Deciphering Russian Enigma

This book would not have been possible without priceless assistance from many people who influenced our intellectual journey into the blue waters of dialectic argumentation. Dialectic approach that rests in the core of this project requires to produce two different arguments that are based on similar information, but are as different in their interpretation and conclu sion as possible. Producing such outcomes is not an easy task, since it requires intellectual capacity to generate arguments that contradict author’s own views. Therefore, dialectic thinking is better exercised in a team, which encourages its members to think and argue outside the box, even if it takes them beyond their comfort zone. We are especially grateful to King’s Russia Institute and its director Professor Gulnaz Sharafutdinova, who opened the Institute for us, helped to facilitate this team-thinking with her students and encouraged us to carry on with this project. We would like to thank Joshua Baker and Yongzhi Yang for their help ful insights and contributions. Thanks are also due to Joshua Bean for his contribution to the analysis of the role of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny; Cosima Sagmeister for her contribution to the analysis of the role of energy resources in Russia’s foreign policy; Benjamin Jones for his contribution to the analysis of the role of oligarchs in Russian political system; Marc Berman for his contribution to the analysis of the potential of fossil fuels to save Russia’s economy; and Francesca Dumitru for her contribution to the analysis of Russia’s foreign interference activities. Special appreciations are going to Milàn Czerny for his extensive part in the analyses of the threat of Russia’s potential disintegration and whether