Ilya Yablokov - Fortress Russia - Conspiracy Theories in the Post-Soviet World

United Russia 59, 83, 96, 134, 136–7, 139, 142–6, 148

Utkin, Anatolii 24, 58

V

Vesti Nedeli 126, 165–6, 170, 172–5, 180, 182

W

Washington Regional Party Committee 90

white ribbon 127, 148–50

‘wrecking’ 20

Y

Yanukovich,Viktor 27, 30, 80, 162, 165–6, 171, 179, 183

Yukos 112–17, 130, 140

Z

Zor’kin, Valerii 90

Zyuganov, Gennadii 67

Go to www.politybooks.com/eula to access Polity’s ebook EULA.

Copyright © Ilya Yablokov 2018

The right of Ilya Yablokov to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2018 by Polity Press

Polity Press

65 Bridge Street

Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press

101 Station Landing

Suite 300

Medford, MA 02155, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Yablokov, Ilya, author.

Title: Fortress Russia : conspiracy theories in post-Soviet Russia / Ilya Yablokov.

Description: 1 | Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA : Polity, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017055177 (print) | LCCN 2018009984 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509522699 (Epub) | ISBN 9781509522651 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509522668 (paperback)

Subjects: LCSH: Russia (Federation)--Politics and government--1991- | Conspiracy theories--Russia (Federation) | Political culture--Russia (Federation) | Authoritarianism--Russia (Federation) | Intellectuals--Political activity--Russia (Federation) | Russia (Federation)--Foreign relations--Western countries. | Western countries--Foreign relations--Russia (Federation) | BISAC: SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General.

Classification: LCC DK510.763 (ebook) | LCC DK510.763 .Y33 2018 (print) | DDC 001.90947--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017055177

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-2269-9

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

Although in the 2010s Russian foreign policy strategy also includes the application of anti-US and anti-EU conspiracy theories (Yablokov, 2015), this would require a separate book-length study.

The analysis does not include the groups of the so-called ‘non-systemic’ opposition such as right-wing extreme nationalists because it would have required a significant widening of the research focus.

Given the fact that the phenomenon of the public intellectual attracted significant scholarly attention, for the purposes of this research I define a public intellectual as a renowned person whose activities are primarily aimed at the production and dissemination of knowledge among the public.

By ‘many friends from the Soviet Union’ Surkov most probably meant political elites of non-Russian states of the former Soviet Union whose state structures were created during the Soviet period under decrees of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.

The only example of a blatant allusion to the anti-Russian conspiracy appeared in a secret speech in 2005; these ideas did not appear in subsequent public texts.

See Chapter 4 for more details.