Staunton, April 5 – The constant invocation by Russian officials of the right of peoples to self-determination in the support of the Kremlin’s policy on Crimea is “inspiring Russian regionalists to call for the self-administration of their territories” and is being regularly invoked by them as “a precedent.” As a result, Ulyana Ivanova writes on […]
Staunton, April 5 – The annexation of Crimea is already becoming “a powerful catalyst” for serious changes in Moscow’s nationality policy and even on the current principle of the national-territorial division of the Russian Federation, according to Margarita Lyange, head of the Guild of Inter-Ethnic Journalism. In an essay on the Nazaccent.ru portal yesterday, Lyang […]
Staunton, April 1 – Aleksandr Dugin, a Eurasianist who is close to the Kremlin, has told ethnic Russians in Ukraine that they must not cooperate with Kyiv in any way, that they must be ready to “act radically,” even to the point of sparking a civil war in that country, and that Moscow will support […]
Staunton, March 31 – Russia’s Anschluss of Crimea and Moscow’s various declarations about the right of nations – or at least some of them – to self-determination continue to echo through the Russian Federation, most recently among the Russian Germans who, viewing the Crimean events, want rehabilitation and the possible restoration of their republic. On […]
Staunton, March 31 – Confronted with Moscow’s seizure of Crimea and its demands for the federalization of Ukraine, the Ukrainian foreign ministry has countered by calling for every republic within the Russian Federation to hold a referendum about their future status and possible independence. Moscow has been pushing for the federalization of Ukraine for two […]
Staunton, March 30 – Refat Chubarov, the chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars, reaffirmed in comments to the BBC that the Crimean Tatar nation does not recognize Russia’s annexation of their homeland and that they are recommitting themselves to the establishment of a national-territorial autonomy in Crimea. In making these decisions, the Kurultay, […]
Staunton, March 27 – The Chukchis, a numerically small nation in the extreme far northeast of the Russian Federation on the Bering Straits, have long been the object of Russian humor. Some “Chukchi jokes,” as they are known, focus on the absurdities or problems of Soviet or Russian life, but others make fun of the […]
Staunton, March 27 – Even though polls show Vladimir Putin’s approval rating close to its highest level ever, his Anschluss of Crimea is upsetting many citizens of the Russian Federation, with ethnic Russians at least so far concerned mostly about its cost and non-Russians upset about the rights Moscow says it is defending in Crimea […]
Staunton, March 27 – Under international law at the present time, one country can interfere in the affairs of another “either as response to aggression, as a defense of its own citizens, or in reaction to massive force and genocide,” Vladislav Inozemtsev writes in today’s Vedomosti. But Vladimir Putin’s actions in Crimea, which he justifies […]
Staunton, March 26 – The view of some Russians that Moscow should get Alaska back from the United States has attracted a certain amount of bemused attention both in the Russian Federation and abroad. But the idea has been around so long that most people do not pay it much attention. But it is indicative […]
