Far and Away: Reporting from the Brink of Change

97 Aleksandr Kiselev’s profitable resignation is reported in “Киселев после увольнения из ‘Почты России’ получит почти 3 млн руб (Kiselev after the dismissal of ‘Mail of Russia’ will receive nearly 3 million rubles),” RIA Novosti, April 19, 2013.

97 Sergei Stankevich’s political career, and the graft charges that led him to flee to Poland, are described in Andrew Higgins, “Putin and Orthodox church cement power in Russia,” Wall Street Journal, December 18, 2007; and Sergey Strokan and Vladimir Mikheev, “EU-Russia sanctions war to continue,” Russia Beyond the Headlines, June 26, 2015.

98 Pravda touts the Russian club scene in Marcelo de Vivo, “Experience the best of Russian nightlife,” Pravda, October 10, 2013.

98 Avdotja Alexandrova’s description of the aesthetic philosophy underpinning her innovative modeling agency appears in Maeve Shearlaw, “30 under 30: Moscow’s young power list,” Guardian, June 8, 2015.

98 The quote from independent publisher Sergey Kostromin comes from Sasha Pershakova, “Zine scene: How Russia’s long tradition of self-publishing is still thriving today,” Calvert Journal, October 28, 2014.

98 Andrey Urodov’s magazine Russia Without Us features in Michael Idov, “No sleep till Brooklyn: How hipster Moscow fell in love with Williamsburg,” Calvert Journal, December 31, 2013; this article is also the source of the quote “Every Moscow restaurant is a theme restaurant . . .”

98 The censoring of musicians Andrei Makarevich and Noize MC for their expressions of support for the people of Ukraine is reported in Karoun Demirjian, “Russian youths find politics as their pop icons face pressure,” Washington Post, December 2, 2014.

99 Human Rights Watch has documented the oppression of Russia’s LGBT population and their allies in considerable detail; see Cooper, op. cit.

99 Official and popular responses to Yelena Klimova’s creative work are described in Alec Luhn, “LGBT website founder fined under Russia’s gay propaganda laws,” Guardian, July 29, 2015.

99 The quotes from Dmitry Kuzmin come from his essay “On the Moscow metro and being gay,” trans. Alexei Bayer, Words without Borders, 2013.

99 The role of conservative religious authority figures in the contemporary Russian power structure, and allegations against Patriarch Kirill, are discussed in Peter Pomerantsev, “Putin’s God squad: The Orthodox Church and Russian politics,” Newsweek, September 10, 2012. Churchgoing habits in post-Soviet Russia are documented in Alan Cooperman, Phillip Connor, and Erin O’Connell, “Russians return to religion but not to church,” Pew Research Center, February 10, 2014. Quotes from Patriarch Kirill, Ivan Ostrakovsky, Georgi Mitrofanov, and the Orthodox skinhead gangsters come from the Newsweek piece.

100 Alleged affiliations between Vladimir Putin and Russian criminal gangs are described in Tom Porter, “Vladmir [sic] Putin allies named as ‘key associates of Russian gangsters’ by Spanish prosecutors,” International Business Times, June 30, 2015; Porter discusses the Russian mafia in depth in “Gangs of Russia: Ruthless mafia networks extending their influence,” International Business Times, April 9, 2015.

100 Freedom House’s assessment of corruption in Russia appears in Freedom House, “Nations in transit 2015: Russia,” Freedom House, 2015.

101 Putin’s offer of amnesty to criminals with assets abroad, and the quote from Andrey Makarov, are reported in Rob Garver, “Putin lets criminals bring money back to Russia,” Fiscal Times, June 11, 2015. Capital flight from Russia is put at $150 billion in Stephanie Saul and Louise Story, “At the Time Warner Center, an enclave of powerful Russians,” New York Times, February 11, 2015.

101 Russian authorities’ crackdown on imports of foreign food is described in Shaun Walker, “Russia swoops on gang importing £19m of banned cheese from abroad,” Guardian, August 18, 2015.

101 Economic inequality in modern Russia is discussed and the wealthiest oligarchs are listed in Maria Hagan, “The 10 richest Russians in 2014,” Richest, October 10, 2014.

101 Russia’s schools for aspiring tycoons are described in Alexandra Tyan, “Classes aimed at raising a new generation of Russian businessmen,” Moscow Times, July 27, 2015.

102 My discussion of the Russian economy relies heavily on Ian Bremmer’s excellent “These 5 facts explain Russia’s economic decline,” Time, August 14, 2015.

102 Max Katz, Isabelle Magkoeva, Roman Dobrokhotov, and other young movers and shakers are the subject of Shearlaw, op. cit.