Russian President Vladimir Putin's swift announcement of the so-called "referenda" in the second half of September was just one element of the Kremlin's two-pronged response to international and domestic developments.
Ukraine's counteroffensive, and especially the almost complete liberation of the Kharkiv Oblast, not only laid the groundwork for further liberation of Russia-occupied Ukrainian territories but also angered the right-wing extremist Russian circles.
They had long ar...
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Already a member? Login hereAnton Shekhovtsov is director of the Centre for Democratic Integrity, associated researcher at the Research Center for the History of Transformations at the University of Vienna and author of New Radical Right-Wing Parties in European Democracies and Russia and the Western Far Right.
Anton Shekhovtsov is director of the Centre for Democratic Integrity, associated researcher at the Research Center for the History of Transformations at the University of Vienna and author of New Radical Right-Wing Parties in European Democracies and Russia and the Western Far Right.