Russia This Week: Will the Internet Survive? (12-16 May)

May 17, 2014

Updated Daily. Soccer fans angry at the murder of their fellow fan, joined by anti-migrant nationalists, rampaged in a Moscow suburb. Russian state propaganda has grown more aggressive and pompous, magnifying Russian imperialism and whipping up hatred of foreigners and dissidents. What are we measuring when we poll public opinion when people are mainly dependent […]

Russia This Week: Is the Crimean Annexation Putin’s Anschluss? (March 31-April 5)

April 4, 2014

Updated Daily. Russians protesting Putin’s forcible annexation of Crimea are experiencing a backlash from conservative officials and activists and a campaign of xenophobia and hatred for dissenters has been unleashed. In recent weeks, Dmitry Kiselyov, Russia’s chief TV propagandist, has reminded us that only Russia can “reduce America to radiocative ash.” Conservative Sen. Oleg Panteleyev, […]

Xenophobia in Russia at an All-Time High, Experts Say

March 20, 2014

Staunton, March 20 – Xenophobia and hate crimes against members of other ethnic groups, after having declined in Russia between 2009 and 2012, have now risen to unprecedented levels, the result of what many see as the Putin regime’s backing for ethnic Russian pride, according to experts in Moscow. In yesterday’s Yezhednevny Zhurnal, Vera Alperovich says […]

Russian Officials Debate Immigration Reforms

October 24, 2013

Following weeks of alarming inter-racial violence, including anti-minority riots in Moscow, the Interior Minister and the head of the Federal Migration Service spoke with legislators in the State Duma about possible immigration reforms. Some of the suggestions were practical, and not dissimilar from other countries’ systems. Some of the talk, however, was more focused on […]

Kremlin’s Response to Moscow Race Riots May Make Things Worse

October 18, 2013

To say that racism is pandemic in Russia these days might be an understatement. Sunday’s race riots in Moscow were certainly not the first time The Interpreter has raised the alarm over the increasingly-radical nationalist movement. Over the summer,  a Russian paratrooper was killed by a Chechen immigrant in the North Caucasus town of Pugachev. Though […]

“Their Brains Are Like a Wrecking Ball”

October 14, 2013

Just as angry anti-migrant mobs raged in the provincial town of Pugachev and in St. Petersburg last summer, on Sunday night rioters rampaged in the drab industrial district of Biryulyovo in Moscow surrounding one of the largest vegetable warehouses in Europe. Two separate incidents led to arrests of some 450 people, 23 were wounded including […]

Ethnic Tensions Explode Into Riots in Moscow

October 13, 2013

There have been nearly 450 people detained in Moscow after protests erupted over what is believed to be an ethnicly-charged murder. Russian was stabbed to death by a man said to be from the Caucasus, and “people’s assemblies” are marching on the area. Over the summer there were similar incidents in Pugachev, and ethnic tensions […]

What Will Moscow’s Election Matter if Navalny Loses?

September 3, 2013

On September 8th, this upcoming Sunday, Moscow will pick its next mayor. No Russian election in many years has attracted as much national and international buzz as this race. Sergei Sobyanin, the acting mayor and a member of Putin’s party United Russia was facing serious political challenge in the upstart blogger-turned-politician Alexei Navalny. Navalny is […]

Who Will Vote in Moscow, and Why?

August 22, 2013

With the September 8 election fast approaching, the Moscow mayoral race is heating up. Thus far, the campaign has been the most contentious in a major Russian election in recent memory, with mayor Sergei Sobyanin’s surprise resignation and bid for reelection, and activist Alexei Navalny’s dramatic entry onto the electoral scene, despite a conviction for […]