In the spring of 1989, elections were held: “alternative elections.” This redundant phrase, which today provokes smirks, back then had everyone in a state of euphoria. We had a choice!

"A classical authoritarian power... does not pay that much attention to what the population thinks, and when it does, this attention is usually limited to a bunch of platitudes loudly proclaimed as the official ideology..."

A poem by Maxim Amelin, translated by Derek Mong and Anne O. Fisher.

This week got a little shifty, with trash sent in packages, a possible tax evasion scheme, and a game retelling a contentious moment in recent Russian history.

We look back and some of our, and your, favorite stories from The Weekly Russia File during 2018.

This week, the New York Times released a well-researched, well-produced series of three videos on Russian and Soviet disinformation activities against the US and the rest of the world. Every Russophile needs to watch them.

Quotes, quips and asides spoken by those in the know (and not).

A longtime businessman with deep ties to Russia considers the passing of a true friend, in the context of deteriorating US-Russian relatins.

Russian law enforcement had a busy week, from taking on the ~high~ seas to putting rich jerks in their place.

What’s more surprising, fake feminists or fish with bad teeth?

To selfie or not to selfie? That is the question, or at least one of the questions, addressed this week.

The weather in Russia this week was chilly with a hint of thaw, at least regarding science and political relations.