Why did Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have to die?
Rochester experts discuss Putin’s intense fear of critics, the history of Russian and Soviet opposition movements, and what’s next for Russia’s dissidents.
Fact-checking Putin’s claims that Ukraine and Russia are ‘one people’
Rochester historian Matthew Lenoe explains how Ukraine’s history is intertwined with Russia’s—but also with that of many other nations, empires, ethnicities, and religions.
Time to acknowledge Soviet Union’s ‘immense losses’ in World War II
Marking the December anniversary of the 1941 Soviet offensive at the Battle of Moscow, associate professor of history Matthew Lenoe writes in the Washington Post about Russian sacrifice and loss during World War II.
Authoritarian rhetoric about left-wing violence ‘distorted,’ ‘dangerous’
In a Washington Post essay, associate professor of history Matthew Lenoe draws parallels between recent unfounded warnings from the Trump administration about left-wing violence and the fascist movements of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.
Russia’s October Revolution not what Marx had in mind
100 years later, historian Matt Lenoe argues that the Russian Revolution was not a workers’ revolt, but a movement against predatory imperialism.