Today, it seems like Russia often catches the world's eye for some reason. The latest story is that Russian Vladimir Putin tightened the government's grip on the country a little more. Without much notice, Putin had the power to cripple a news agency that was more independent than I guess he liked. But on a larger scale, Ukraine has been split in half. Masses upon masses of Ukrainian citizens have been protesting their President Victor Yanukovich and his decision to reject discussions of joining the European Union. This anger has been bubbling since the Orange Revolution in 2004, where Ukrainians protested the rigged presidential election, which Yanukovich won. Yanukovich has leaned toward sticking with the powerful and influential Russia. Although this article (the Ukraine link) is more opinionated, I think it was interesting how it theorized that "Russia, on the other hand, has used the dire need of Ukraine for immediate cash injections to promote its own integrationist project, the Eurasian Union."
Because of all of these governmental changes, travel is not necessarily impacted negatively. With a population of 143 million and the actual country being huge, there should still be doubts to shooting down all ideas of traveling to Russia because of politics. But, travelers are advised to go to Russia with caution and only visit certain areas.
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