Events

17 March Putin is scheduled to be elected president of the Russian Federation for yet another six years in office, in spite of launching a devastating war against Ukraine and letting oppositional politician Alexei Navalny die in prison. Putin will be the eighth president of Russia since the fall of communism, but he was also the seventh, the sixth, the fourth and the third. Since the start of this millennium he has ruled the country in an increasingly authoritarian way. Elections in Russia have since become a farce, a kind of political theatre or circus that has little to do with democracy. The field of candidates is tightly controlled, opposition politicians sidelined, jailed or murdered and the election results are falsified. How did this come about? When was democracy lost in Russia – or was it perhaps an empty letter from the very start? What purposes do elections serve in Russia's political system if not the election of the country's leaders? On March 13 the IISH and the Moscow Times jointly organize an event to reflect on Russia's presidential elections, past, present and future. With presentations by Gijs Kessler and Mikhail Fishman, followed by a panel discussion with Samantha Berkhead, Alexander Gubsky, and Kristina Petrasova.

Get ready for the March programme of Eastsplainers! In this final edition of Eastsplainers we devote our attention to academia and the knowledge production in Central and Eastern Europe, and in Ukraine in particular.

Two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the war continues to cause extreme civilian harm and military casualties and has changed Ukrainian society to the core. Two years of war in Europe also changed perceptions of NATO and the defence policies of European countries, whilst the EU decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine. Yet, war in the Middle East and rising tensions in Asia have also directed international attention away from Ukraine. Promised weapon deliveries materialise slower than foreseen, and public support for Ukraine is not as self-evident as it was just after the invasion.

In the November edition of Eastsplainers, we explore cinematic representations of Central and Eastern Europe.

For this session, we welcome Kasia Lech, Igone de Jongh, and Anna Seidl as our guests, who will address the challenges encountered by art performers during their migration experiences.

In the October edition of Eastsplainers, we devote our attention to indigenous communities from Central and Eastern Europe, and from the Russian Federation in particular.

The June edition of Eastsplainers is dedicated to media, cultural memory and conspiracy theories.

What is the history and consequences of NATO’s post-Cold War enlargement into Central and Eastern Europe?

In this lecture, Russian writer Maxim Osipov shares his sober take on the Russian war in Ukraine, migration, and on the question: what does it mean to be a Russian writer in times of full-blown Russian imperialism?

The February edition of Eastsplainers is devoted to music and sound. UvA welcomes three internationally renowned musicians with a special interest in new or, as they themselves call it, ‘unheard’ music.

In this panel discussion, UvA welcomes journalists Alexander Gubsky (Moscow Times) and Julia Taratuta (TVRain).

For this opening of the public lecture series Eastsplainers, the UvA welcomes Ukrainian linguist Oksana Kononchuk.