LEONID BERSHIDSKY: How Putin's patriotic frenzy is turning on him
'This brand of patriotism is a double-edged sword. In reality, nothing binds Putin's kleptocratic, oil-fed regime to the thin-skinned Russian nationalist's worldview'
A Russian high school student expresses sympathy for a German soldier who died in a Soviet prisoner camp after World War II. A wave of condemnation rises on Russian social networks and spills over into parliament. At first glance, nothing to be excited about: Russia is the troll capital of the world. But it also looks an awful lot like a sobering harbinger of what Russia may be like after President Vladimir Putin. On Sunday, a high school student from the Siberian city of Novy Urengoy made a conciliatory speech to Germany's parliament. His focus? The tragic loss of German life during Hitler's invasion of Russia, a subject he researched as part of a German-sponsored project.
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