There has been much heated discussion on the possible influence of disinformation campaigns on the 2019 European elections—including those campaigns launched by outside actors (namely the Russian Federation). This is not surprising considering previous election experiences not only in Western states, but globally. As far as we know, the 2019 European elections were fortunately not targeted by a large and coordinated disinformation campaign. Given the significant attention paid to the 2019 European elections by the public, researchers and policymakers, they present an interesting case study that might help us to learn not only how to tackle the issue of disinformation, but also how to understand and analyse it in the future.

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Meet the world's most dangerous man. Or is he? Who is the real Vladimir Putin? What does he want? And what will he do next? Despite the millions of words written on Putin's Russia, the West still fails to truly understand one of the world's most powerful politicians, whose influence spans the globe and whose networks of power reach into the very heart of our daily lives. In this essential primer, Professor Mark Galeotti uncovers the man behind the myth, addressing the key misperceptions of Putin and explaining how we can decipher his motivations and next moves. From Putin’s early life in the KGB and his real relationship with the USA to his vision for the future of Russia – and the world – Galeotti draws on new Russian sources and explosive unpublished accounts to give unparalleled insight into the man at the heart of global politics.

Euromaidan events represented a major political issue for discussion among Russian political analysts. While from a distance the perception in Russian society might seem monolithic, a closer look suggests that Euromaidan events spurred multiple reactions within the population. To demonstrate this, the article describes the different perceptions of Euromaidan in 108 texts published by Russian academics between 2013 and 2018. While analyzing the argumentation of these texts, it is possible to identify two main differences—terminology in the use of either coup or revolution to describe the happenings, and the importance of the local context for the course of events. Significant differences among texts allow us to conclude that there have been various interpretations of Euromaidan among Russian academics. This conclusion not only sheds new light on the state of public debate in the Russian Federation but can be also seen as a contribution to the debate about how so-called modern authoritarian regimes operate.

Taylor, Brian D.: The Code of Putinism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2018. 250 pages