After Navalny's Death, Bashkortostan Protests Show the Way to a Better Russian Future foreignpolicy.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from foreignpolicy.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“I can only cry in response,” Rostislav Murzagulov says when asked whether he feels homesick for his native republic of Bashkortostan. For Murzagulov, a former PR chief of Bashkortostan’s head Radiy Khabirov, visiting his home republic in Russia’s Ural Mountains region is a distant prospect. Once a self-described “systemic liberal politician,” Murzagulov resigned from his post and fled Russia months before the Kremlin invaded Ukraine. “It was clear that the country [was] synchronically marching into a pile of dirt,” Murzagulov explains when asked about his preemptive exit. “When you realize that you are about to become a smokescreen for justifying a war that becomes too much.
President Vladimir Putin sought to use his end-of-year press conference to convince Russians and the world that he was confident in himself, in the people's favor, and in Ukraine’s defeat at the start of his fifth presidential campaign. Yet during Thursday’s marathon event, Putin, 71, appeared to be going through the motions, feigning reactions and avoiding uncomfortable questions, highlighting the dissonance between the Kremlin’s reality and that of the rest of Russia.
President Vladimir Putin sought to use his end-of-year press conference to convince Russians and the world that he is confident in himself, in the people's favor and in Ukraine’s defeat as he kicks off his bid to run for a fifth term as president.