The Clearing House Russia Project

 Here is a link to a list of Russian players: https://themoscowproject.org/players/

Ruslan Shaveddinov: Russian opposition activist 'kidnapped' by army BBC:  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50912822

Putin: From Oligarch to Kleptocrat,   Author Ruth May. https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/02/01/putin-from-oligarch-to-kleptocrat/ Extensive discussion of Putin clamping down [see full article at link ]: '...In November 2011, one of my graduate students emailed me a link to a  YouTube video . He said it was about Russia and that it would shock me. I doubted it: after following economic and political events in post-Soviet Russia for twenty years, I felt I was unshockable. I was wrong. My jaw dropped as I watched 20,000 ordinary Russians booing Vladimir Putin as he stepped into a ring at a martial arts match to introduce the fighters. A few weeks later, when the December 2011 parliamentary elections were held, Putin’s United Russia Party still won, but only by a slim majority. Multiple reports of election fraud spread quickly on social media after the polls closed, and people took to the streets in the largest popular demonstrations since the fall o...

Russian Federation - How’s Life? The Russian Federation has made progress over the last decade in improving the quality of life of its citizens, despite lower than average scores in some topics on the Better Life Index. The Russian Federation ranks above the average in education and skills, and work-life balance but below average in the dimensions of subjective well-being, income and wealth, jobs and earnings, personal security, environmental quality, housing, civic engagement, social connections, and health status. These rankings are based on available selected data. Money, while it cannot buy happiness, is an important means to achieving higher living standards. In the Russian Federation,  the average household net-adjusted disposable income per capita is  lower than the OECD average of USD 33 604 a year. In terms of employment, around  70% of people aged 15 to 64 in Russia have a paid job , above the OECD employment average of 68%. Some 76% of...

Under Putin, Russia is facing a crossroads. It is an historic choice facing the country today. One road can lead to a prosperous country with a first class military, a benign influence on world affairs and a growing economy. Another road can lead to the opposite: an economy declining into poverty, exportation of corruption and violence and an irrelevant military presence. Several trends are leading Russia toward the choice. The financial exploitation of the country by the Oligarchs has forced Russian households to tighten their budgets: '...[while] the economy today shows signs of stability following the financial crisis of 2014-2016....the financial crisis left its mark on Russian households—personal finances are tight and inflation has outpaced income growth. As consumers adjusted over the past decade to that new economic reality, they’ve grown more cautious, pragmatic, and value-conscious.' [https://www.bcg.com/en-us/publications/2018/russian-consumers-new-economic...