In the Putin era, Russia's leadership has dealt with independent political movements both by force but also by co-opting them. When independent nationalist movements could not be put down by conventional means in the middle of the last decade, the Kremlin made a fateful decision - to lead them. Today, the consequences are clear. 

Charles Clover (@charles_clover) writes from Beijing for theFinancial Times. He was formerly (2008-2013) the FT's Moscow bureau chief. He has been with the FT since 1997, working in variety of roles for the newspaper, based  in Kiev, Baghdad, Kabul as well as London. In 2011 he won the British Press Awards Foreign Reporter of the Year award. His new book is Black Wind, White Snow: The Rise of Russia's New Nationalism.

Edward Lucas (@edwardlucas) is a senior editor at the Economist. He has been covering Eastern Europe since 1986, with postings in Berlin, Moscow, Prague, Vienna, and the Baltic states. He is a regular contributor to the BBC’s Today and Newsnight programmes, and to NPR, CNN and SkyNews. He is the author of The New Cold War which is regularly updated and has been published in more than fifteen languages. 

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