Staunton, November 28 – Analysts and officials in both Moscow and the West have long operated under the assumption that Russia will always be able to retain Belarus as a reliable satellite. But recent statements by Alyaksandr Lukashenko and actions by Belarusian nationalists are raising questions about that assumption. In an article yesterday on the […]
Yesterday’s live coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here. An archive of our liveblogs 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. View Ukraine: April, 2014 […]
Staunton, November 25 – Some draftees in the Russian army are inflicting injuries on themselves in order to avoid being sent to the fighting in southeastern Ukraine, an indication of their fears about what might happen to them there and of growing opposition to the Kremlin’s aggression, according to Elena Vasilyeva. Vasilyeva, a Russian human […]
Yesterday’s live coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here. An archive of our liveblogs 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. View Ukraine: April, 2014 […]
Staunton, November 20 – Human Rights Watch has released an eight-page report on “Rights in Retreat” in Crimea since the Anschluss, and the occupation authorities have gone into full-denial mode in response, dismissing the report as lacking “objective confirmation” and containing only “empty talk.” In an interview with Moscow’s Gazeta yesterday, Sergey Aksyonov, prime minister […]
Staunton, November 19 – The extremely low level of knowledge about traditional Islam among immigrants to Russia from Central Asia is leading to the growth of radicalism in Russia, Moscow experts say, a finding that applies not only to gastarbeiters (labor migrants) but also to indigenous Muslims in the Russian Federation. Both Russian researchers and Western […]
Staunton, November 10 – Some members of the Russian Duma want to take a step that even the Soviet government never did: they want to prevent the residents of the Russian Federation from giving their children names that someone in authority deems “ahistorical” or “inappropriate.” Thirty years ago, the author of the standard five-volume dictionary […]
Staunton, November 8 – Ever more people equate Vladimir Putin with Russia, something that for most Russians is a positive, but that for others is a negative thing, the editors of Gazeta say, noting that this “personification” entails “a serious danger “not only for the powers that be but also for the country as a […]
Welcome to our new column, Russia Update, where we will be closely following day-to-day developments in Russia, including the Russian government’s foreign and domestic policies. A mysterious toxic gas spreads across Moscow, and the Kremlin’s promise to reorganize the Russian media landscape is several steps closer to completion. Still No Clear Explanation on What Caused […]
Staunton, October 29 – Members of Russian elites see Vladimir Putin as the only person who can maintain the existing system in which they are beneficiaries and protect them from having to go head to head with the Russian people as a whole, Aleksandr Skobov says. Consequently, they will stick with him even if they […]
