I love the work of the band DDT and Yuri Shevchuk — a man who has shown genuine courage and dignity in standing against imperial politics — and I ask forgiveness from admirers of other early Soviet rock bands for this personal attachment. Shevchuk’s body of work is, in essence, the history of the USSR…
Category: Research Centre
Prison Subculture as National Culture: When Prison Slang Becomes the National Language
The occasion for this text was a remark by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, made on 24 July 2026 at a press conference in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan. Lavrov was responding to a statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who the day before, summing up the talks in Manila, had declared the failure of the…
The Yagidne Case: The ECHR Informed the Russian Government of Complaints from Ukrainian Civilians Who Were Held in a School Basement for a Month
The European Court of Human Rights has served the Russian Government with the applications in Menyaylo and Others v. Russia and Lepekha and Others v. Russia (Nos. 34851/24 and 6972/23) concerning events in the village of Yagidne in the Chernihiv region. The cases concern 111 Ukrainian civilians who were held by Russian military personnel in…
‘There Are Simply Bad People’: Three Arguments Put Forward by ‘The Rock Regiment’ That Fall Apart in the Face of Article 3 of the Convention
Radio Svoboda (Radio Liberty), in its programme “Svoboda Live”, released a conversation with Andrii Surai, head of the civil-military cooperation group of the 425th Separate Assault Regiment “Skelia”, under the title “‘Skelia’ from the inside: we ask a representative of the regiment about the deaths of soldiers, beatings and torture”. The context of this conversation…
From Scandal to Policy: Why the State Must Prepare for the Consequences of War Rather Than React to Them
In 2024, more than 3% of individuals notified of being suspected of committing criminal offenses were military personnel or, in one way or another, participants in combat operations at the time the offense was committed. In 2025, this proportion rose to nearly 5%. Behind these percentages lie thousands of specific cases—and this is not a…
‘Military Veterans, Guilt and Reproach’: Why a More Lenient Sentencing of Veterans is a Matter for the State, and Not Just for the Offender
We bring to the attention of judges hearing cases involving veterans a work of legal theory – the article by Youngjae Lee (Fordham University School of Law), Military Veterans, Culpability, and Blame (2013). It does not operate with statistics on recidivism or the prevalence of PTSD, but poses a more fundamental question: on what basis…
‘Is There Any Chance of a “Deal” on Ukraine?’: The Russian Liberal Opposition as a New Imperial Force, or Why Russia’s Future Begins with Decolonisation
Vladimir Kara-Murza talked with Russian opposition political scientists about a “deal” on Ukraine. This interview is useful but not because of what they say about Putin. About Putin, they say everything right: they call his rule fascist, the war a crime, and the Kremlin’s defeat a good thing. The interview is useful for another reason….
“Proper” Torture: How Ukrainian Society Is Learning to Justify Torture, or the Case of the Odesa Detention Center as a Window into the Abyss
The incident that occurred in the Odesa pre-trial detention centre (SIZO) and that, in a very strange way, came to light and drew the attention of the entire society, is telling and extremely important. Not because it is unique – on the contrary, because it is mundane. It demonstrates the abyss that Ukrainian society has…
“The People’s War” and Its Lessons: General Ludendorff’s Truth, Which the Political Elite Doesn’t Want to Hear
Erich Ludendorff is one of the most controversial figures of the First World War. The effective commander of the German war machine in its final phase, the architect of operations on the Eastern and Western Fronts, a man who held the fates of millions in his hands. His memoirs My War Memories 1914–1918 are not…
‘Russia’s Liberal Opposition is Putin’s Soft Power in Europe.’ An Interview with Djamboulat Souleimanov, Leader of the Chechen National Liberation Movement United Force
He is hard to miss in the corridors of the Palace of Europe in Strasbourg. Djamboulat Souleimanov — a scholar-linguist, philologist, and historian who was compelled to take up arms in two Chechen wars for independence — today wages a no less important struggle: in the chambers of PACE, in the offices of European delegations,…