Russian Vocab

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Vladimir Putin

a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012.

Alexei Nalvalny

a Russian lawyer, opposition leader, anti-corruption activist and political prisoner. He founded the Anti-Corruption Foundation in 2011. He was recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience and was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights.

Mikhail Grobachev

a Soviet and Russian politician who was the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1985, and additionally as head of state from 1988

Mikhail Mushustin

a Russian politician and economist serving as the prime minister of Russia since 2020. He previously served as the director of the Federal Taxation Service from 2010 to 2020.

Dimitri Medvedev

a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Minister of Russia between 2012 and 2020.

Boris Yeltsin

a Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1961 to 1990. He later stood as a political independent, during which time he was viewed as being ideologically aligned with liberalism

Mikhail Khodorkovsky

an exiled Russian businessman, oligarch, and opposition activist, now residing in London

Leonid Brezhnev

a Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until his death in 1982. He also held office as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1960 to 1964 and later from 1977 to 1982

Nikita Khrushchev

the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964.

Joseph Stalin

a Soviet revolutionary and politician who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held office as General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1922 to 1952 and as premier from 1941 until his death

Vladimir Lenin

a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until his death in 1924, and of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death.

Boris Berozovsky

a Russian business oligarch, government official, engineer and mathematician and a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He had the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation.

United Russia

the ruling political party of Russia. As the largest party in the Russian Federation, it holds 325 of the 450 seats in the State Duma as of 2022, having constituted the majority in the chamber since 2007

communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF)

communist political party in Russia that officially adheres to Marxist–Leninist philosophy. It is the second-largest political party in Russia after United Russia. The youth organisation of the party is the Leninist Young Communist League

Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR)

a Russian nationalist, ultra-right political party founded in 1989, known for its populist, pro-empire rhetoric under long-time leader Vladimir Zhirinovskii, advocating for Russian dominance, anti-immigration, and protectionism, despite its "liberal" name being misleading, often acting as a loyal opposition in Russia's managed democracy.

A Just Russia

a social conservative, democratic socialist, and social-democratic political party in Russia. The party is considered to be part of the "systemic opposition" and is generally sympathetic to the agenda of incumbent president Vladimir Putin, including his foreign policy

Yobloko

 a social-liberal political party in Russia. The party consequently participated in the elections of deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of all eight convocations

Russia of the Future

a banned opposition political party in Russia founded on 15 December 2012 by Leonid Volkov and later refounded on 19 May 2018 by Alexei Navalny

Kulaks

former peasants in the Russian Empire who became landowners and credit-loaners after the abolition of serfdom in 1861

Nashi

political youth movement in Russia, which declared itself to be a democratic, anti-fascist, anti-"oligarchic-capitalist" movement

KGB

(Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti) was the Soviet Union's infamous intelligence and security agency from 1954 to 1991, acting as the Communist Party's "sword and shield"

FSB

Russia's primary domestic intelligence and security agency, a direct successor to the Soviet KGB, handling counterintelligence, counterterrorism, border security, and domestic surveillance.

Cheka

the first Soviet secret police, formed in December 1917 by Vladimir Lenin under Felix Dzerzhinsky to crush opposition and counter-revolutionaries during the Russian Revolution and Civil War, becoming infamous for the "Red Terror".

Apparatchik

a member of the bureaucratic machine (apparat) of a Communist party, especially the Soviet one, known as a full-time, often blindly loyal official executing party directives

Asymmetric Federalism

where different federal subjects (like Republics, Oblasts, Krais) have unequal powers, notably giving ethnic Republics unique rights (own constitutions, languages) to manage diversity

Caucasus Region

heavily involves Russia through its North Caucasus area, a collection of diverse republics (Chechnya, Dagestan, etc.) within the Russian Federation known for unique cultures, strategic importance, and a history of conflict with Russian expansion.

Central Committee

refers to the top governing body of the Communist Party (CPSU) between Party Congresses, acting as the supreme decision-maker, implementing policy, and overseeing government, but today it primarily refers to the leadership of the modern Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF)

Chechnya

a de facto semi-independent autonomous republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea.

Decrees

a powerful legal act by the President, functioning like an executive order to implement laws or set policy, but it can't override the Constitution or higher laws, though recent constitutional changes have elevated its status

De-Stalinization

the post-1953 political process, led by Nikita Khrushchev, to dismantle Joseph Stalin's cult of personality, denounce his crimes (purges, terror), release political prisoners (Gulag), and ease state control, creating a "Thaw" with more freedoms and consumer focus

Duma

the lower house of Russia's parliament, the It's a 450-member legislative body responsible for making federal laws, approving the Prime Minister, controlling the government, and overseeing key officials like the Central Bank head

Federation Council

he upper house of Russia's Federal Assembly (parliament), acting as the legislative body to represent Russia's federal subjects, with members appointed from each region's executive and legislative branches, handling key decisions like approving laws, calling presidential elections, and authorizing military use

Five Year Plans

centralized economic programs in the Soviet Union (starting 1928) under Joseph Stalin to rapidly transform the agrarian nation into an industrial superpower by setting ambitious goals for heavy industry (coal, steel, electricity) and forced agricultural collectivization, dramatically reshaping society and the economy, often at immense human cost.

General Secretary

de facto top leader, controlling the ruling party and, by extension, the entire Soviet state, even if the official Head of State/Government (Premier/President) was a different person

Glasnost

a Soviet policy introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s, allowing freer discussion of political and social issues, reducing state censorship, and increasing government transparency to revitalize the USSR, but ultimately contributing to its collapse by empowering public criticism and nationalist movements.

Insider Privatization

the 1990s post-Soviet process where state-owned enterprises were privatized, granting preferential ownership rights (shares) to their existing managers and workers (insiders)

Kremlin

a historic, fortified complex in the heart of Moscow, Russia, serving as the official residence of the President and the seat of the Russian government, symbolizing Russian power with its red walls, palaces, cathedrals, and towers, and also housing major museums like the Armoury Chamber

Nomenklatura

(in the former Soviet Union) a list of influential posts in government and industry to be filled by Communist Party appointees.

Parties of Power

the dominant "party of power" is United Russia, strongly backing President Putin,, with other significant parties including the Communist Party (CPRF), the nationalist LDPR, and the social democratic A Just Russia.

Perestroika

the political and economic restructuring policies initiated by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the mid-1980s

Politburo

was the supreme policy-making body of the Communist Party (CPSU), essentially the real government, making all major political, economic, and social decisions from 1917 until the USSR's collapse in 1991.

Proletariat

the Marxist term for the industrial working class who owned no capital, selling their labor for wages, and were seen as the revolutionary force against the capitalist bourgeoisie

Semibankirchina

a powerful group of seven influential Russian oligarchs in the mid-to-late 1990s who controlled vast financial and media assets, backed Boris Yeltsin's 1996 re-election, and wielded significant influence over the Kremlin, effectively forming a "rule of seven bankers" that shaped Russia's economy and politics during the transition from communism.

Shock Therapy

the rapid, radical economic transition from a communist command economy to a market-based system in the early 1990s under President Boris Yeltsin

Siloviki

the influential group of current or former military, intelligence (like the FSB/KGB), and law enforcement officials who hold key positions in Russian politics, business, and security, forming the backbone of Vladimir Putin's regime and favoring a strong, centralized state

State Corporatism

President Putin's system where the state, through powerful, non-profit State Corporations (Goskorporatsii), dominates key economic sectors (energy, defense, etc.), bringing vital economic groups into a controlled collaboration with the state rather than true private-public partnership

Statism

the deep-seated belief in and practice of a strong, centralized state as essential for national survival, order, and greatness, emphasizing state power over individual liberties, historically driven by geographic vulnerability and a desire to restore past influence, manifesting as economic nationalism and prioritizing state interests (like patriotic statism under Putin) over purely free markets or Western liberalism.

Slavophile vs. Westerner

Slavophiles championed Russia's unique Slavic/Orthodox identity, rejecting Western models for traditional values (Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Communalism), while Westernizers believed Russia must adopt Western technology, liberalism, and institutions (democracy, legal systems) to modernize, seeing Russia as culturally backward.

Super-Districts

the Federal Districts, an administrative layer created by Putin in 2000 to centralize power, grouping several regional federal subjects (like oblasts, krais, republics) under a presidential envoy to ensure federal law compliance and control regional governors

Oligarch

an extremely wealthy business tycoon who gained massive fortunes by acquiring state assets during post-Soviet privatization in the 1990s, often through corrupt deals, and maintains significant political influence, closely tied to the Kremlin and President Putin

Vanguard of the Revolution

the Leninist concept of a highly disciplined and politically conscious communist party, specifically the Bolshevik Party, whose purpose was to lead the working class (proletariat) in overthrowing the capitalist system and establishing a socialist state.