An interview and profile of the official in charge of Moscow’s policy — and why he believes American adoptions could be a plot to depopulate Siberia
Russia
The Blind Girl vs. Putin: A Plea for Russia’s Handicapped Orphans
Apart from healthy orphans, Moscow’s new law prohibits children who need medical help unavailable in Russia from being adopted by Americans
Why Has Moscow Passed a Bill to Ban U.S. Adoption of Russian Orphans?
The bill is meant to retaliate against a human-rights slap on the wrist by Washington, but it will deprive thousands of Russian orphans of better lives
Russia and Its Syrian Debacle: When the Enemy of My Friend Becomes My Friend
Apparently acceding that its erstwhile ally Assad may lose the civil war, Moscow may be cosying up to acceptable members of the opposition
Will Russian Science Be Stunted by Putin’s Fear of Espionage?
The global collegiality of the scientific and engineering community may come into conflict with the paranoia of Russia’s intelligence establishment
Is Russia Running a Secret Supply Route to Arm Syria’s Assad?
Documents released by the hacker group Anonymous appear to reveal previously unknown shipments of repaired helicopter gunships from Russia to Syria
Behind The Story: TIME’s Simon Shuster Discusses Putin’s Russia
Vladimir Putin may have only returned to the Presidency in May of this year, but it has not taken him long to re-establish his domineering grip over political life. A former agent of the KGB, the notorious spy agency active …
Russia’s Opposition Gets Its Act Together Electronically — for Now
The disorganized opposition to Putin managed to put on huge demonstrations last December–but they couldn’t agree on how to proceed next. Now they have elected a group of 45 people to decide what to do next. It was a hair-raising …
The Managed Democracy: A How-to-Manual from Putin’s Russia
An exclusive look at a leaked 43-page document detailing the winning strategy of a ruling-party gubernatorial candidate
Must-Reads from Around the World
Russia hosts APEC in its remote Far East; arms sales skyrocket in 2012; the rest of the world yawns at the U.S. election
Pussy Riot Trial Unleashes Putin’s Secret Weapon: The Orthodox Faithful
A Russian President whose popularity is declining needs a ‘national idea’ to rationalize his rule. And it’s in the traditions of the pre-Soviet church-state relationship that he hopes to find it
The Priest Who Beat Pussy Riot: The Orthodox Point Man with the Kremlin
The sentence and verdict against the feminist punk band is further evidence of the dangerous erosion of Russia’s constitutional separation of church and state
The Cry Heard Around the World: “Free Pussy Riot!”
After members of the Russian punk bank were sentenced to prison, demonstrations sprang up from Europe to New York City demanding their freedom–and their right of self-expression.