Navalny vs. Putin

Two decades ago, a minor KGB operative named Vladimir Putin captured power in Russia, gradually installing a ‘managed democracy’. Many of its citizens supported his rule, a period of relative economic prosperity, political stability and international recognition, following the chaotic demise of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. Yet economic stagnation, systematic corruption and brutal repression defined Putin’s regime over the last decade. Nationalist tropes and imperial nostalgia accompanied more aggressive interventions abroad.

Do the anti-government protests by a new generation of young activists currently sweeping Russia represent a transformative moment? Or will a durable autocracy, and deeper continuities, continue to jeopardize the future of its citizens?

Masha Gessen, the prize-winning author and New Yorker staff writer, examines the trajectory and prospects of democracy in Russia in conversation with Sanjay Ruparelia.