Church Cynically Sidesteps Soviet's Brutal Past


Not much in modern Russia surprises me anymore, but last week I got a real shock: Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill warmly congratulated Communist...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Kiev Embassy Attack Exposes Russia's Double Standards

It is wrong to attack a foreign embassy. Nonetheless, an agitated crowd descended on the Russian Embassy in Kiev on June 14. The night before, pro-Russian...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Public Apathy Plays Into Kremlin Propaganda

For the last several months, state-controlled television stations have been bombarding their viewers with the message that the radical right-wing political...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Russia Beat Hitler and It Will Beat Obama

We can excuse Kremlin spin doctors for branding all Maidan protesters as "Banderites" and fascists, despite the fact that the protesters came from a...
opinion Andrei Malgin

How Russia Protects Kids From 'Gay Plague'

In St. Petersburg late one evening a year ago, a man attacked two women in a half-empty metro car as it approached a station. He pushed one woman...
opinion Andrei Malgin

The Black and Orange Ribbon of Putin's Army

On every recent television broadcast about Russia's annexation of Crimea or the eastern part of Ukraine, viewers have been bombarded with images of people...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Putin Began Playing by Own Rules Last Fall

For some reason, the international community was shocked by Russia's annexation of Crimea and President Vladimir Putin's decision to openly ignore...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Russia Is Following in Nazi Germany's Footsteps

Putin's state propaganda has successfully turned Russians into mindless zombies.
opinion Andrei Malgin

Forget Kiev. The Real Fight Will Be for Crimea

As a result of the confusion, Russia gave Crimea to Ukraine but retained Sevastopol.
opinion Andrei Malgin

Olympic Ceremony Without World War II

Those who had become accustomed to viewing Russia through the prism of state propaganda got a surprise from the opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympics...
opinion Andrei Malgin

Medvedev's Winter Palace

Why is the media so quiet about Medvedev's winter dacha, which is officially listed as a structure that was built for the Olympic Games?
opinion Andrei Malgin

Putin's Law

When Putin's regime wants to clamp down on the opposition, it likes to deploy creative provisions of the Criminal Code.