Staunton, June 22 – In a move that reflects the growing influence of Siberian regionalists and Moscow’s increasing concern about that trend as well as the broader crackdown against any opposition that Vladimir Putin has been conducting, Russian officials have launched what appears to be the start of a broad campaign against members of this […]
Staunton, June 22 – The Russian government under Vladimir Putin has not been shy about making direct and very public attacks on the rights of non-Russians inside the Russian Federation; but in this area as in so many others, Moscow has also used what might be called “covert” means that attract less critical attention but […]
Staunton, June 22 – With the occupation of Crimea and with the encouragement of the Kremlin, many Russians believe they are on their way to becoming a super power once again, but the most thoughtful among them recognize that Russia lacks two if not three of the elements a super power must have. For a […]
Staunton, June 22 Russia has been able to defend and then expand its empire only when it has “recruited new and good people,” according to Vitaly Averyanov, the director of the Institute of Dynamic Conservatism and a leader of the influential Izborsky Club headed by Aleksandr Prokhanov. Averyanov told a St. Petersburg meeting of that […]
Staunton, June 22 – Two-thirds of the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada have voted for a declaration calling on the UN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and the European Parliament to focus on Moscow’s violation of the rights of ethnic Ukrainians living in the Russian Federation and stating that bilateral ties will depend on […]
Staunton, June 21 More than 80 percent of the five-story apartment buildings in Moscow constructed under Nikita Khrushchev have now been torn down, and the remaining ones are scheduled to be. But the program, begun in 1999, is slowing because private firms are no longer willing to take the risks involved, and the government is […]
Staunton, June 21 Despite increasing use of the Internet, Moscow television has “a practically unlimited monopoly on the formation of the social-political agenda” for Russians, according to a Novaya Gazeta commentary on the findings of the latest investigation of media use by the independent Levada Center. Many commentators have suggested or perhaps more accurately expressed […]
Staunton, June 21 Mustafa Cemilev, the long-time leader of the Crimean Tatars, said in an interview June 20 that he has no intention of moving his family out of Crimea despite the fact that the Russians have blocked his return because he is certain that “the occupiers will not remain in Crimea for long”. Cemilev, […]
Staunton, June 21 – If any more evidence were needed to prove that Vladimir Putin is far more reckless and aggressive than his predecessors at the end of Soviet times, it has been provided by Dmitry Yazov, who served as Soviet defense minister from May 1987 until being dismissed for his participation in the August […]
Staunton, June 18 – The strategy and tactics Vladimir Putin has been employing in Ukraine represent an amazingly precise implementation of ideas outlined and published by General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian General Staff more than a year ago, another indication that the Kremlin leader has not been acting extemporaneously in response to […]
