Power Without Purpose
Russia is no longer an economic power (oil reserves notwithstanding), nor is it a match for the US, or even China, in international affairs. But it is far from clear what Russia wants to become: a reinvented empire, a new autocracy, a “sovereign” democracy, or perhaps something else.
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MOSCOW – For more than two decades, August has been the cruelest month for Russian leaders. The August 1991 coup led to the departure of President Mikhail Gorbachev and the end of the Soviet Union. The August 1998 debt default and ruble collapse laid waste to President Boris Yeltsin’s free-market reforms and resulted in the sacking of his prime minister, Sergei Kiriyenko.