The Moscow Times Columns :: Window on Eurasia

Sochi Olympics Makes the Circassian Genocide an International Issue, Analysts Say

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0300

Moscow's drive to hold the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi has transformed the question of the recognition of the Circassian genocide from a narrowly local issue into an international one by attracting the attention of intellectuals around the world, according to a Circassian scholar.

Why Aren't Russians in Revolt?

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0300

The spread of political protests in the Middle East and increasing problems inside Russia, including corruption, income gaps and official arbitrariness, have prompted ever more analysts to ask why Russians aren't going into the streets more often.

Manezh Clashes Were Orchestrated

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0300

Though many social factors were behind the Manezh clashes last month, the action itself was orchestrated by political forces interested in destabilizing the country and exploiting "ethnic wars" in order to come to power, according to a leading Moscow psychologist.

Khloponin Considers Cossacks for North Caucasus

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0300

Alexander Khloponin, the North Caucasus special envoy, has said his "first task" should be to rely on a Cossack revival to return ethnic Russians to the region. But Cossacks have a troubled history there.

Chechnya Is More Violent Than Reported

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0400

Ivan Sydoruk, the deputy prosecutor general of the North Caucasus Federal District, told federal senators that "a large portion of weapons are obtained by militants from the stores of military units." His other comments raised equal alarm.

FSB's Bill Holds Hidden Dangers for Free Speech

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0400

Human rights activists have succeeded in eliminating a provision of a draft bill on state secrets that would have blocked the media from covering most counterterrorist operations. But a provision that places a veil of secrecy over the financing of such operations has the potential to do more harm.

State Readies for Street Clashes

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0400

Until recently, officials and politicians have downplayed the risk of massive street clashes and the state's preparation for them. But now, they have a counter-plan.

Resin Wants Hearings on Religious Construction

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0400

The acting mayor of the Russian capital has called for holding public hearings on all construction projects for churches, mosques and synagogues. That could threaten the status quo between Moscow's government and the Moscow Patriarchate.

Moscow Wants Emigrees Home, At Lower Cost

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0400

Moscow spent less than a quarter of the amount that it had budgeted to attract compatriots living overseas to come back to Russia, a slide that lessens the country's chances of getting Russians to return.

Group Proposes an 'Ethnic Russian' Republic

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0400

In a move that could be called either a provocation by Russian regionalists and a power grab by a federal district, a self-described civic group has proposed transforming the Central Federal District into an ethnic Russian republic. The draft law is revealing.

Dagestan Plans Anti-Terror Units, Worrying Locals

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0400

Anti-terrorist units in Chechnya have accrued a horrible human rights record. But officials in Dagestan say violence in their republic now is warranting anti-terrorist units there. They say their soldiers will be different. Some are skeptical.

GONGOs Are Returning in Force

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0400

GONGOs, or government-organized non-governmental organizations, are increasingly being used by Russian authorities to elbow aside genuine NGOs, a Russian journalist says.

Siberia's Status in Russia on Par With Russia's in the World

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0400

According to a leading economist, Siberia increasingly is to Russia what Russia is to the world: a supplier of raw materials that those who are consuming them take without much thought to what is happening at their source economically or ecologically.

School Closings Indicate 'Internal Decolonization' of Russia

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0400

A hunger strike by parents, teachers and graduates to protest the closure of five schools in the Ulyanovsk region has called attention to a broader, more frightening problem: the shutting down of schools with low enrollments in ever more villages.

Police No Longer Feel the Need to Deny Use of Torture

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0400

A recent article in the Russian edition of Newsweek notes that while some policemen have been charged with using torture, most of those suspected of doing so have escaped responsibility because of the interconnectedness of the police and investigators.

Terrorism Threats Cover Up Corruption in Sochi, Analysts Say

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0400

In the last several weeks, ever more evidence has come out that corruption is making the Sochi Olympics the most expensive in history, a charge that could have the effect of leading more people to question the appropriateness of holding the Games there.

Kadyrov Reaches Out to Chechens Outside His Republic

Thu, 27 May 2010 00:00:00 +0400

In his latest bid to boost his power in Grozny and his influence in Moscow, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov is seeking closer ties with the roughly 600,000 ethnic Chechens who live outside of Chechnya.

Internet Can't Compensate for Kremlin's Info Blockade, Analysts Say

Wed, 19 May 2010 00:00:00 +0400

Too few Russians currently go online for their news in order to compensate for Moscow deciding to throw an information blockade around events that it would like Russians to ignore. The maligned and ignored protests by miners near the devastated Raspadskaya mine are a prime example.

Russia's Roads Collapsing From More Traffic, Less Money

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0400

Even as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin again promises to complete a trans-Russia highway and as Moscow media report progress on several high-profile road projects near the capital, including paid highways, the country's road system in many parts of the country is near the point of collapse, officials say.

Could Kyrgyzstan Cease to Exist?

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0400

Deteriorating conditions in Kyrgyzstan and increasing evidence that the provisional government is not in control of the situation, especially in the wake of President Dmitry Medvedev's observation that Bishkek must build a new state, are leading some to ask whether Kyrgyzstan as a country could cease to exist.

Reports Say Ethnic Violence Rising in Kyrgyzstan

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0400

The Russian embassy in Bishkek has sent a diplomatic note to the Kyrgyz foreign ministry saying Russian citizens and compatriots have complained in recent days about increasing interethnic tensions in Kyrgyzstan and pointing out that such tensions "not only contradict the interests of cooperation but create a negative image of the country."

Russians Now Face-to-Face With Terrorism

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0400

The most important consequence of the terrorist attack in the Moscow metro is that Russians are facing up to the reality that terrorism is not something far away but close at hand, and that no one can provide them with the assurance that all attacks can and will be prevented.

Terrorism Ultimately Costs Citizens Their Freedom

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0400

A commentary in this week's Novaya Gazeta points out that Russian officials view terrorist acts as another reminder that they "are not in a position to fulfill their chief function" - the defense of their fellow citizens - and consequently are convinced that at the very least they should exploit the situation to retain their "own control over the country."

Kremlin Misreading Latest Round of Protests

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0300

In an editorial published this week in Nezavisimaya Gazeta, the paper's editors write that unless Moscow understands the reality of the recent nationwide protests, Russia's future will be anything but bright.

'War of the Worlds' Broadcast Highlights Pathologies of Georgian-Russian Relations

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0300

A hoax broadcast on Georgian television about a Russian invasion has sparked discussion about the dangers of such a TV show in the current environment and raised questions about who benefits from such actions.

Nation Forcibly Deported Under Brezhnev Now at Risk

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0300

The last survivors of a pre-Turkic civilization in Central Asia and the last nation to be forcibly deported by the Soviet government are now rapidly dying out after some of them have moved back to their traditional villages in highland Tajikistan, a Moscow journal reports.

'Russian Mafia' Abroad Now 300,000 Strong, Journal Says

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0300

A recent report in Versiya claims that up to 300,000 members of Russian criminal organizations have succeeded in pushing aside local groups and establishing their own "spheres of influence" throughout the world, from Australia to Mexico.

Moscow's Muslim Slums Now Breeding Grounds for Despair

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0300

Only 200 meters from the Garden Ring Road, the settlement of Chelobityevo houses some 3,000 Muslims from Central Asia whose misfortunes people in Moscow "either do not know or do not want to know," according to a new report on the Islamnews.ru web site.

Nearly 80% of Draft-Age Russians Unhealthy, Sources Say

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0300

The share of the draft-age cohort whose health permits them to serve without restrictions has fallen from 94.7 percent in 1985 to 51 percent in 2009, a drop that may overstate the problem given the different standards employed but that Moscow now hopes to reverse by 10 percent by 2020.

Who Will Manage the 2 Million Shiites of Russia?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0300

Russia's three largest Muslim spiritual directorates are now actively discussing the possible formation of a single Muslim hierarchy, but neither they nor the Russian powers that be appear to be paying much attention to one group of Muslims there - the more than 2.1 million followers of Shiite Islam.

Moscow Fears Regional Officials Who Obey Law More Than Those Who Don't, Russian Commentator Says

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0300

Protests like those in Kaliningrad and, even more, the response of Moscow to them seem likely to corrode still further the ties between the population of the Russian Federation and its rulers.

Internet Editions of Crimean Tatar Newspapers Disappearing

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0300

With many Crimean Tatar online news outlets closing down, minority nationalities are losing vital fora of debate and connections with their diaspora are at risk of loosening.

Worst is Yet to Come at Sayano-Shushenskaya and in Moscow, Petition Warns

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0300

A petition is calling for authorities to investigate claims that a mass of ice is pressing against the Sayano-Shushenskaya dam, creating the risk of a disaster several magnitudes greater than the 2009 engine room floods.

One-Third of Russian Militiamen Psychopaths or Alcoholics, Expert Says

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0300

The end of psychological screening of applicants to the police force in the 1990s has brought many unhealthy and even dangerous people into its ranks.

Dagestani Mullahs Plan to Counter Ideological Challenge of Militants via the Internet

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0300

Religious leaders, who view the battle against terrorism to be at least as much an ideological campaign as a law-enforcement matter, are increasingly using information technology to counter extremism.

Kirill Expanding Patriarchate's Missionary Effort in Russia and Abroad

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0300

The Moscow Patriarchate has opened its first seminary outside the former Soviet Union, housing the small start-up in a former Catholic convent - perhaps the humble beginnings of what some see as a larger expansion strategy.

Closure of Soviet Concentration Camps Where 'Arbeit Macht Frei' First Appeared Recalled

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0300

The Solovetsky Camps of Special Assignment - known by the Russian acronym "SLON" - were established in February 1920 in the prison in a monastery in northern Russian first erected and used by Ivan the Terrible to imprison anti-Soviet White Russian officers and men.

Neo-Nazis Are a Threat to Russia, Polish Analyst Says

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0300

A Polish commentator writes of how neo-Nazi organizations in Russia are evolving and beginning to pose a greater threat to society.

Climate Change Hitting Russia's Northern People First and Hardest

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0300

The indigenous population of Russia's North is already feeling effects of climate change on their traditional ways of life: Reindeer herds are dying out, and the industrial development of the region has destroyed many alternative forms of economic activity.

Kadyrov Aide Calls for Establishing 'Radio Caucaus' to Fight Extremism

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0300

An adviser to Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov suggested earlier this week that a special "Caucasus Radio" be established in Russia to discuss the region's most sensitive and difficult problems.

'A Criminal Society is Easier to Rule Because All Feel Themselves Guilty'

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

In an essay on the Grani.ru site today, Irina Pavlova points out that speeches by Medvedev and others at the United Russia party permit only a single conclusion: "The present criminal regime finds it easier to hold the private Russian economy in the shadow under the fist of the special services and collect tribute from them just as it does from state enterprises."

Will 'Bloggerization' of Russian Bureaucracy Change Relationship Between State and Citizens?

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

The Internet and even the more limited blogosphere are simply not going to transform Russian political life or Russian culture as quickly as many of the partisans of the world wide web have suggested.

Russia's Real 'Middle Class' - Those Who Own Cars - Gains a Victory

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

The reluctance of regional officials to impose the new higher licensing fees and the subsequent decision of the Kremlin to call on the Duma to rescind them altogether, as Kasparov.ru observer says, suggests that the powers that be in Russia "have finally understood how dangerous it is to play with fire."

Officials Accused of Blocking Relocation Aid to Radiation Victims

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

Despite presidential decrees and a much ballyhooed resettlement program, Rosatom has done everything it can to prevent some 4,000 people in Muslyumovo exposed to radiation - either because of nuclear accidents at the Mayak plutonium plant in the 1950s or because of a general release of radioactive materials into the environment - from moving.

Kyrgyz Prisons Becoming 'Universities of Religious Extremism'

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0300

What kind of future awaits Kyrgyzstan if the ruling powers not only don't control the capital and distant villages but don't even have control of the criminals, recidivists, rapists and murderers who are sitting behind bars?

Another Soviet Practice Returns as Moscow Installs a Russian as No. 2 in Ingushetia

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0300

Like its Soviet predecessor, the Russian Federation government likes to have its own people in powerful positions in its republics, and over the last year, it has employed this tactic twice in the North Caucasus.

Far Eastern Republic of the 1920s as Model for the Future Sparks Debate in Vladivostok

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0300

The far eastern republic's mixed economy, which made use of both market forces and state capitalism, might have allowed it to become one of the most developed regions of Russia and Northeast Asia.

Basargin Admits Moscow Lacks a Strategy for Dealing With Company Towns

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0400

No one would deny that each of these single-company towns presents unique aspects, but this one-town-at-a-time approach seems certain to take a long time to implement.

Relying on Traditional Structures Unlikely to Stabilize North Caucasus

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0400

The latest example of a North Caucasian leader turning to traditional arrangements in support of his government is unlikely to achieve either of the goals that he seeks.

Tatar Nationalists Demonstrate on Eve of Clinton's Kazan Visit

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0400

In the past, the Russian government has sought with to play off Tatar nationalism against Islam as part of a "divide and rule" strategy, but if those two forces are coming together in Tatarstan as they have in the North Caucasus, then the combination could prove dangerously explosive.

Reopening of Turkish Border to Create Shift Between Armenia and Its Diaspora

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Such a change in the Armenian mentality will almost inevitably lead to a change in the relationship between Armenians in Armenia and the Armenians in the diaspora around the world.

MVD Enforcing Ideological Conformity Within Its Ranks

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0400

An officer in the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) says his agency is "squeezing out" from its own ranks anyone who thinks differently than the regime.

Voting Rights Group Says 'Falsifications' in Moscow Elections Inevitable

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Because the Russian Constitution mandates elections and because Russian laws governing them support the holding of such votes, Andrei Buzin, president of the Inter-Regional Union of Voters, suggests that most of these activities fall under the rubric of what Russians call "dirty political techniques."

Vladivostok Denies Plan to Lease Half of City to China

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0400

A story that has its origins in a purported proposal from specialists to help the Far Eastern city cope with its budget issues quickly attracted the notice of Russian news agencies and began to be discussed wildly on the blogosphere.

Delay in Census to 2013 Could Open Door to Lies

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0400

The government has rescheduled the national census that had been set for 2010 to 2013, citing budgetary shortfalls as a result of the economic crisis, opening the way for false claims that Russia does not face demographic problems.

Could Turkey be the Next Country to Recognize Abkhazia?

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0400

There appears to be a chance that Turkey might break the embargo against recognition of the rebel region because of Ankara's desire to play a greater role in the Caucasus region and the influence of its own Abkhaz and Circassian communities.

Moscow Shifts Subsidies From Caucasus to Russian Regions

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0400

As a result of the economic crisis and because "the south of Russia and the North Caucasus republics are the most subsidized," according to Vice Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, the Russian government has decided to send somewhat less money to them and somewhat more to hard-hit areas elsewhere in the Russian Federation.

Moscow's Policies Undermining Russia's Position in North Caucasus

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Moscow may find itself in the same position that many colonial powers have in the past: It may be able to win every battle in the North Caucasus, but the means it is now employing to do so guarantee that in the end it will lose the war.

Western Reaction Keeps Moscow From Annexing South Ossetia

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Eduard Kokoity, president of the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, says he is "in principle" ready to have his country absorbed by the Russian Federation but this would prompt the West to almost certainly accuse Moscow of "imperialism."

North Caucasian Draftees Undermining Russian Military

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0400

North Caucasians form an increasing fraction of the Russian military, leading to an increase in the number of ethnic clashes within certain units and a rise in the number of incidents of insubordination.

Church Makes Efforts at Gulag Remembrance

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0400

The Church, however, is almost exclusively concerned with memorializing Orthodox clergy and believers who perished in the gulag rather than all who suffered from Stalin's crimes.

Chechnya Rapidly Becoming Russia's Algeria

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Chechnya is rapidly becoming Russia's Algeria, according to a Moscow commentator, and not only because most Russians see it as an inalienable part of their country.

Medvedev Seeks "Real, Not Cosmetic" Stability in North Caucasus

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0400

President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia must pursue "real, not cosmetic" stability in the North Caucasus, an indication of just how much the security situation has deteriorated.

Sakhalin Residents Petition to Join Japan

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0400

A group of Sakhalin residents is collecting signatures for a petition asking that Moscow hand over their island to Japan so that they can live and raise their children in a rich, modern country.

Military Suffering Casualties in War Games

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Deaths incurred during joint exercises with other countries are caused by sloppy errors on both sides, such as the use of outdated or distorted maps and lack of communication regarding how exactly maneuvers will be carried out.

Eight Reasons to Become Ukrainian

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Patriarch Kirill's suggestion that he is ready to acquire dual citizenship in Ukraine has prompted activists of the Russian National-Democratic Movement to conduct a survey on whether residents of Russian regions bordering Ukraine would like to take Ukrainian citizenship.

Group Says Power Vertical Threatens Republics

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Tatar and Bashkir groups this week attacked "authoritarian tendencies" in the federal government, saying the behavior could lead to "the systematic destruction of the federal and democratic foundations" of the Russian Federation.

Chechens in Fear After Memorial's Departure

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0400

"What is to become of the tens and hundreds of those who had turned to Memorial as one of the few organizations that really tried to help people?" said one Chechen last week.

Hackers Increasingly Targeting Religion Sites

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0400

The trend reflects in part the growing importance of the Internet in Russian religious life.

'Only North Korea Has a Registration System Like Moscow's'

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0400

A group of legal activists is working in the Russian capital to help people moving there comply with the law and work with a government registration system unlike any in the world - except for the one maintained by the regime in North Korea, claims one of the leaders of the "Illegals of Moscow" movement.

High Mortality Among Men Undercuts Moscow's Pro-Birth Policies

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Extremely high mortality rates among Russian men of child-bearing age, rates far higher than those in other developed countries and largely the result of alcohol consumption and drug abuse, are undercutting not only Moscow's efforts to solve the country's demographic problems with pro-birth policies but also its hopes to modernize the Russian economy.

Iranian Events Provide Lessons for Russians, Moscow Journalist Says

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0400

The events in Iran clearly demonstrate "that the presence or absence in any country of an opposition, of a real political struggle, in the final analysis of democracy does not depend how cruel the ruling regime is but on whether its people have political will," a Moscow journalist argues in an essay posted online Tuesday.

Beyond Pikalyovo - Urals Workers Seize Control of Plant's Finances

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Inspired by the example of Pikalyovo, where workers blocked a federal highway to call attention to their plight, employees at many other enterprises around the country are increasingly adopting the same tactic, apparently hopeful that someone from Moscow will intervene, as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin did in that company town, and solve their problems.

Wealthier Moscow Teenagers More Inclined to View U.S. as Russia's Enemy

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Nearly half of Muscovite teenagers in relatively well-off family circumstances currently view the United States as an enemy of Russia, a view that less than one-quarter of the poorest and most disadvantaged members of that age share, according to a new survey conducted by researchers at Moscow's Higher School of Economics.

Moscow Gave Four Times More Hero Medals in Chechen War than in Afghanistan

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Vienna, June 15 - The Russian defense ministry has named 322 of its soldiers Heroes of the Russian Federation for their actions in the two Chechen campaigns, nearly four times as many Heroes of the Soviet Union (85) that its Soviet predecessor handed out in Afghanistan, a product of the intensity of the Chechen war and of awards inflation in post-Soviet times.

Moscow's Anti-Extremism Effort Targeting Ever More Groups

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Moscow has expanded the list of groups that it is targeting in its anti-extremism campaign to include not only Islamists and religious "sectarians," as in the past, but now also football fans, independent trade unions and environmental activists, according to a Moscow expert on the Russian force structures.

40 of Russia's 700 Penal Institutions Recall Soviet Concentration Camps, Rights Activists Say

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Forty of Russia's 700 penal institutions have features which resemble those of Soviet-era concentration camps, according to a leading Moscow human rights activist, who warns that "as long as concentration camps and torture exist, the specter of totalitarianism will continue to hang over the country."

Moscow's Policies Unwittingly Promoting Islamist Extremism

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Despite the Kremlin's expanded "anti-extremism" measures and its pledges to fight Islamist movements, Russian authorities have adopted policies that make the rise of Islamist extremism in the country increasingly likely, a situation that has led one analyst to conclude that the authorities are "losing control" over Moscow and other major Russian cities.

Moscow Distances Itself from Article Blaming Poland for Starting WWII

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0400

The Defense Ministry said today that an article put on its site a few days ago that has sparked outrage with its suggestion that Poland was to blame for the start of World War II was "only for discussion."

Why Do Ethnic Russians Convert to Islam?

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Andrey Ignatyev, a specialist on the sociology of religion at Russian State Humanitarian University, seeks to answer the question of why ethnic Russians convert to Islam without the exaggerations and apocalyptic language that typically surround discussion of such religious shifts.

Moscow Broadens Definition of 'Extremism'

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0400

After transferring thousands of Interior Ministry officers from the fight against organized crime to the struggle with extremism, the Russian government has broadened the definition of "extremism" as well as the scope of actions able to be taken by officers to combat it, a trend that threatens the rights and freedoms of law-abiding Russian citizens.

Why More Russian Archives are Likely to Close

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0400

A quirk in Russian law allows an official President Dmitry Medvedev has charged with combating historical falsifications to have a decisive voice in determining whether the archives of the former Communist Party will be opened - an arrangement that one rights activist says could mean the archives needed to fight falsification may very well become less accessible.

Economic Crisis Leads Moscow to Cut Back on 2010 Census Plans

Fri, 29 May 2009 00:00:00 +0400

The economic crisis is forcing Moscow to cut back on the number of questions they will ask and languages they will use in the census scheduled for October 2010, reductions that will mean officials and scholars will have significantly less data on a range of demographic questions.

Could United Russia Go the Way of the CPSU?

Thu, 28 May 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Twenty years to the day after the Congress of Peoples deputies opened the way to the end of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, a leader of the United Russia party said that his group "does not want to repeat [that] path," while 48 hours after that, a Petrozavodsk mayoral candidate quit the pro-Kremlin party after accusing it of "bureaucracy" and "hypocrisy."

Dagestan Now Has 50 'Representative Offices' Across CIS

Wed, 27 May 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Dagestan now has 50 "permanent representative offices" in Russian regions and CIS countries to help promote trade and to support the rights and interests of Dagestanis living there, the latest in a remarkable evolution of a Soviet-era institution that became the foundation for the embassies of most post-Soviet states in Moscow.

Memorial, Others Criticize History Falsification Commission

Fri, 22 May 2009 00:00:00 +0400

President Dmitry Medvedev's commission to block "the falsification of history at the expense of the interests of Russia" will either be harmful to Medvedev's reputation and Russia's prospects for reform or prove useless as an operational body, said a member of historical organization Memorial last week.

Could Kabardino-Balkaria Become the Kosovo of the Caucasus?

Tue, 19 May 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Kabardino-Balkarian President Arsen Kanokov is pursuing policies that are boosting the status of his own branch of the Circassian nation and threaten to transform the hitherto relatively peaceful republic into a Kosovo of the Caucasus, according to leaders of the Balkar minority from that republic and academic specialists on the region.

South Ossetian Leader's Authoritarianism Posing Problems for Moscow

Mon, 18 May 2009 00:00:00 +0400

South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity's efforts to make himself president for life has turned the territory into one "free from law," discrediting his regime in the eyes of the people there, providing excuses for Belarus and other countries not to recognize him, and compromising Moscow's ability to control the spending of Russian assistance there.

Commentator Says Anti-Fascism Bill Could Lead to Imposition of More Official Histories

Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Irina Pavlova, one of the most thoughtful Moscow commentators on public life in the city, argues that the real and far more negative impact of draft Russian legislation intended to prevent "the rehabilitation of Nazism" on the territory of the former Soviet republics is likely to be on the Russian Federation itself, where, she suggests, this legislation sets the stage for the re-imposition of a Soviet-style official version of the Russian past.

Environmentalists Say New Climate Doctrine Focuses on Reacting to Change, Rather Than Preventing It

Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Russian and European environmentalists are concerned that a new Russian doctrine on climate change developed without public comment and now awaiting promulgation by President Dmitry Medvedev focuses more on how Moscow should react to the impact of climate change rather than on taking steps to prevent its further march.

'Koenigsberg is a Russian City,' Kaliningrad Mayor Says

Mon, 11 May 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Kaliningrad is not a trophy won by Moscow as a result of the Soviet victory in World War II but rather "a Russian city" that became part of the Russian Empire two centuries earlier, the city's mayor Feliks Lapin said Saturday. For that reason, he said, it is his personal view that it would not be a problem to restore Koenigsberg as its name.

Russian Justice Ministry Maintains Quotas for Closing NGOs

Thu, 07 May 2009 00:00:00 +0400

President Dmitry Medvedev's May 2008 decision to transfer responsibility for the registration of non-governmental organizations from the Federal Registration Service (FRS) to the Ministry of Justice has not led to the kind of progress toward a law-based state for which many activists had hoped.

Existing Federal System Said a Threat to Rights of All Russia's Citizens

Tue, 05 May 2009 00:00:00 +0400

The existing system of ethnic autonomies in the Russian Federation - including both republics, such as Tatarstan, and autonomous districts, such as Chukotka - "violates the civil rights" of all Russian citizens and should be replaced with a system of autonomies at the district and settlement level, according to a Moscow commentator.

Six Months After Zyazikov's Ouster, Ingushetia Remains Unstable

Sun, 03 May 2009 00:00:00 +0400

On October 31 of last year, Moscow dismissed Murat Zyazikov, the widely despised president of Ingushetia, and in his place installed Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, a much-decorated Ingush colonel in the Russian Army, in a move that many both in the North Caucasus republic and elsewhere believe marked the dawn of a new day there.

Conviction of Activist Who Protested Baptism of Tatar Infants Decried

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Last Friday, a court found activist leader Rafiz Kashapov guilty of provoking interethnic and inter-religious hostility for his article "No to Christianization!" in which he protested the baptism of infants of Tatar nationality, a traditionally Muslim people, and gave him a suspended sentence of 18 months.

Moscow's Ignoring of Iranian Leader's Anti-Semitism Has Deep Roots, Dangerous Consequences, Russian Commentator Notes

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Unlike some countries that refused to participate and others whose representatives walked out, the Russian delegation to the UN Conference on the Struggle Against Racism acted as if it "did not notice the anti-Semitic declarations" of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a leading Moscow commentator writes.

A Central Asian Echo of Russian Aggression in Georgia

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Uzbekistan's raid of a village near its border with Kyrgyzstan last week is a reminder of the dangerous shift that has occurred throughout the region as a result of the Russian invasion of Georgia last summer.

'Lenin is Worse than Hitler,' Senior Moscow Patriarchate Official Says

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Yesterday marked 139 years since the birth of Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet state whose body remains as it has since his death in the mausoleum on Red Square, an object of veneration for his supporters and an offense of varying degrees to those who see him as the enemy of national tradition, freedom and faith.

Finns Call on Medvedev to End Violations of Rights and Freedoms in Russia

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Four leading Finnish non-governmental organizations have called on visiting President Dmitry Medvedev to live up to his promises to protect human rights and civic freedoms and to end the violence against journalists and ethnic minorities in the Russian Federation that are creating a gulf between Moscow and Europe.

Some of Russia's Muslims Seeking to Define a Place between 'Dar ul-Islam' and 'Dar ul-Harb'

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Some Muslim writers are beginning to argue that Muslims living in non-Muslim areas must make a distinction between countries where Muslims can practice their religion freely and whose governments have good relations with Muslim countries and those where Muslims remain subject to discrimination and whose governments are hostile to the world of Islam.

Depopulation Threatens Russia 10 Ways, Moscow Demographer Says

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Russia's population will continue to decline over the coming decades, threatening first some regions and then the country as a whole with depopulation, a trend whose consequences are both more immediate and more widespread than many now assume, according to a leading Moscow demographer.

Will the Internet Integrate the Russian Federation - or Tear It Apart?

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0400

A Duma deputy from Nizhny Novgorod suggests that the Internet can link the various parts of the Russian Federation in "much the same way that earlier great empires were linked together by roads," but other commentators have suggested that the Internet in its various forms in fact represents a threat to the country's integrity and political system.

Will Moscow Expand Assistance to Russian-Language Schools in Ukraine?

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0400

A Russian activist has written President Dmitry Medvedev asking that the Kremlin help Russian regions provide assistance to Russian-language schools in Ukraine, an effort that recalls Soviet-era projects, threatens Kiev's control of its schools and unintentionally calls attention to the absence of Ukrainian-language schools in the Russian Federation.

Russian Nationalism Threatens to Destroy the Russian Federation

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0400

The rise of ethnic Russian nationalism, of the kind characterized by the slogan "Russia for the Russians," threatens the country both directly by promoting countervailing nationalisms among non-Russian groups and indirectly by making it more difficult for Moscow to move toward a law-based state, according to a Moscow analyst.

Kazan Tatars, Muslims and Shamans Present Three New Challenges to Moscow

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Three very different actions by the Kazan Tatars, a major Muslim Spiritual Directorate, and the shamans of the Russian Federation reflect the unintended consequences of Moscow's approach to ethnic and religious issues and present new challenges to the Russian government that it may find difficult to dismiss out of hand.

How Moscow Compiles Its 'Extremist' List Guarantees Absurdities, Russian Lawyer Says

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0400

Moscow is unlikely to follow the demand of one Russian churchman and declare Amway an "extremist" organization, but the way the Russian government compiles its ever-lengthening list of "extremist materials" guarantees any number of constitutional and legal absurdities, according to a Russian lawyer.