Julie Corwin

Analysis: Battling Over Benefits

President Vladimir Putin is expected to sign into law a bill converting certain social benefits, such as free public transportation and medicine, to cash payments, and regional leaders are already signaling that they do not plan to implement it vigorously. It's little wonder. The bill has inspired weeks of protests across Russia. Polling data shows the public is pessimistic about how their own economic well-being will be affected. And regional leaders have been set up to take the blame if any hitches occur along the way.

Analysis: Vladivostok Sees Its Wildest Election Yet

Most assessments of Russian President Vladimir Putin's accomplishments during his first term in office assert that he tamed the country's regional leaders, who had supposedly become too independent during his predecessor's two terms in office.

Analysis: Draining The 'Cesspool': Internet Legislation In Russia

Although only about 15 million Russians -- roughly 10 percent of the population -- regularly access the Internet, the reach of news or information posted on the Internet could extend to as much as one-third of the population, according to Ivan Zasurskii, deputy general director of Rambler. In an interview with "Novaya gazeta," No. 45, he noted that all urban populations have access to information from the Internet via "horizontal channels" of communication. For example, radio talk-show hosts and DJs regularly pick up "hot" themes from the Internet and immediately broadcast them. If Zasurskii is correct, will the Internet's expanding reach attract increased attention from authorities?

Analysis: Russia Remembers Reagan

Russian press coverage this week of the 5 June death of the United States' 40th president, Ronald Reagan, was for the most part measured and respectful. Although acknowledging Reagan's humble origins, commentators credited him for his flexibility, pragmatism, directness, and ability to consider points of view at odds with his ideological framework. Aleksandr Yakovlev, former Politburo member and adviser to Communist Party General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, told "Izvestiya" on 8 June that although Reagan uttered the phrase that "'America won the Cold War,' in fact, in the course of important negotiations he made it clear that he never believed that." According to Yakovlev, Reagan understood that "it was hard to find a winner in cold wars -- it is common sense that wins."

Analysis: Another Oligarch, Another Investigation

Question: What event of last July continues to have reverberations in Russian political life? A) The arrest of Menatep Chairman Platon Lebedev; B) The ending of the transition period for full implementation of the law on political parties; C) Oligarch and Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Governor Roman Abramovich's purchase of Britain's Chelsea soccer club for $233 million; or D) All of the above.

My Final Answer -- 'Kill My Neighbor's Goat'

Michael Davies, executive producer of the TV game show "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire," reportedly said that in the Russian version of the program, television audiences occasionally lie when contestants turn to them for help in answering questions, according to the weekly "Broadcasting & Cable" on 26 April. "People over there can't stand to see anyone win," he concluded. While Davies may be misreading the audiences' intentions, there is no denying that the destructive role of envy in Russian life is a well-documented phenomenon in literature, folklore, and jokes. There is even a specific word in the Russian language to describe unjustified egalitarianism, "uravnilovka." And, of course, uravnilovka is an artificial way of preventing envy by keeping everyone at the same level.

Analysis: Is The Party Over?

In a year when Russian politics have been characterized more by public ritual than open struggle, the Agrarian Party congress held this week presented a sharp contrast: Party leader Mikhail Lapshin was actually unseated after more than a decade at the helm. The Communist Party's congress scheduled for June promises to be equally stormy, as leader Gennadii Zyuganov might well be unseated.

Russia: Analysis -- Too Many Cooks Spoil Matvienko's First-Round Bid

Russia: Putin Tightens Rule Over Regions

Russia: Putin Seeks Greater Control Of Regions