Tag: Sovok

Muscovites Not Russians are the Problem, Shekhtman Says

April 22, 2015

Staunton, April 22 – Four years ago, liberal Russians began to refer to the hurrah-patriots who opposed them as vatniki or “vatniks,” a reference to the padded jackets such people often wore but used to designate their slavish support of the Kremlin and their hostility to the West and civilization. But now, Pavel Shekhtman suggests, […]

Under Putin, ‘Russians Don’t Exist, Only “Sovs,”’ Shumyatsky Says

April 6, 2014

Staunton, April 5 – Given the nature of Vladimir Putin’s regime and reflecting the Kremlin leader’s own understanding, “Russians do not exist,” émigré writer Boris Shumyatsky says. Instead, “people from the former Soviet Union are united [by] their experience of life under a dictatorship.” In a comment to Die Zeit this week, the writer argues […]

What is Happening, and What Do They Want in the Crimea?

March 5, 2014

“Russia, Russia!” chanted the people on the square in front of the Crimean parliament. The only Ukrainian flag is hanging on the building of the Supreme Council, but in the crowd, there are only Russian and Crimean banners. At first glance, they look like twins, except the Crimean flag has first a red stripe, then […]