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Articles by Victor Davidoff

opinion Victor Davidoff

Are Western Brands as Serious About Withdrawing From Russia as They Appear?

Last week, Mercedes-Benz became the latest Western company to announce that it had sold off its assets in Russia – including its factory outside...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Reading the Tea Leaves of Russia’s Pro-War ‘Z-Universe’

One of the by-products of the Ukraine war has been the emergence of the online “Z-Universe," an enormous network of websites and social media accounts...
opinion Victor Davidoff

The Long, Brutal History of Russian Prisoners of War

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed off on amendments to the Criminal Code that include a new article on “Voluntary Surrender.&rdquo...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Who Killed Daria Dugina? Untruths and Consequences

The big question is not so much who killed Dugina, but what actions will her death justify?
opinion Victor Davidoff

The Russian Revolution Failed. Long Live the Revolution!

A Soviet dissident who paid the price once and once again, looks back at the last 31 years.
opinion Victor Davidoff

Sergei Kovalev: The White Crow of Russian Government

Kovalev proved that you can fight for your principles over decades — and sometimes win. 
opinion Victor Davidoff

Vladimir Voinovich and his Moral Compass

The writer Vladimir Voinovich died on Friday night in Moscow at the age of 85.
opinion Victor Davidoff

Atheism on Trial in Russia's Stavropol

In a courtroom in Stavropol, Viktor Krasnov, a physician's assistant, is accused of the same crime as Giordano Bruno, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Salman...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Open Society and Its Enemies in Putin's Russia (Op-Ed)

What's going on in Russia? It's simple to understand if you remember history.
opinion Victor Davidoff

Russia Has Political Prisoner Deja Vu (Op-Ed)

The number of political prisoners per capita in Russia today is much higher than the number back in the Soviet Union, writes columnist Victor Davidoff...
opinion Victor Davidoff

A New Iron Curtain Is Descending Over Russia

On July 28, the office of the Russian prosecutor general declared the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy (NED) an "undesirable organization."
opinion Victor Davidoff

Russians Will Suffer in Putin's New Cold War

The destruction of Flight MH17 was the last nail in the coffin of the reassuring theory that a repeat of the Cold War was impossible, writes columnist...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Duma Masks Internet Crackdown By Citing 'iPhone Pedophiles'


How can you spot a pedophile? Just ask Russian Duma Deputy Yelena Mizulina. She knows: a pedophile always has an iPhone.
opinion Victor Davidoff

Kremlin Wary of a Second Afghanistan in Ukraine

The situation in eastern Ukraine may be unusual for modern Europe, filled as it is with warring factions fighting for unclear objectives, but it is not...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Russia Moves Ever Closer to the Soviet Union

In early June, the Dutch organization Human Rights Initiative for the Former U.S.S.R. published its most recent list of political prisoners in Russia...
opinion Victor Davidoff

High Casualties in Kremlin's Information War

Russia's independent media is being punished for providing an alternative to state-controlled news on Ukraine, writes columnist Victor Davidoff.
opinion Victor Davidoff

A Real Patriot Loves His Country, Not the State

Putin once famously said, "After Mahatma Gandhi died, there was nobody left to talk with." But Putin has no problem chatting with Assad and Iranian leaders...
opinion Victor Davidoff

An Internet Censorship Law Right Out of '1984'

A new bill will require Intenet and social network providers to give the FSB full access to users' posts and e-mails.
opinion Victor Davidoff

Putin's Fabricated Anti-Semitism in Ukraine

The rise in anti-Semitic attacks in Ukraine are beneficial to the Kremlin to help it demonize the Maidan revolution as a bunch of violent "fascists...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Why Russians Long for the Soviet Union

For many Russians, particularly for those who were born after the Soviet collapse, the Soviet Union is just a mythical golden age of a great power that...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Putin's Brave New Russia

When a number of Internet sites were blocked on Thursday, it was like a bolt out of the blue.
opinion Victor Davidoff

Putin's Crimean Anschluss

Like Hitler, who justified his aggression as "concern for the lives of our German compatriots," Putin also justified the occupation of Crimea by concern...
opinion Victor Davidoff

The Return of State Ideology

Viktor Shenderovich is well known as a writer, playwright and acerbic but witty critic of the current political regime. Shenderovich is also a big...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Lenin's Law Applied to Dozhd TV

Authorities admitted that Dozhd TV did not break any laws by running a controversial poll on the Leningrad blockade. But at the same time, they argue...
opinion Victor Davidoff

David Satter, the Kremlin's Bete Noire

Considering that Satter has been an outspoken critic of the Kremlin since the 1970s, it was amazing that it took so long for Russian authorities to declare...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Putin's Amnesties Show His Concern for Economy

Putin understands that improving Russia's human rights record and easing confrontation with the West is a prerequisite for foreign investment.
opinion Victor Davidoff

Internet Censorship Is Getting Worse

You can find just about anything on the Internet ban list, from "Mein Kampf" to unregistered political parties and opposition blogs.
opinion Victor Davidoff

Putin Uses Writers to Send Message to Opposition

Putin spoke last week at a congress of Russian writers. Was this a revival of a Soviet tradition, or was it an attempt to start a dialog between...
opinion Victor Davidoff

The Kremlin Storm Troopers

With the increase of violence against gays and migrants, Russia is becoming more like Germany in the 1930s, when storm troopers ruled the streets...
opinion Victor Davidoff

How Khodorkovsky's Arrest Ruined Russia

Putin's autocratic system was formed to a large extent as a result of Khodorkovsky's arrest and trial.
opinion Victor Davidoff

Soviet Psychiatry Returns

On Oct. 8, a verdict was announced in the case of Mikhail Kosenko, one of the demonstrators in the May 6, 2012 protest march at Moscow's Bolotnaya...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Tolokonnikova Protest Takes on Russian Prisons

In 1849, a little known writer named Fyodor Dostoevsky was sentenced to hard labor in Siberia for being a member of an underground club of socialist...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Bad News From the Sept. 8 Election

Let's hope the Kremlin will heed the words of the opposition leaders who insist that Russia in the 21st century can't be ruled by the same methods...
opinion Victor Davidoff

When Eating an Ice-Cream Cone Is a Crime

The homophobic law banning the dissemination of LGBT propaganda is written so vaguely that it has been interpreted as a ban on spreading information...
opinion Victor Davidoff

The Many Myths About Navalny

The first myth is that Navalny - far from being an independent, opposition politician - is just another "Kremlin project." Another myth is that he is a...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Dangerous Alliance Between Church and State

The Russian Orthodox Church openly declared a crusade against multiculturalism, tolerance and other Western values.
opinion Victor Davidoff

Navalny, the New Sakharov

On Saturday, the cheering crowds in Moscow greeted Navalny with the same joy that a previous generation met human rights activist Andrei Sakharov...
opinion Victor Davidoff

The Latest Victim of Putin's Purges

Not long ago, comparisons between Putin's regime and Stalinism were an exaggeration. Not anymore.
opinion Victor Davidoff

Gays Are New Enemy No. 1

The State Duma unanimously passed a law prohibiting adoption of Russian children by foreign single-sex couples on Friday. In practice, the measure...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Bachelor-in-Chief

There may be a new first lady before the opening of the 2014 Winter Olympics in February. After all, some believe, Putin would love to appear in the spotlight...
opinion Victor Davidoff

The New Russian Anti-Semitism

Journalist Ulyana Skoibeda, with the aid of the popular newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, has helped take the centuries-old phenomenon of anti-Semitism mainstream...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Why Stalin Would Be Proud of Putin

Putin can count on staying in power as long as he wants, just like Soviet leaders Leonid Brezhnev or Josef Stalin before him.
opinion Victor Davidoff

Kremlin's 'Political' NGOs

During President Vladimir Putinэs annual national televised call-in show on Thursday, he dropped a bombshell with the statement that two "active CIA...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Blogosphere Sees CIA Plot in Boston Bombings

One blogger wrote, "Washington used the services of al-Qaida and Chechens to put an end to negotiations for visa-free travel and harm Russia's...

The Hunt for Foreign Agents Has Begun

Since early March, 94 Russian NGOs in 28 regions have been inspected in a state campaign of harassment and intimidation.
opinion Victor Davidoff

Russia's Fertile Grounds for Homophobia

St. Petersburg lawmaker Vitaly Milonov, who has emerged as Russia's top homophobe, believes gays should be "isolated from society."
opinion Victor Davidoff

Astakhov Is a Better Showman Than Ombudsman

The Russian political arena has never been short on clowns. First, there was Zhirinovsky. Now, there's a new performer in the ring: Pavel Astakhov...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Why Russia's Patriots Love to Buy U.S. Real Estate

Several Duma deputies must be in dire financial straits. Their property taxes that they pay on their luxury U.S. properties alone make up virtually all...
opinion Victor Davidoff

The Witch Hunt Against Gays Has Begun

The Duma bill prohibiting "homosexual propaganda" will likely spark a nationwide witch hunt against public figures, journalists and teachers.
opinion Victor Davidoff

Another Day, Another Dismembered Body

A murder cheered by Putin supporters, but the Kabanov case is less about the opposition and more about state-denied opportunities for the creative and...
opinion Victor Davidoff

An Adoption Law Only King Herod Would Sign

After the State Duma passed a bill banning adoptions by Americans, journalist Valery Panyushkin wrote on Facebook, "I know of only two organizations...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Why the Magnitsky Act Is Pro-Russian

Opposition leader Boris Nemtsov perhaps put it best regarding the Magnitsky Act passed by the U.S. Senate on Thursday: "This is the most pro-Russian...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Russian Censors Are Dim-Witted and Dull

In just eight years, more than 1,500 works have been put on the official list of banned materials. But censorship isn't just insulting. It can...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Why It's So Hard to Get Off Putin's Back

What seems like a stable political system is actually incredibly unstable for the simple reason that it is based on one man who is as susceptible to illness...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Kidnapping Dissenters Is an Old KGB Tradition

And so it seems that today's Federal Security Service is using the practices of the Soviet political police.
opinion Victor Davidoff

Witch Hunt Against Gays

In the 21st century, gays are the new Jews. They are visible, disliked by many in society and a very convenient target for fascists of all stripes.
opinion Victor Davidoff

Gay Milk and Sacrilegious Knees

Pussy Riot deserves a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. No other group has inspired lawmakers to write so many new laws. The Beatles would...
opinion Victor Davidoff

How Satan Is Destroying Russia

Society has become split between the liberals and the Orthodox fundamentalists, who are locked in a Cold Religious War. There are no fatalities in this...
opinion Victor Davidoff

With Kazan Murders, Church Shames Itself Again

Russia has the distinction of being Europe's record-holder for the number of murders per 100,000 people, and its murder rate is more consistent with...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Putin's Brave New World in a Medieval Russia

For many years, the Darwin Awards have been given to people who self-select out of the gene pool by voluntarily and unnecessarily placing themselves...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Why the Kremlin Should Read Navalny's Blog

When President Vladimir Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, was asked whether he reads anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny's blog, Peskov replied...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Putin's Recipe for Disaster

There have been more natural and man-made catastrophes in Russia under President Vladimir Putin than at any time since the Chernobyl nuclear accident...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Andropov Would Be Proud of Putin

The NGO bill has not yet been signed into effect, but there is already a booming business in denunciations of possible "foreign agents."
opinion Victor Davidoff

The Witch Hunt Against Pussy Riot

The indictment states that Pussy Riot members "put themselves in opposition to the Christian world … [and] tried to discredit church traditions and dogmas...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Hello, 1937

In dealing with the opposition, President Putin seems to be guided by the same principle he used with the terrorists during the Dubrovka theater and Beslan...
opinion Victor Davidoff

There's Just One Nationality — Mathematician

Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."
opinion Victor Davidoff

Moscow Looking More Like Cairo

Historians have long noted a characteristic feature of Russian history: Sometimes development seems to freeze for many years and almost comes to a...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Putin Pregnant With Gossip

On Thursday, Fognews.ru, an obscure news portal, published a report that would ordinarily make headlines all over the world. "Lyudmila Putin Is Pregnant...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Watching Patriarch Kirill Discredit Himself

Since being enthroned as head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill has never gotten much attention from the world press — until last week...
opinion Victor Davidoff

U.S. Protects Russians With Jackson-Vanik

Is the Cold War over? Textbooks say yes and even cite the date that hostilities ended: Dec. 3, 1989, during the Malta Summit of Mikhail Gorbachev...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Putin Faces Only 3 Scenarios Going Forward

Billionaire Alexander Lebedev encapsulated the difference between Russia's sovereign democracy and the plain old democracy put into practice since the days...
opinion Victor Davidoff

The Kremlin's Swingers Club

The latest joke about the presidential election campaign in Russia comes from comic Mikhail Zadornov. "The recent electoral debates remind me of a...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Kremlin's Youth Agency Resembles Cosa Nostra

In the Internet age, the famous aphorism of the 19th-century military theorist Karl von Clausewitz, "War is the continuation of policy by other means...
opinion Victor Davidoff

British Spy Story Tailor-Made for an Election Year

In 2006, an exposé about British "spy stones" in a film by pro-Kremlin television journalist Arkady Mamontov set off a media storm. The story was...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Between Change and Status Quo

Although presidential campaigns in Russia are peculiar — the winner is known long before election day — they do have some normal features, like billboards...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Not Impressed by Putin's Condoms and Promises

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held his 10th annual live televised call-in show on Thursday. This one broke his previous record for length and lasted...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Shooting the Messenger

For 10 years, Golos has been educating voters, analyzing electoral legislation, and monitoring elections at various levels, but only a few experts...
opinion Victor Davidoff

United Russia's Ratings Bubble

The Novgorod region has beautiful churches, but otherwise it's nothing to write home about. It's a very typical Russian region, and that's why Novgorod...
opinion Victor Davidoff

The NavalnyLeaks Smear Campaign

Alexei Navalny is one of the most popular writers on the Russian Internet. His blog is regularly among the top 10 most-read sites. Last year in a virtual...
opinion Victor Davidoff

MGU Is No Place for Discussion

On Thursday, President Dmitry Medvedev met with students and representatives of youth organization at the journalism department of Moscow State University...
opinion Victor Davidoff

The Last Autumn in Putin's Russia

For Russia's liberals, 2011 has become the Year of Dashed Hopes. These mostly young professionals grew up after the dissolution of the Soviet Union...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Medvedev in Electoral Pickle

United Russia's pre-election convention finally put an end to the main political intrigue of the year. Russia's next president will be Vladimir Putin....
opinion Victor Davidoff

Lackluster Yaroslavl Speech May Serve as Omen

Based on Dmitry Medvedev's previous speeches, few people expected any cogent policy statements from the president during his address on Thursday to the...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Prokhorov's Odd Manifesto

Russian tabloid journalists adore scandal-prone billionaire-turned-politician Mikhail Prokhorov. Once he began to head the Right Cause party, it was...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Putin's Dive for IKEA Jugs

With four months to go before Russians cast their votes in parliamentary elections, the first signs of an emerging electoral campaign have finally...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Web Will Win in Cyber War

Last week from Monday through Friday, the Russian-language segment of the popular blog server LiveJournal once again was subject to a series of DDoS...
opinion Victor Davidoff

A Sinking Ship

There may not be a scientific explanation for it, but every Russian knows that August is a month of catastrophe. The sinking of the submarine Kursk...
opinion Victor Davidoff

A Front of Blondes, Farmers

What do Russia's Union of Pensioners, the Association of Music Producers, the Union of Georgians in Russia and the Cheerleaders' Union all have...
opinion Victor Davidoff

How Putin Pads Numbers

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin first floated the idea of creating the All-Russia People's Front on May 6. A week later, the front's founding document...
opinion Victor Davidoff

The Kremlin's New Yo-Party

Mikhail Prokhorov recently made headlines again, but this time in the politics sections of newspapers: He announced that he wanted to lead the Right...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Medvedev Is a Talk Show Host and Diplomat

Ultimately, the real highlight of Medvedev's news conference was a joke that began to circulate on the Internet while he was still speaking: "It's...
opinion Victor Davidoff

A Stalin Slip and Putin Trick

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's May 6 speech in Volgograd finally put an end to the questions that have been asked for the last three years: Who is...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Bulldog Fight Under the Rug

Presidential races are like wrestling matches. They begin when each wrestler enters the ring and shows off his muscles. Then the fight starts as everyone...
opinion Victor Davidoff

State Finds New Way to Jam

The Soviet Union is now history, and radio has long been supplanted by the Internet. But history repeats itself from time to time. Since March, the Russian...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Clarity on Who Rules Russia

On March 21, Ekho Moskvy radio polled its audience with a rather provocative question: "How would you react if Russia got the same treatment that Libya...
opinion Victor Davidoff

A Bone to Pick With Biden

In Russia, every high-level U.S.-Russian summit is controversial. Even though Vice President Joe Biden had a modest agenda for last week's visit to Moscow...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Missiles Can Help Stop Riots

The Kremlin reacted to events in Libya much more vocally than it reacted to the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. Perhaps the difference is that...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Egypt's Lessons for Russia

Ultimately, it is unlikely that events in Egypt will have a direct influence on Russia. But the scenario in Cairo could work equally well in Yemen...
opinion Victor Davidoff

No Sun Without Medvedev

The bombing at Domodedovo Airport was another link in the mysterious chain of terrorist attacks in Russia — mysterious because the terrorists rarely...
opinion Victor Davidoff

Anna Chapman's Patriotism

Although the exposure of the spy ring seemed to mark the end of Anna Chapman's career, it turned out to be the spark that let her career take off...