The Closing of the Russian Mind with Andrei Kolesnikov
13. april 2026 17.00 - 19.00
Andrei Kolesnikov has followed the political evolution of the Russian state closely from its inception. In the dying months of the Soviet Union, the lawyer-by-training made his transition to the world of journalism and went on to cover Yeltsin and subsequently Putin’s governments ever since. Few are as qualified to speak on the changes to the workings and not least the objectives of Russia’s regime over the last 35 years.
In his most recent book The Closing of the Russian Mind: How Putin’s Ideology Took the Nation Hostage, Kolesnikov makes the case that a new ideological framework has developed around President Putin, replacing the self-serving oligarchy of the past. In this new narrative, Russia is reconnected to its imperial and orthodox past and envisioned in a civilizational struggle against a decadent West. This is made to justify totalitarianism and war in the name of a mighty and supposedly spiritually pure nation.
It will be the distinct pleasure of the Danish Foreign Policy Society to host Andrei Kolesnikov in conversation with director Charlotte Flindt Pedersen and Carsten Søndergaard, former Danish Ambassador to Russia.
The discussion will use Kolesnikov’s book and his findings on the Kremlin’s neo-reactionary ideology as a basis for a broader inquiry into Putin’s vision for his country, the strategy he is employing to achieve it, what the future might look like and whether there is still hope for Russian democracy.
In his most recent book The Closing of the Russian Mind: How Putin’s Ideology Took the Nation Hostage, Kolesnikov makes the case that a new ideological framework has developed around President Putin, replacing the self-serving oligarchy of the past. In this new narrative, Russia is reconnected to its imperial and orthodox past and envisioned in a civilizational struggle against a decadent West. This is made to justify totalitarianism and war in the name of a mighty and supposedly spiritually pure nation.
It will be the distinct pleasure of the Danish Foreign Policy Society to host Andrei Kolesnikov in conversation with director Charlotte Flindt Pedersen and Carsten Søndergaard, former Danish Ambassador to Russia.
The discussion will use Kolesnikov’s book and his findings on the Kremlin’s neo-reactionary ideology as a basis for a broader inquiry into Putin’s vision for his country, the strategy he is employing to achieve it, what the future might look like and whether there is still hope for Russian democracy.
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Arrangør:
The Danish Foreign Policy Society
Tidspunkt
13. april 2026
17.00 - 19.00