Decades ago, the Soviet Union flooded its client regimes in Africa with weaponry and political and military advisors, and educated a generation of African leaders in its universities. The current president of Angola, who studied in Soviet Azerbaijan, and Russian

The Russian authorities' attitude toward pro-democracy demonstrations is well known, and it generally fits the pattern of Vladimir Putin's foreign policy since 2000. This pattern is characterized by non-interference with the internal affairs of other states unless a Russian minority

A new report published by the European Council this week attacked the Russian court system for corruption and its subservience to the authorities. The report criticized the case of former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who in turn recently published his

The Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily reported that in late May, the Kremlin set up a special coordinating body led by the Presidential Chief of Staff Sergey Naryshkin in order to improve Russia's image abroad. The new body, which will also include

Every culture has its own idols, and it would be erroneous to expect, for example, the average American popular culture consumer to be familiar with Russia's Alla Pugacheva (Dima Bilan doesn't count), or the average Russian to have heard of