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We have been getting out of the situation where we found ourselves in the early '90s, when the Soviet Union disappeared and the Russian Federation became what it is - you know, with no borders, with no budget, no money, and with huge problems starting with lack of food and so on and so forth.

Before I left Russia in 1999, I was living in a very poor factory town with my family and friends, and nothing was ever going to change.

Russia will not soon become, if it ever becomes, a second copy of the United States or England - where liberal value have deep historic roots.

There remains, however, the hope, at least in Russia, that, as sometimes happens in history, the memory of lost alternatives will one day inspire efforts to regain them.

When you allow racial disparity and institutional inequity to affect one part of the country, eventually it's coming back to get everyone.

I am convinced that the norm in Russia should become a family with three children.

Once the fabric of a just society is undone, it takes generations to weave it back together.

The great drama of Russian history has been between its state and society. Put simply, Russia has always had too much state and not enough society.

There are but a handful of times in the history of our country when there occurs a transformation so remarkable that a molt seems to take place, and an altered country begins to emerge.

Homosexuality in Russia is a crime and the punishment is seven years in prison, locked up with the other men. There is a three year waiting list.