Throughout the course, students will study topics that attract the attention of contemporary Russian media and are in the center of Russian public and intellectual discourse: the socio-political results of 2016 and forecasts for 2017 in Russia and in the world; Russian-American bilateral relations; migration and demography; the problem of censorship in Russian socio-cultural space, the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Russian society, the current state of the Russian language and its function in the state and society.

Students will get acquainted with the vocabulary and grammatical structures typical for the relevant texts, and develop the skills of using them in oral and written communication.

Before the beginning of each topic there will be given assignments for independent homework — usually including links to media content to be read and/or watched and listened to (all the difficult things are to be later discussed and explained in the classroom).

For each lesson, students should be ready to report on an event in Russia or Russia related.

Periodically — at the discretion of the professor and without notice — tests* will be given.