What’s Going on Inside Putin’s Russia?

“I came of age as the borders of the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia embraced the West,” historian Anastasia Edel wrote in March. “Back then, it seemed that after a decades-long totalitarian detour, Russia had finally found its true path—that of a free, democratic country. Now I’m forced to revise, yet again, my assumptions about what Russia is and what it will become.”

“I came of age as the borders of the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia embraced the West,” historian Anastasia Edel wrote in March. “Back then, it seemed that after a decades-long totalitarian detour, Russia had finally found its true path—that of a free, democratic country. Now I’m forced to revise, yet again, my assumptions about what Russia is and what it will become.”

In this edition of Flash Points, historians, journalists, and analysts examine Moscow’s propaganda machine, the books Russians are reading, the country’s fascist youth, and more to piece together what’s been going on inside Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.—Chloe Hadavas

Mark Harris illustration for Foreign Policy

A Day Inside Putin’s Surreal Television Empire

The nonstop blare of Russian state media fuels the war effort—and blurs reality, Anastasia Edel writes.

For Russians, Reading Is the New Resistance

What bestselling books tell us about how Russians are processing the war, according to Andrei Kolesnikov.

Children attend an official initiation ceremony for the youth organization Young Pioneers in Moscow’s Red Square on May 22, 2022. Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images

Russia’s Frighteningly Fascist Youth

A new generation of Russians glorifies war, death, and Vladimir Putin, Ian Garner writes.

Police detain protesters gathered at Pushkin Square in Moscow on Jan. 23, 2021.Getty Images

Why Isn’t Russia a Democracy?

The country wasn’t preordained to despotism or a clash with the West, Lucian Kim writes.

People walk past a Kremlin star bearing the letter Z, the tactical insignia of Russian troops in Ukraine, in Moscow on Dec. 29, 2022.ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images

Staring Down the Black Hole of Russia’s Future

A Ukrainian victory may be the country’s only chance at long-term salvation, Anastasia Edel writes.