Staunton, September 26 – Mikhail Degtyarev, a LDPR Duma deputy, has asked the Russian foreign ministry to clarify the status of land that had belonged to Russia in what is now the US state of California because he believes that Washington did not pay for it as required by a nineteenth century bilateral agreement. As […]
Staunton, September 25 – According to experts surveyed by Novyye Izvestiya concerning changing budgetary priorities of the Russian government, “2015 promises to be the last year of relative stability” in Russia before belt-tightening and stagnation of the kind that recalls the period which led to “the collapse of the Soviet empire.” In the September 25 […]
Staunton, September 25 – Just as the Soviet government sought to evade its responsibility for the murder of Polish officers during World War II by blaming the Germans, so too the Russian government of Vladimir Putin is seeking to evade responsibility for its killings in Ukraine by blaming Ukrainian forces for them, according to Vitaly […]
Staunton, September 26 – Four days after the Russian occupation authorities closed down the Gasprinsky Library in Simferopol as part of their effort to rein in the Crimean Tatars, later reopening it presumably under tighter control, the same officials allowed a meeting to take place in Bakchisarai in honor of the centenary of the death […]
Staunton, September 26 – The pro-Moscow militants in Ukraine’s Donbas backed by Russian forces represent a threat not only to the territorial integrity of Ukraine but to the future of Russia because the leaders of “Novorossiya” combine nationalism and socialism in a way that recalls some of the greatest evils of the 20th century. In […]
Staunton, September 25 – At a time when Vladimir Putin has made what was earlier unthinkable into reality, it would be a major mistake to ignore a recent statement by Vladimir Zhirinovsky about how Ukraine will be reduced in size or even eliminated altogether in the coming years, according to Andrey Illarionov. In an article […]
Staunton, September 25 – Western leaders may still refer to Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka as “the last dictator in Europe,” but in the wake of the events in Ukraine, they will not do anything to challenge him that might lead to instability in Belarus, according to a Mensk analyst just back from a visit to […]
Staunton, September 25 – Many in Russia and the West have been struck or even confused by the tendency of Russian scholars, commentators, and activists especially since the end of the Soviet period to use the term “ethnos” to refer to a variety of communities based on primordial ties. Some have seen this as an […]
Staunton, September 24 – Moscow’s decision to conduct a military exercise on Wrangel Island (map) and its dispatch there of soldiers from the Eastern Military District threatens the delicate ecosystem of that island and violates Russian law and Russian promises to protect that UNESCO-listed world wildlife site, according to Greenpeace Russia. In a statement released […]
Staunton, September 24 – The economic problems of the Russian Federation, some of which have been exacerbated by the sanctions and counter-sanctions regime, are now spreading to some Central Asian countries because of a fall-off in transfer payments home by labor migrants in Russia and by Moscow’s inability to pay for investment in that region. […]
