Staunton, April 16 – Vladimir Putin says his decision to sell S-300 air defense missiles to Iran will stabilize the situation in the Middle East, but an analysis by Andrey Piontkovsky strongly suggests that it will have exactly the opposite effect and drive up the price of oil and that that outcome is why Putin […]
Staunton, April 9 – The Kavkazskaya Politika portal has launched a new series of articles that pose the question as to what “a perfect storm” might look like that would overthrow the existing political order; whether such a whirlwind is approaching; and how both regional elites and Moscow might be able to cope. The first […]
Staunton, April 15 – Many commentators have speculated that Moscow faces a potentially serious problem when those who have gone to fight in Ukraine return to Russia with their anger and their military skills, the Kremlin may face a more immediate danger: those returning are undercutting Russian propaganda about what is happening in Ukraine. Today, […]
Staunton, April 15 – In its continuing quest for ways to get Russians to stop drinking, the Russian health ministry has called for alcohol to be sold only in special stores rather than, as now, in many ordinary groceries and shops, an arrangement it says has “shown its effectiveness” in many countries but one that […]
Staunton, April 13 – As long as Russian aggression against Ukraine continues, patriotism is likely to trump concerns about domestic difficulties, according to Ella Libanova, a reflection of the fact that “the Maidan and Russian aggression has pushed Ukrainians toward more responsible attitudes toward both their country and their own fate.” In a commentary today, […]
Staunton, April 14 – The more ethnically diverse a region in Russia is and the higher the level of tolerance for representatives of other cultures, the more positive are the consequences for the development of the society and the economy there, according to Aleksandr Tatarko, a scholar at the Moscow Laboratory for Socio-Cultural Research. At […]
Staunton, April 14 – Vladimir Putin’s press secretary says that no one from the Nenets Autonomous District in Arkhangelsk Region or the Khanty-Mansiisk and Yamalo-Nenets ADs in Tyumen Region has submitted any questions for the president’s upcoming direct line program, a remark some say means the Kremlin doesn’t “view these autonomies as independent subjects.” Dmitry […]
Staunton, April 14 – Vladimir Putin believes that he can dominate the Baltic countries and destroy NATO not by a direct invasion which the Western alliance is prepared to counter but rather by threatening to use nuclear weapons against them and the Europeans, something that would lead the West not to come to their aid, […]
Staunton, April 13 – Statements by Russian security officials and actions by siloviki [law-enforcers] including declaring a new counter-terrorism operation against an area of 4,500 square kilometers with some 368,000 people show that Dagestan has become “the northern front” of the Islamic State, according to Anton Bredikhin. In a study on the Kavkazoved portal, the […]
Staunton, April 13 – Karelian activists say that the recent suggestion by Russian National Security Council chief Nikolay Patrushev that Finnish “revanchism” is behind the upsurge in popular anger and activism in Karelia is absurd and that the real cause lies in Moscow’s heavy-handed Russification policy as carried out by incumbent republic head Aleksandr Khudilaynen. […]
