Russian Politics Today Stability and Fragility

From Gorbachev through Yeltsin to Putin, Russia’s media landscape has undergone profound change since the late 1980s. The centralized Soviet system of propaganda collapsed, to be replaced by freewheeling broadcast media that were not fully independent of the oligarchs who owned or controlled them. Vladimir Putin brought these media under his control after assuming the presidency in 2000, but for some time he was content to let information circulate in other arenas. That changed with his return to the presidency in 2012. Since then, and especially since widespread protests in 2011 and 2012, state control of the media has been consolidated and extended in various directions, most especially online. Under Putin, new media have emerged, but they too have been subjected to various sanctions and restrictions. The Russian state has for now perfected its control of the media, with uncertain consequences for the stability of Putin’s rule.