Staunton, May 14 – Polls show that many Russians now view their country as once again a great power as a result of the Crimean Anschluss, but that immediate emotional response while very real is neither accurate – this action alone is insufficient for such a status – nor likely to be any longer lasting […]
Staunton, May 13 – Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine which to so many appears only as an act of aggression is in back “profoundly defensive,” an effort to stop the disintegration of the Russian empire by injecting “patriotic morphine” into the veins of Russians, according to Vladimir Pastukhov. But like the use of any drug […]
Staunton, May 13 – Even as Moscow continues to celebrate the annexation of Crimea and some Russians push for the absorption of even more Ukrainian territory, ever more commentators are pointing to the very real costs that Putin’s Crimean adventure are imposing on Russians as a people. Ukrainian commentator Oleg Leusenko provides a useful checklist […]
Staunton, May 13 – Vladimir Putin’s decision to name an Interior Ministry general as his plenipotentiary representative to the North Caucasus came as no surprise given that that federal district is far from pacified, but his choice of an army general for that position in Siberia raises some broader questions about the Russian president’s current […]
Staunton, May 12 – Vladimir Putin has replaced Aleksandr Khloponin as presidential plenipotentiary for the North Caucasus with Sergey Melikov, commander of internal troops in the North Caucasus, and offered Lev Kuznetsov, the governor of Krasnoyarsk Territory, the new post of minister for the development of the North Caucasus. Khloponin will remain a vice prime […]
Staunton, May 12 – Vladimir Putin’s system represents a combination of “all the worst features of capitalism and socialism,” a fusion that represents “’negative convergence’ and one that has created “a monster,” according to Igor Eidman, a Russian sociologist and commentator who now lives in Germany. In an essay on Kasparov.ru today, Eidman notes that […]
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 […]
