Window on Eurasia

Staunton, August 14 – Since his rise to power, many of Vladimir Putin’s actions have been constant, but over the last two years, he has carried out a revolution from above, expelling from the political center the moderate liberals and moderate conservatives who agreed on the need for reform and replaced them with figures earlier […]

Staunton, August 14 – Hot weather in the Caucasus has reduced the flows of river water and increased demands for its use, hereby triggering a dispute between Azerbaijanis and Dagestanis. This local conflict appears set to involve Moscow and Baku because it is rapidly taking on an ethnic dimension. For most of its route, the […]

Staunton, August 14 – Ever more Russians are relying on private plots at their dachas or on farms for food as the sanctions regime tightens, a development that could serve as an indication that social clashes might occur. At the same time, ever more of them are pushing for setting up private and religious cemeteries […]

Staunton, August 14 – Vladimir Putin’s current visit to occupied Crimea, his second, may not lead to the dramatic declaration of his plans that many expect, a Ukrainian political scientist says. Instead, the Kremlin leader may be using it to present himself as “a peacemaker” and to force the international community to recognize Moscow’s annexation […]

Staunton, August 13 – A leader’s response to a crisis early in his time in office is an instructive if sometimes overlooked indication of he will continue to behave. Such it was with Vladimir Putin and the loss of the Kursk submarine with all hands 14 years ago this week: All the qualities he has […]

Staunton, August 13 – The Soviet government benefited from the fact that many African, Asian and Latin American leaders received educations in the USSR, and the Putin regime hopes to build on that past not only by attracting more students from these countries but by opening Russian-run universities and cultural centers in these countries. Like […]

Staunton, August 13 – Vladimir Putin’s Sochi meeting with the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan did not bring about any breakthrough toward a resolution of the Karabakh conflict between the two south Caucasus countries, but it nonetheless had an important consequence: it is part of a Moscow effort to downgrade or even eliminate the Minsk […]

Staunton, August 13 – Despite Moscow’s apparently successful efforts to block a march in Novosibirsk this Sunday, the Russian authorities have failed to prevent the ideas behind it from spreading not only to other Siberian cities like Yekaterinburg but also and more seriously to Kaliningrad and Kuban. Feliks Rivkin, an activist in Yekaterinburg, says that […]

Staunton, August 13 – In yet another throwback to Soviet days designed to distract attention from what it is doing to other groups, Moscow has announced that it has taken under its protection two small nations in occupied Crimea, the 850 Karaims and 350 Krymchaks, even as it continues its campaign against ethnic Ukrainians and […]

Staunton, August 11 – Many observers are focusing on the impact Putin’s ban on imports from countries which have imposed sanctions on Russia will have on Russian consumers, but Vladislav Inozemtsev says that it will have more serious consequences for Russian entrepreneurs and their relationship with the Kremlin. Because the sanctions will hit the entrepreneurs’ […]