Almost 20 years after Vladimir Putin's accession to the presidency in 2000, how should the Russian political system be defined?

Russia / NIS

Russia—as a great power, an emerging market and an energy heavyweight—is intriguing. Both Russia and the post-Soviet space tend to be somewhat volatile and impenetrable.
The Russia/NIS Center, however, casts light on this region. Created in 2004, it anticipates new developments, enriches public debate and empowers decision-making on issues related to Russia and the New Independent States (NIS).
The Center regularly publishes papers on a wide array of themes, from central issues (such as the interaction between foreign policy and energy policy) to topics that are more innovative in France such as the Russian government’s attitude to internet governance, and the competitiveness of Russian universities.
The Center’s digital collection Russie.Nei.Visions (set up in 2005 and available in Russian, English and French) has become an important resource. Its analyses are widely disseminated via social networks and our researchers have a strong presence in French and international media.
Since the Center’s fouding, Ifri has hosted several top political representatives and key economic players in the Russian/NIS space. Attendees at Ifri’s seminars and conferences, include former Ukrainian presidents V. Yushchenko and V. Yanukovych, former Georgian president M. Saakashvili and Russian Minister for Economic Development A. Ulyukayev.
The Center maintains a strong presence in the field, staying close to public authorities and multinational firms in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) area. It has also developed many partnerships with think tanks and research institutes in Europe, the United States, China, Japan and the post-Soviet space.
Director of Ifri's Russia-NIS Center
...Research Fellow, Russia / NIS Center
...Research Fellow, Russia / NIS Center
...Project Officer, Russia/NIS Center
Associate Research Fellow, Russia/NIS Center
...Associate Research Fellow, Russia/NIS Center
...Associate Research Fellow, Russia/NIS Center
...Associate Fellow, Russia/NIS Center and Geopolitics of Technologies Program
...Associate Fellow, Russia/NIS Center
...The paper examines the reasons for the poor state of relations between Russia and the United Kingdom, providing a brief historical and political account of why relations have deteriorated. The various options facing the UK after Brexit, and within this framework the ambiguity of current...
This article focuses on a little-explored aspect of Russia’s intervention in Syria: the new and diverse expeditionary forces engaged on the Syrian frontlines alongside Russian regular armed forces.
In the week following Trump’s election, Ifri published a study to identify the likely changes in U.S. foreign policy. From the outset, this election appeared as a change in the U.S.’ trajectory, with consequences on the power relations and functioning of the international system.
By reinforcing hostility between Russia and the West, the Ukraine crisis has shone a spotlight on the limits and contradictions of any Russo-Japanese rapprochement. Russia has grown more dependent on China, just as Japan has become more reliant on the United States.
The article discusses Russia’s cultural diplomacy understandings in the post-Soviet era, as implemented since the mid-2000’s.
Nordic countries share the same perception, that Russia does not pose an immediate threat but that its actions nevertheless remain worrying.
This paper examines how the large Russian-speaking population outside Russia has been ideologically constructed and politically instrumentalized by the Kremlin’s leadership.
Sino-Belarusian relations are characterized by a gap between the quality and depth of the countries’ political partnership on the one hand, and the more limited economic reality of bilateral cooperation on the other.
Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, the peninsula’s demographics have changed. Thousands have left and new arrivals – Ukrainians fleeing conflict in the east of their country and Russians – have moved in.
Russia and China in Central Asia: Agents of Stability or Instability ?
EU-Russia Business Dialogue
Thomas Gomart, in the framework of the session " EU-Russia Co-operation: Protect Investments, Avoid Protectionism" with Elvira Nabiullina (Minister of Economic Development of Russia), Catherine Ashton (European Commissioner for Trade), Tony Hayward (Group CEO, BP p.l.c),...
Between Russia and Europe: The Stakes of Caucasian Crisis
Conference with the Ifri experts , Thomas Gomart, director of the Russia/NIS Center, Dominique Moïsi, special adviser, William Ramsay, director of the Energy program, Dorothée Schmid, research fellow . Chairman :
What role should the EU play in Central Asia?
Breakfast debate with Ambassadeur Pierre Morel, special representative of the European Union for Central Asia, Oksana Antonenko, Senior Fellow, IISS (International Institute for Strategic Studies) and Didier Chaudet, Research Fellow, Russia...
Russia-Occident
Breakfast-Debate with Natalya Narotchnitskaya, Duma Deputy, Researcher and author of Que reste-t-il de notre victoire? [What is Left of Our Victory?] (Paris, Editions des Syrtes, 2008), Georges Nivat, Rector of the International University of Lomonosov and...
Russia is Back: How Did Putin Do It ?
With Marshall Goldman, Davis Professor of Russian Economics, Associate Director of Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.
Chairman: Dr Thomas Gomart, Head of the Russia/NIS Center, Ifri
In March 2000, when Vladimir Putin came to power...
The Russian Presidential Elections: Political and Economic Implications
Debate with Aleksander Voloshin, Chairman of the RAO-EES Russia Directors Board and former Chief of Staff (1999-2003).
Chairman: Thomas Gomart, directeur centre Russie/Nei, Ifri
How Threatened Does Georgia Feel?
Conference-debate with Nino Burzhanadze, President of the georgian Parliament.
Chairman: Thierry de Montbrial
In May 2006, Ifri welcomed Mikheil Saakashvili, President of Georgia who came to explain his strategy about euro-atlantic integration...
France's Finance Minister cast doubt Thursday on what Russia had said was the imminent delivery of the first of two Mistral helicopter carriers, feeding uncertainty that French political analysts view as authorities' reluctance to be seen as caving...
Just 147 days after Manuel Valls’ nomination as prime minister at Hôtel Matignon, the cabinet of ministers in Paris faced a new reshuffle. Some believe it will rejuvenate the French economy, which seems mired in stagnation, but most doubt that scenario is a real possibility....
The Franco-German Study Committee (Cerfa) and the Russia/NIS Center of the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) have organized a closed seminar and interviews about the "German, French, Polish and Russian Views on Russia’s Foreign Policy".
Il y aura un avant et un après. En Ukraine, en Russie, dans toute l’Europe, ailleurs.
...April 2014 was a particularly bitter month for Russian internet users and the local internet industry. President Vladimir Putin unsurprisingly made headlines when, at the Media Forum in St. Petersburg, he publicly labeled the internet as a “CIA project” and launched an...
"It's clear that we will have to declare ourselves in favour of new sanctions in case of a military escalation," said state secretary for parliamentary relations Jean-Marie Le Guen to French media on Sunday. The junior minister’s comments came as unrest continued to spread...
Significant changes in global and regional energy supply and demand, as well as their influence on the political decision-making determine the need to restore proper expert analysis of problems and development perspectives.
...Why did Edward Snowden decide to disclose information related to U.S. secret services?
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Russian universities today face many difficult challenges. At the national level, schools must provide highly qualified personnel for the national economy, but also have a new mission: to become active actors in the diversification of the economy and the creation of...
The Russian Internet economy is demonstrating a substantial rate of growth, one that is significantly outperforming the rest of the domestic economy. According to joint research by the Higher School of Economics and the Russian Association of Electronic Communications, while...