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A battle for Russia

Arkady Ostrovsky: Russia editor, The Economist

Vladimir Putin v Alexei Navalny

Novichok? My hands are clean

2021 in brief

Italy marks the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri, a medieval poet and
philosopher who wrote “The Divine Comedy”, and is known as the father of the Italian
language. Born in Florence in 1265, Dante died in exile in Ravenna in 1321

THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY of the collapse of the Soviet Union will be a poignant
backdrop for Russian politics in 2021. In August 1991 Communist Party hardliners led a
coup against Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet reformer. They brought tanks onto the
streets in an effort to reverse the current of history that had moved against them, and in
doing so accelerated the disintegration of the empire. Muscovites came out to defend
their national parliament under the tricolour flag of Russia. Four months later the Soviet
Union was dissolved.

Although most former Soviet republics have moved on, Russia itself has reverted to its
imperial past. Vladimir Putin, who began his presidency in 2000 with the restoration of
the Soviet anthem, has gradually reinstated many of the old Soviet practices, including