Baltic Rim Economies 4/2021

A special issue on Russia

Published on the 28th of October 2021

Democracy – Russia´s dilemma

“Russia turned its back on democracy, as it had done before in the turmoils of the First World War. Back then, Russia adopted Marxism from the West, but not democracy. In the 20th century, Russia followed a different path from, for example, Japan and India which, in spite of lagging behind in comparison to the Russian starting points, succeeded in transforming themselves into democracies.”

Urpo Kivikari,
Emeritus Professor of International Economics,
Pan-European Institute, University of Turku,
Finland

Neighbouring a World Power – Finland’s relations with a 21st Century Russia

“During my diplomatic career, I have had the privilege to work in Russia and with questions related to Russia for many years. My first posting abroad was in Moscow in the late 1980s. Later, I served as Ambassador to Russia between 2008 and 2012, in a completely different country. In the past three decades, also Finland has changed. In 1995, Finland joined the European Union. This meant that Russia became a neighbour to the EU. Finland has actively participated in developing the union’s Russia policy.”

Matti Anttonen,
Permanent State Secretary,
Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

U.S.-Russia Strategic Stability Dialogue

“Presidents Biden and Putin have agreed that the United States and Russia bear “a unique responsibility” for maintaining strategic stability and preventing dangerous escalation between the world’s two leading nuclear powers. Following their June 2021 Geneva summit, they declared that, “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” an echo of the famous Reagan-Gorbachev declaration from 1985.”

Matthew Rojansky,
Director,
The Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute,
United States of America

UK-USSR 1991, the return of the bear

“Ten years ago, the story of British-Russian relations seemed easy to relate. The old tension with the Russian ‘bear’, which had begun in the late eighteenth century, flared during the Crimean War, and endured through the change from Tsarism to communism in the twentieth, appeared a thing of the past. Its last gasp had been the standoff over Kosovo in 1999. Russia complained bitterly about the eastward enlargement of NATO, but seemed to have accepted it. In the early days after 9/11, Russian President Putin was seen as an ally in the war on Islamist extremism.”

Brendan Simms,
Director,
Centre for Geopolitics, University of Cambridge,
UK

Baltic Rim Economies 4/2021 includes the following Expert articles

Urpo Kivikari: Democracy – Russia´s dilemma

Andrei Val’terovich Grinëv: The West and the prospects for democracy in Russia

Risto Alapuro: Perestroika, Russia today, and democratization

Sergey Savin: Core national values as the development force of Russian society

Andrey L. Andreev: Values in contemporary Russian society

Alexander Mikhailovich Egorychev: Meanings and values of Russian culture as the basis of mentality of the people, their national-civic consciousness and worldview

Igor M. Kuznetsov: Values of Russians: traditionalism and modernity

Tatyana Medvedeva: Art in values education

Sergey Dmitrievich Lebedev: Religion in the contemporary Russian society

Tobias Koellner: Religion and politics in contemporary Russia

Olga Pigoreva: Study of religion in the schools of contemporary Russia

Bulat G. Akhmetkarimov: Contemporary challenges and opportunities for the Muslim community in the Republic of Tatarstan

Andrei Yakovlev: New tool for development or for rent-seeking?

Leo Granberg: Civil society in contemporary Russia

Alexander Vladimirivich Sokolov: Modern features of civic activity in Russia

Stanislav Usachev: Tolerance Center: Creating an environment for a positive dialogue

Marie Mendras: The sinking legitimacy of Putin’s presidency

Mikhail Turchenko: Strategic voting and the regime’s response in Russia

Timothy Frye: Russia’s parliamentary elections: More manipulation, more problems

Konstantin Eggert: Sergei Shoigu-2024?: Putin may have decided on a successor – the only one he could choose

Gulnaz Sharafutdinova: Lessons learned from the 2021 parliamentary election in Russia

Regina Smyth & Timothy Model: Fraud, votes, and protest potential in Russia’s regions

Dmitry Rudenkin: Some notes about protests in Russia in 2021

Michael C. Kimmage: Vladimir Putin and the negation of politics

Nikolay Petrov: Russian political regime transformation: prospects for future

Marina E. Rodionova: Women’s representation in the EU and Russian politics

Evgenii O. Negrov: Models of political consciousness of Russian youth

Rail M. Shamionov: Young people’s social activity as the resource of social development

Leonid Grigoryev: Russia: Transition to inequality

Svetlana V. Mareeva, Ekaterina D. Slobodenyuk & Vasiliy A. Anikin: Perceptions of income inequality in Russia

Elena Bogomiagkova: New dimensions of social inequality in the context of healthcare digitalization

Thomas F. Remington: Inequality and the crisis of liberalism

Lyudmila Vidiasova, Igor Kuprienko & Ekaterina Rodionova: Demand for senior-friendly spaces in Russia

Tatiana Kastueva-Jean: HIV/AIDS in Russia, the epidemic too long ignored

Elias Kallio: Russian economy during COVID-19 pandemic: an ordinary citizen’s point of view

Andrei N. Pokida: Attitude of Russians to telemedical technologies

Vladimir V. Moiseev: Effectiveness of government management in the Russian Federation

Egor Novgorodov: Main features of GR and lobbying in Russia

Serguei Cheloukhine & Darkhan Aitmaganbetov: Organized corrupt network (OCN) in present-day Russia

Evgeny L. Plisetsky & Evgeny E. Plisetsky: Infrastructure potential of the Russian regions

Roman Romanovsky & Igor Sergeyev: A glass of drinking water for the Baltic Sea

Ksenia Leontyeva: Overview of the anti-corruption agenda in Russia

Diana Ekzarova: Political media consumption of Russian students on social networks

Geir Flikke: The strangling of Russian civil society and independent media

Ninna Mörner: Baltic Worlds on Russia after the USSR

Mikhail Denisenko: Emigration from Russia: its recent past, present and future

David Carment  & Milana Nikolko: Post-Soviet migration and diasporas

Alexander O. Baranov: Coordination of economic policy goals in Russia

Tatiana Skryl: Principles of implementation of industrial policy in Russia

Marina Petukhova: Foresight: Agriculture and rural areas – is there a common future?

Vladimir Belous: Modern communication: Barbed wire vs pipeline

Fedor Dukhnovskiy: The digital state: the example of Russia

Denis Dunas: Digital media culture as an integral part of everyday life

Leonid Gokhberg & Valeriya Vlasova: Innovation in Russia: Business reactions and government response to the COVID-19 crisis

Sinikukka Saari: Russia’s STI strategy and geoeconomics

Robert Nizhegorodtsev: Drivers for regional development under the ajar innovation strategy

Salla Nazarenko: Patriots and innovations – incompatible match?

Sergey N. Leonov: Far East Regional Policy: Mission (im)possible?

Jakub M. Godzimirski: Russia’s energy turn to Asia and COVID impact on energy exports

Anna Kuteleva: Xi Jinping’s Chinese dream and Vladimir Putin’s energy superpower: Changes and constants in China-Russia energy relations

Anna Mikulska: Russian natural gas exports: changing priorities

Andrey Shadurskiy: LNG in Russia: is the status quo enough for the plans?

Seppo Remes: Is something interesting happening in Russia?

Vera Barinova: Sustainable development in the Russian regions

Tatiana M. Krasovskaya: Sustainable development of the Russian Arctic: acute problems and basic solutions

Harley Balzer: Sanctions are undermining Putin’s economy

Timo Vuori: The EU and Russia – logical trade partners are moving away?

Igor Kapyrin: Together

Matti Anttonen: Neighbouring a World Power – Finland’s relations with a 21st Century Russia

Anton Loginov: Russian-Finnish economic relations after the global pandemic and green deals

Ilkka Salonen: Together we stand, divided we fall!

Evgeniy Shitikov: Latest trends of Fortum’s business in Russia

Ramūnas Vilpišauskas: Lithuania-Russia relationship: why so difficult?

Eleonora Tafuro Ambrosetti: Italy and Russia: what changes is the narrative

Matthew Rojansky: U.S.-Russia Strategic Stability Dialogue

Konstantin Khudoley: Russia and USA: Stabilization at a low point?

Ruth Deyermond: The challenge of US-Russia relations in the Biden-Putin era

Shinichiro Tabata: Recent Japanese-Russian economic relations

Maksim Vilisov: “Lukashenomics” and the “Union State”

Halina Haurylka: Common Economic Space – Belarus and Russia: Facts and figures

Elena Shestopal: Russians’ images of their post-Soviet neighbors

Brendan Simms: UK-USSR 1991, the return of the bear

Marcin Skladanowski: Putin’s historiosophy and the Russian Church

Vladimer Papava: On the modern economic imperialism of Russia

Elisabeth Braw: When it comes to greyzone threats, China overshadows Russia

Thomas Sherlock: Russian public opinion: The question of support for conflict with the West

Simo Pesu: Russian Perspective on War – Implications

Hanna Mäkinen: Russia’s new National security strategy

Pär Gustafsson: Describing potential adversaries towards 2045

Sabine Fisher & Ivan Timofeev: EU-Russia in 2030: Alternatives scenarios

Mykhailo Gonchar: Russia: The matrix of (un)certainties

Zachary Paikin: The death of “Greater Europe” and the future of EU-Russia relations

Kari Liuhto: Years of danger in EU-Russia relations