Staunton, May 23 – A suggestion by Russian businessman Mikhail Prokhorov that “federal districts should not necessarily coincide with the borders of Russian regions” appears to be gaining traction in Moscow, the latest in a long line of proposals dating at least to Khrushchev’s time to weaken Russia’s oblasts, krays, and republics. According to Prokhorov, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 – 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 9 – A St. Petersburg activist has called for the establishment of a political party to represent the needs of the numerically smallest nations of the Russian Federation, a movement that he says should seek a quota system and other means to protect their rights and also to embrace ethnic Russians who live […]
