One of our courses “Soviet Origins of Contemporary Russia” is offered by Aleksei Gilev, a Gagarin Center Fellow. Here are his few recent publications that may give you a better idea about the course and its author. His longread on whether Russia is a totalitarian regime (in collaboration with Margarita Zavadsakaya). Meduza cards  “I live in an authoritarian country, and no matter how much people protest, nothing changes. Is everything meaningless? Scientifically, no.“, and also link to two Meduza podcasts where Aleksei participated: 1) “Who represents the “party of war” in the Russian elite? And how does it affect the conflict with Ukraine?”  2)”How did the war affect Putin’s entourage? Did the war turn these people against the autocrat or, on the contrary, rallied around him? Are they capable of conspiracy?“