Clean' energy in Russia remains just over 30%, and entire sectors such as automotive and heating still run exclusively on fossil fuels. Mind you, with the invasion of Ukraine, hopes of seeing Moscow as a major contributor to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism have faded.
From aliens to fifth columns in the ‘Novaja Gazeta’ artist Petr Sarukhanov has tried to draw the whole picture of the ‘enemies of holy Russia’, composing a list that seems to be updated non-stop. As Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov explained, ‘the special military operation has recompacted our society, allowing us to purify it’.
It is not at all clear whether "homeland" means the same thing for Trump's followers or Putin's subjects, whether it indicates the nativism of "blood and soil" or rather the "spiritual" union of those who have a shared vision of state, region, or the whole world. For now, the newly elected president of the United States has promised a solution to the Ukraine war by 20 January, the day of his inauguration (coincidentally the Orthodox feast of the Baptism of the Lord).
Strong-arm tactics have become a systematic means of pressure, especially against Russian political prisoners. A Mediazona investigation tells the stories of those who have been subjected to violence in Russian prisons to extract forced confessions.
Nostalgia for the Soviet simplification of the world, even shared by the opposition, is pervasive while ‘making America great again’ resonates in the Caucasus or Siberia as much as the infantilized world of Massachusetts.
Once again this year, despite bans and restrictions, the celebration of the “Restitution of Names” of Soviet-era victims was held in more than 100 cities in Russia and abroad, gathering at different places and times than usual to evade police controls. Meanwhile, Moscow authorities report that plans are afoot to remove the Lubyanka Stone for “renovation work” on the square.
