Tag: Crimea

Russian Occupation Threatens Crimea’s Fragile Environment, Ecologist Says

May 23, 2014

Staunton, May 22 – Occupation authorities rarely take good care of the environment of the territory they have seized, and the Russian Anschluss of Crimea is no exception, with the Russian ecological legislation and practice significantly less good than their Ukrainian counterparts, according to Volodimir Boreyko, head of the Kyiv Ecological-Cultural Center. Boreyko’s views on […]

Moscow Trying to Force Crimean MSD to Break With Crimean Tatars

Staunton, May 22 – Moscow is seeking to force the mufti of Crimea to break with the Crimean Tatar Mejlis or face the prospect that he and his Crimean Muslim Spiritual Directorate (MSD) will be “marginalized” by the authorities who will move to create “a more adequate centralized structure” for the Muslims of Crimea, according […]

The West’s Real Double Standards in the Ukrainian Crisis

May 22, 2014

Staunton, May 22 – For months, Moscow officials and commentators have complained about what they say is a double standard on the part of the West, arguing that Western governments and writers are condemning Russia for doing in Ukraine exactly what the US and the West more generally have done elsewhere. Such complaints are in […]

Putin Seeks to Destabilize Former Soviet Space Not Occupy It and to Repress Russia Not Modernize It

May 21, 2014

Staunton, May 21 – If Vladimir Putin had wanted to occupy part or all of Ukraine, he would have installed a different group of leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk, Yegeniya Albats says, a comment that provides an important clue to the Kremlin leader’s more general strategy with regard not only to Ukraine but to the […]

How Putin Launched the Circassian National Movement

Staunton, May 21 – It is now common ground that Vladimir Putin’s Anschluss of Crimea and subversion of southeastern Ukraine have done more to boost and solidify the national identity of Ukrainians and their commitment to taking the steps necessary to be part of the West than have the actions of anyone else. But it […]

Is Stalin’s First Major Act of Ethnic Engineering About to be Reversed or Exacerbated?

Staunton, May 21 – As Harvard historian Richard Pipes documented a half century ago, Stalin’s first great act of ethno-political engineering was the division of the Tatars and Bashkirs of the Middle Volga as part of a broader effort to weaken Kazan’s influence and that of the Muslim national communists led by Sultan-Galiyev. Now, that […]

Ukraine Liveblog Day 93: Akhmetov Tells Donbass to ‘Fight, Fight, Fight’

Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. For an overview and analysis of this developing story see our latest podcast. Please help The Interpreter to continue providing this valuable information service by making a donation towards our costs. An interactive map of the situation: View Ukraine: April, 2014 in a larger map For links to individual […]

South Osetia Must Join Russian Federation ASAP, North Osetia Mufti Says

May 20, 2014

Staunton, May 20 – Hajimurat haji Gatsalov, the mufti of North Osetia, says Russia and Osetia must “not miss the historic chance” created by Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and more quickly to unite the two Osetias into a single federal subject of the Russian Federation as because “the national and cultural social-unity of the people […]

Ukraine Liveblog Day 91: Putin Orders Russian Forces to Withdraw from Ukrainian Border, Again

May 19, 2014

Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. For an overview and analysis of this developing story see our latest podcast. Please help The Interpreter to continue providing this valuable information service by making a donation towards our costs. An interactive map of the situation: View Ukraine: April, 2014 in a larger map For links to individual […]

Thousands of Crimean Tatars Mark 70th Anniversary of Deportation

May 18, 2014

Staunton, May 18 – Despite a ban on any demonstrations by the Russian occupation authorities and a decision by the Milli Mejlis not to hold a mass commemoration lest it become the occasion for a Russian provocation, thousands of Crimean Tatars have assembled in their homeland today to mark the 70th anniversary of their deportation […]