In literature, the opposition between Russian Christians and Muslims was established early on in the folk epics, in the “historical songs” told by the bards in the oral tradition. Several of them deal with the capturing of the khanate of Kazan, the northernmost Tatar realm. From the “Tatars” conquered by Ivan the Terrible in Kazan and depicted in Russian folk songs to Tolstoy’s thistle called “the Tatar” (tatarin) there is a winding line of literary works.
Essay by
Barbara Lönnqvist
August 1, 2011
Roosa Vihavainen, Homeowners’ Associations in Russia after the 2005 Housing Reform, Helsinki: Kikimora , Publications Series A 20, 2009, 274 pages
By
Madeleine Granvik
June 30, 2011
Rationality versus irrationality, emotions versus calculations – these were the main issues to be discussed under a seminar in May, organized by the Aleksanteri Institute (Helsinki). Actually, the emotions theme became a starting point for the participants to approach the nature of Russian foreign policy and decision-making inside the post-Soviet bureaucracy.
By
Ilja Viktorov
June 1, 2011
Is Russia part of Europe? Russians answer this question in different ways. For many of them, Russia is not Europe but Eurasia, which is an alternate unit of civilization. I do not share this opinion, writes Adam Michnik here.
By
Adam Michnik
May 13, 2011
Russian financial markets have been a completely new element in the Russian post-Soviet economy. The level of development and the character of the financial market institutions in this country can tell us much about whether Russia will succeed or fail in evolving towards a well-functioning market economy. Professor Alexandr Abramov from the Higher School of Economics in Moscow is one of Russia’s leading experts on Russian financial markets. Ilja Viktorov from CBEES met him in Moscow to pose some questions concerning developments in the field.
By
Ilja Viktorov
April 8, 2011
Professor of mathematics, Ulf Persson, visits the legandary Steklov Institute, the flagship of pure mathematics in the Soviet Union. Russian mathematicians have long inspired awe among their Western colleagues. A second-rate Soviet mathematician was usually considered first-rate by Western standards.
By
Ulf Persson
April 8, 2011
The author suggests that Platonov’s Chevengur is an attempt to describe the relationships between utopia and ideology, as seen through the eyes of a participant observer.
Essay by
Natalia Poltavtseva
April 8, 2011
The Russian energy strategy for the next few years includes lofty goals. While other countries are investing 1.5 percent of their GDP in the energy sector, Russia is spending 5 percent. This was noted at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) Annual Conference on Russian and Eurasian Studies.
By
Ninna Mörner
January 10, 2011
Professor Archie Brown argues that Gorbachev was not selected as General Secretary because he was a reformer. He did at the time he became party leader believe both that the system was reformable and that it must be reformed. But he did not, however, reveal the full extent of his existing reformism on the eve of perestroika.
Essay by
Archie Brown
August 25, 2010
A close reading of Ginzburg’s diaries shows how a fight against a shrinking living space is conducted on two levels: the purely physical fight for survival during the famine in Leningrad and the intellectual fight in a cultural environment increasingly dictated.
Essay by
Irina Sandomirskaja
August 1, 2010
Issue 2026, 1: 
Baltic Worlds covers; the Baltic Sea Region, Eastern Europe, Russia, CentralAsia, Caucasus and the Balkan area.