Alexey Kovalev

Jun 6, 2024 | nature.com | Niels Johannsen |Daniel Bradley |Christian Mayer |Alexey Kovalev |Josep Maria Pou |Éric Barrey | +132 more

Horses revolutionized human history with fast mobility1. However, the timeline between their domestication and their widespread integration as a means of transport remains contentious2–4. Here we assemble a collection of 475 ancient horse genomes to assess the period when these animals were first reshaped by human agency in Eurasia. We find that reproductive control of the modern domestic lineage emerged around 2200 bce, through close-kin mating and shortened generation times. Reproductive control emerged following a severe domestication bottleneck starting no earlier than approximately 2700 bce, and coincided with a sudden expansion across Eurasia that ultimately resulted in the replacement of nearly every local horse lineage. This expansion marked the rise of widespread horse-based mobility in human history, which refutes the commonly held narrative of large horse herds accompanying the massive migration of steppe peoples across Europe around 3000 bce and earlier3,5. Finally, we detect significantly shortened generation times at Botai around 3500 bce, a settlement from central Asia associated with corrals and a subsistence economy centred on horses6,7. This supports local horse husbandry before the rise of modern domestic bloodlines. Analyses of 475 ancient horse genomes show modern horses emerged around 2200 bce, coinciding with sudden expansion across Eurasia, refuting the narrative of large horse herds accompanying earlier migrations of steppe peoples across Europe.

Mar 28, 2024 | newlinesmag.com | Alexey Kovalev

The battle against Ukraine, teamed with the rhetoric of religious conservatives in the West, inspires Moscow’s intensifying persecution of gay and trans people At the start of the year, as President Vladimir Putin campaigned — if you can call it that — to extend his rule, he offered his own interpretation of why some Russians who had fled to the West in opposition to his war in Ukraine are now returning: “Shared toilets for boys and girls.” Soon, the Russian internet exploded with memes of...

Mar 28, 2024 | newlinesmag.com | Alexey Kovalev

The battle against Ukraine, teamed with the rhetoric of religious conservatives in the West, inspires Moscow’s intensifying persecution At the start of the year, as President Vladimir Putin campaigned — if you can call it that — to extend his rule, he offered his own interpretation of why some Russians who had fled to the West in opposition to his war in Ukraine are now returning: “Shared toilets for boys and girls.” Soon, the Russian internet exploded with memes of various “gender-neutral”...

Feb 27, 2024 | eurotopics.net | Abbas Gallyamov |Alexey Kovalev |Reinhard Veser

In a Telegram post picked up by Echo, journalist Alexei Kovalyov describes a full-blown anti-Navalny machine: “Putin's irrational and therefore counterproductive hatred of Navalny had become one of the less explicitly articulated foundational pillars of state ideology. With an entire propaganda department dedicated to it. ... Judging by the number of staff working there, it is a full-blown ministry with a number of sub-departments: security, espionage, ideology, etc.

Sep 10, 2023 | foreignpolicy.com | Alexey Kovalev

One of the strangest aspects of the mutiny that took an army of Wagner Group mercenaries almost to the gates of Moscow in June was the deafening silence of the vast majority of Russians. Even Russian media propagandists and other establishment figures—normally not shy in their demonstrative support for President Vladimir Putin—were mostly invisible for the day and a half that the mutiny was underway.