Ilia Budraitskis, a visiting scholar with the Program in Critical Theory at UC Berkeley, kicked off the Russian and Eastern European & Eurasian Studies Program (REEES) speaker line-up for the 2023-2024 academic year. Speaking to a room filled with faculty, students and community members, Ilia Budraitskis spoke on the ideological transformation of Russia in the 18 months since the invasion of Ukraine. Budraitskis is a long-time reporter and writer on Russian politics who left Russia soon after the Russian invasion. He has become an expert on the decline of civil liberties and democratic institutions in Russia
He shared the perspective on how the invasion is part of a larger ideological push by Russian President Vladmir Putin’s drive to consolidate power. His means are to pit the nation against the rest of the world. Budraitskis answered questions from the audience on why the current consolidation by Putin is not a push to reestablish the Soviet order or ideology in Russia. Budraitskis also detailed how the current drive by Putin to take control of the entire Russian government, civil society, religion and news media has only been furthered by the Ukrainian invasion.