Staunton, December 14 – A country or group of countries which declares itself to be a federation but does not give that term real content is at risk of falling apart, while one that does not only will retain all its parts but become an attractive model for people around the world, according to Vadim […]
Staunton, December 14 – Vyacheslav Nikonov, chairman of the Russian Duma education committee and head of the Russian World Foundation, told a Muslim forum in the Russian capital that “Moscow is not only the largest Islamic city in Russia but also the city with the largest Muslim population in Europe.” Speaking to the 10th International […]
Staunton, December 17 — Karelian nationalists who call for the independence of their republic and raise “unnecessary and harmful questions about additional state languages” there are being “seriously underestimated” as a threat to Petrozavodsk and Moscow, according to Sergey Pirozhnikov, a deputy in the republic legislative assembly. The reason that this small group is so […]
Staunton, December 17 – For much of the past year, many commentators have focused on the flood of refugees from southeastern Ukraine into the Russian Federation, but now, given economic and political instability in Russia, Ukraine must be prepared for a flood of refugees from the east, according to Sergey Datsyuk. Speaking at a Kyiv […]
Staunton, December 16 – Mikhail Budaragin, the editor of the pro-Kremlin United Russia Party’s official website, says that Moscow’s relations with the West “will not last forever” and that Moscow can look forward to a return to normal as long as it remains committed to capitalism and does shift to another “economic model.” Budaragin’s comment […]
Staunton, December 17 – Every political joke is a small revolution, Soviet dissidents often said, and consequently, the anecdotes Russians tell one another about the situations they find themselves in may provide a better indication of where they are at and what they expect than any poll. Today, Yevgeny Babushkin posts six such anecdotes about […]
Staunton, December 15 – Many in the West assume that Russians who turn to the Internet instead of government-controlled media will become more liberal as a result, but in fact, a new study finds, Internet use by Russians has an impact much like that in other countries: by their choice of sites, surfers seek and […]
Staunton, December 15 – Russia’s economic problems combined with Moscow’s insistence on extracting just as much money from the regions as it did before is exacerbating relations between the center and the republics and prompting the latter to reconsider their attitude toward Russia as a whole, according to a Tatar analyst. A Kazan analyst who […]
Staunton, December 15 – Many have seen the statements of the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church and the official hierarchies of that country’s Muslim community as an indication that they are moving toward greater mutual understanding and cooperation, according to Nezavisimaya Gazeta. But that is to misread the situation, the paper suggests in a […]
Staunton, December 15 – Ramzan Kadyrov’s ouster as head of Chechnya has been rumored so often that it has become something “expected” by some, but if he goes, that is likely to entail “unpredictable consequences” for Chechnya, the North Caucasus and Moscow, according to Temur Kozayev. Many had expected Kadyrov to be ousted last spring, […]
