Milano’s Associate Dean, Nina Khrushcheva, authored a piece published in Reuters, injecting realism into overly optimistic projections by some that recent protests might eventually sweep Putin out of office. The protests were sparked by the assassination last week of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. In an interview on MSNBC, Nina describes Putin’s political opposition and the significance of both the murder of one of his critics and the protests that followed.
In the article, Nina highlights the historic tendencies of the Russian population to accept their leaders’ actions and policies regardless of “how harsh the regime, Russians have traditionally viewed their leaders as virtually infallible”. The long held tradition of Russian complacency with regard to their harsh and overbearing rulers will continue to outweigh any opposition movements or protests that spring up in response to controversial actions carried out by Putin. Nina’s expertise on Russia’s foreign policy and Russian politics is regularly sought by media outlets covering these topics.
