In his survey of Russia’s domestic political scene the author holds that Russia today is about to enter a new stage in its post-Soviet development. The destructive stage that was part of Boris Yeltsin’s presidency was superseded by a stage of stabilization providing the substantive foundation for the first years of Vladimir Putin in power. Today, however, the stabilizing factors have spent themselves. A new stage in development, a stage of modernization, becomes an urgent necessity.
In his survey of Russia’s domestic political scene the author holds that Russia today is about to enter a new stage in its post-Soviet development. The destructive stage that was part of Boris Yeltsin’s presidency was superseded by a stage of stabilization providing the substantive foundation for the first years of Vladimir Putin in power. Today, however, the stabilizing factors have spent themselves. A new stage in development, a stage of modernization, becomes an urgent necessity.
When the Baltic countries entered NATO and the European Union a couple of years ago, many thought it was the end of the centuries-old "red line." Euro-Atlantic organizations had crossed into the former Russian and Soviet empires.
In September 2004, the Russian city of Novgorod hosted an international conference entitled Russia at the Turn of the Century: Hopes and Reality. Its organizers were the RIA Novosti news agency, the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, Russia in Global Affairs, and The Moscow Times.