Russian Political Stability: Assessing Putin’s Hold on Power

As we pass the one-year anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine, numerous factors such as the Russian military’s poor performance, Putin’s botched mobilization, mounting casualties, economic challenges resulting from sanctions and export controls, and increasingly visible elite fissures are raising questions about the political stability of the Russian regime.

This special edition of Brussels Sprouts includes a recording of a live CNAS event from Thursday, March 2nd. We dive into all of this and more during a conversation with a group of the leading scholars on Putin and authoritarianism. This conversation builds on our recently released Russian stability tracker, which you can find on the CNAS website.

Dr. Timothy Frye is the Marshall D. Shulman Professor of Post-Soviet Policy at Columbia University, where he researches comparative politics and the political economy focusing on the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Dr. Marlene Laruelle is the Director for the Institute of European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies and the Illiberalism Studies Program at The George Washington University. She studies the rise of populist and illiberal movements in post-Soviet Eurasia, Europe, and the United States.

Dr. Brian Taylor is the Director of the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs as well as a professor of political science at Syracuse University. His research focuses on the development of the Russian state, with particular interest in its use of state coercive organizations.

Dr. Daniel Treisman is a professor of political science at UCLA as well as a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He studies Russian politics and economics, focusing on democratization, political decentralization, and corruption.