The ideological tightening of the Russian regime after Feb 24, 2022, is often presented as a turning point in Russia's politics. Yet, from another perspective, it is part of a longer ideological development that has shaped Putin's regime since its creation. How can we qualify the new ideological production in wartime Russia? Should we apply to it the adjective of fascist or dictatorial? What does it tell us about changes in regime politics? What are the historical patterns that we see repeating, and what are the new turns taken in the wartime context?

Marlene Laruelle, Ph.D., is Research Professor of International Affairs and Political Sciences at the Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University, and director of the Illiberalism Studies Program. She is the former director of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) and of the Central Asia Program. Dr. Laruelle received her Ph.D. in history at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Cultures (INALCO) and her post-doctoral degree in political science at Sciences-Po in Paris. She has widely published on Russia’s ideologies and nationalism, on Russia’s foreign policy and soft power strategies.