Staunton, May 16 – – Recent shifts in public opinion in the Russian Federation concerning the country’s political system are “testimony to social-political infantilism” among Russians, their failure to understand the relationship between the political system under which they live and their own well-being, according to the editors of Nezavismaya Gazeta. In a lead article […]
Staunton, May 16 – – Reflecting tensions between the Circassians and the Russian authorities in the run up to the commemoration later this month of the 150th anniversary of the tsarist expulsion of their ancestors and of the readiness of Circassians to defend their rights and dignity, a group of Circassians blocked a highway last […]
Staunton, May 16 – Vladimir Putin routinely asserts that Russian speakers abroad, a category which includes both those of ethnic Russian background and others who use Russian in their daily lives, are not only a single nation but one that requires the continuing protection of the Russian state. But a new study shows that the […]
Staunton, May 15 – Separatist and pro-German sentiment among ethnic Russians in Kaliningrad reflects not only German revanchist efforts but the threat of “the alienation of young from the Russian world” if they are “cut off” for a lengthy period from Russia and if Moscow acts as if “’there are no problems’” with such people, […]
Staunton, May 15 – Russian commentators have talked openly about dividing up Ukraine and Moldova in order to support ethnic Russian communities there and weaken these two countries, but now one Moscow writer has taken such ideas further and called for the dividing up of Romania in support of Russian national interests in the Balkans. […]
Staunton, May 15 – Just as Transdniestria has sometimes been described as the Soviet Union frozen in time, so too, the writers of the Rufabula.com portal say, “the so-called ‘Donetsk Republic’ concentrates in itself all the abominations which remain from the post-Soviet and post-imperial heritage” and which many had thought had passed from the scene […]
Staunton, May 15 – Having annexed Ukraine’s Crimea, Moscow is now finding it difficult to bring that region into the common Russian legal space. The situation there is now one of “legal chaos, the complete adaptation of the region legally will take another two or three years, and the echoes of this will last for […]
Staunton, May 15 – A survey of Russian parliamentarians present and past shows that they are nearly unanimous in believing that the OSCE proposal about Ukraine shows that “the West is retreating” from its earlier positions on the conflict there but wants to do so in a “face-saving way.” As it often does on political […]
Staunton, May 14 – In another case of blow-back from Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, activists in Karelia are seeking international recognition of the occupation of their republic and the holding of a referendum on independence, a step they say will end the genocide the Russian authorities have inflicted on the region and restore historical justice. […]
Staunton, May 14 – More than most people suspect, memoirs, novels and films about a nation’s struggles often play a defining, even revolutionary role not only in uniting its members to achieve their common goals but also and perhaps even more important in presenting their case to the broader world in ways more forceful and […]
