Читать книгу The Putin Predicament - Bo Petersson - Страница 9

Analyzing contemporary developments is always difficult and doing so regarding Russia in a time frame encompassing the eventful years of 2020 and parts of 2021 has been a particularly demanding task. The period has seen dramatic events: the plebiscite on the constitutional amendments enabling Vladimir Putin to serve for another two periods beyond 2024, the regime’s assassination attempt on Aleksey Navalny and his subsequent trial and imprisonment, country-wide demonstrations protesting his plight, and not least the devastating onslaught of the covid-19 pandemic. Big things unfold and they do so fast with significant and uncertain implications for the future. One has, on an everyday basis, the feeling of being witness to history in the making. Even so, when writing a monograph and having to meet an agreed schedule of publication, one must draw the line somewhere. There must be a cut-off point beyond which no new information is processed and included. For this book, I have set this point on May 31, 2021. Thus, I have not considered events after this date.