Staunton, May 12 – A government’s priorities and plans are most clearly shown in its budget, and over the last four years, the budgets Vladimir Putin has proposed and imposed are those of a leader preparing for war rather than someone concerned about the needs of the Russian people, according to Boris Nemtsov. In a […]
Staunton, May 12 – The fate of the territorial integrity of Moldova is in Chisinau’s hands, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin says. If Moldova continues to pursue an EU association agreement and thus moves toward NATO membership, “the Transdniestria wagon could be unhitched from the Chisinau wagon.” Chisinau officials have been warned on this […]
Staunton, May 11 – Vladimir Putin’s demands for the federalization of Ukraine not only are hypocritical because of the absence of federalism in Russia but dangerous for both countries because it would convert the east of Ukraine into “a Palestine,” according to Ekho Moskvy commentator Yuliya Latynina. Such a project, she said on her “Access […]
Staunton, May 11 – Vladimir Putin faces a terrible choice in Ukraine, Geydar Dzhemal says. If he sends in Russian forces, he will revive NATO and isolate Moscow internationally as the West and its allies in Russia would like, but if he doesn’t, he will stand accused by nationalists of betraying Russians abroad. “The only […]
Staunton, May 11 – “The criminal actions of Putin’s spetsnaz forces in Ukraine” are modelled on the actions of Stalin’s special force in Ukraine during World War II,” says Gennady Poberezhny in a review of a 2012 Russian study of “Stalin’s Commandos” and their operations against Ukrainian partisan forces. Yesterday, Andrey Illarionov posted a review […]
Staunton, May 10 – Speaking in Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea, President Vladimir Putin called on all countries “to respect the right of Russians to self-determination,” but he failed to note, Boris Vishnevsky points out, that there is no such right for peoples on the territory of the Russian Federation. In an Ekho Moskvy blog post […]
Staunton, May 10 – The Pew Research Center this week released the results of a poll it conducted in the Russian Federation concerning Russian attitudes toward the independence of any region or republic in that country. It found that 48 percent said they would support such actions if they reflected the popular will and that […]
Yesterday armed Russian-backed separatists oversaw a referendum vote on the autonomy of the regions of eastern Ukraine. Despite the fact that the vote was deeply flawed and did not meet any international standards, the official results say that 96% of voters stood for autonomy. Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. For an overview and analysis […]
Polling stations have opened in south-eastern Ukraine for the referendum on declaring independence for the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. The vote has been declared illegal by the Ukrainian, European and US leaders. Despite a public statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin that the vote should be delayed, separatists have gone ahead and begun the process. […]
Staunton, May 9 – Moscow commentators have been denouncing the West for launching “a new cold war” against Russia, and a large share of Western commentators have assumed that this is because the Russian leadership doesn’t want one. In fact, Moscow is desperate to have that the new-old paradigm be restored at least at the […]
