Of The Cost of Engineering Victory: Russia's September Elections and Impact of Team Navalny - Russian Roulette Episode 107

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Heather and Cyrus Newlin, associate fellow with the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia program, sit down with Masha Lipman, Senior Associate at the Institute of European, Eurasian and Russian Studies at George Washington University, Ben Noble, Assistant Professor in Russian Politics at the University College in London and Senior Research Fellow at the Higher School of Economics, Moscow, to discuss the outcome of the September 13 elections in Russia and what they portend for next year’s high stakes Duma election. This episode assesses the success of Alexey Navalny’s “Smart Voting” strategy and what his poisoning meant to opposition forces in Russia. Experts also discuss the “menu of manipulation” deployed by the Kremlin during the election for nearly 9,000 municipal or regional seats and 18 governors and describe different levels of political competition across Russia. Although Putin’s popularity is once again on the rise, the dramatic change of the Kremlin’s policy toward Navalny speaks to its concern about securing victory for the United Russia Party in the future. Finally, they discussed the attitudes of the youth in Russia towards politics and how they will shape Russia’s future. You can find Ben’s bio here: https://www.ben-noble.com/, and follow him on Twitter: @Ben_H_Noble Cyrus’s: https://www.csis.org/people/cyrus-newlin We encourage you to listen to Maria Lipman’s insightful conversations on the PONARS Eurasia podcast on Russia and Eurasia: https://blubrry.com/ponars/ Stay safe and healthy.