Marxism Triumphed First in Russia Because Its Core Value, the Denial of Freedom, was ‘Characteristic of Russian National Consciousness,’ Tsipko Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 9 – Many Moscow commentators and politicians are suggesting that Russia’s future should involve the restoration of the Soviet system, a view that reflects their ignorance of what Soviet Marxism was about, how many different forms it took, and why it ultimately failed, Aleksandr Tsipko says.

            Typically, the senior Russian political commentator says, advocates of a return to the Soviet past “do not say which socialism we should return to,” something important because of the enormous differences between Stalin’s socialism and Khrushchev’s (mk.ru/social/2026/07/09/nazad-k-socializmu-chto-stoit-za-prizyvami-vernut-sovremennuyu-rossiyu-v-proshloe.html).

            For some reason, those calling for a return to Soviet socialism “never say anything good about Khrushchevian socialism.” Instead, they routinely insist that “the tragedy is that Khrushchev began to reform the Soviet system as created by Stalin and therefore allegedly opened the way to the death of the USSR.”

            “All the currently fashionable ideologists who are calling for a return to socialism do not take into account that, as Marx insisted, a socialist economy is to be build on the principle of militarization” and the authoritarianism needed to keep the system in that state, Tsipko continues.

            One reason that Stalinist socialism is so attractive to such people is that the Marxist “utopia,” with “its denial of freedom, morality and the value of human” are congruent with “our native Russian nationalism.” That is why it was in Russia that Bolshevism arose in that country and why the Soviets were the first to try to realize the ideas of Marx.

            Soviet socialism survived as long as it did, the commentator says, largely because it was imperfect. It was saved by the private plots of peasants who raised much of the country’s food and by the sale of oil and other natural resources abroad. When the latter failed to bring in enough money, the entire house of cards collapsed.

            Anyone who seriously wants to advocate Russia’s return to Soviet-style socialism, Tsipko says, needs to address these questions and ask himself and others seriously whether Russians really want to go through another cycle of repression, suffering and ultimately collapse.

            Although the fact that Marxist utopianism and Russian national consciousness have so much in common is clearly the reason why there are so many advocates in Moscow today for the revival of such a disastrous project, the senior Russian commentator who lived most of his life in Soviet times suggests.

Permafrost Melting Seen Increasing Radioactive Contamination of Ob and Irtysh Rivers

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 9 – Research by the Russian Academy of Sciences shows that the radioactive contamination of the Ob and Irtysh, high after the Soviets began testing nuclear weapons in the area, has fallen to acceptable levels but says that the melting of the permafrost as a result of global warming is leading to its increase again.

            In what they describe as the  first comprehensive analysis of radiation contamination of these two Siberian rivers, the scholars say that there is a real danger that the progress Russia has achieved in cutting radiation may be overwhelmed by the impact of the melting of permafrost.

            (For a discussion the findings of this research project and citations to the three original articles the investigators published earlier this year, see caspian.land/37386-vpervye-proveden-kompleksnyj-analiz-radiacionnoj-i-jekologicheskoj-bezopasnosti-obi-i-irtysha.html.)

            Both the numerically small peoples of the Russian North and ethnic Russian communities there are certain to be reassured by the finding that conditions have improved with regard to water and fish taken from these rivers, but they and others are likely to be alarmed by the suggestion that permafrost melting may create new dangers.

            Russian scholars have devoted much attention to the fact that the melting of the permafrost is releasing ever more bacteria and viruses into the atmosphere (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-ice-will-melt-and-we-will-all-die.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/04/melting-of-permafrost-may-release-not.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/12/melting-of-permafrost-in-russian-north.html).

            But they have been chary about talking about the much more explosive possibility that permafrost melting will lead to the stirring up of more radioactive materials into the water supply and the fish people along Siberian rivers eat. That makes this latest research especially important as a political as well as a social and economic development.

A New and Unexpected Emigration – Russians Moving to Belarus for Comfort and Security

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 10 – Increasing repression in Russia, declining economic opportunities there, and now Ukrainian drone attacks are leading ever more Russians to leave their own country and move to Belarus “in a search for comfort and security,” according to Irina Kravtsova.

            There are no available statistics on how large this flow has become, the Novaya Gazeta Europe journalist says; but it is clear from talk on social networks that it is no longer simply a curiosity. She spoke with four Russians who have already made this move (novayagazeta.eu/articles/2026/07/10/ia-tut-snova-stal-spat-golyshom).

            The first moved from St. Petersburg to Minsk in the summer of 2023. There are no language problems for him in Belarus, Dmitry says; and politics so far hasn’t become an issue. “As long as I’m not touched,” he continues, “every day I am becoming only more happy that I’ve moved.”

            The second, Kseniya, a native Muscovite moved in early 2025, moved not only to be with a Minsk air traffic controller but because she was happier to be in a place where income inequality was almost nonexistent at least in comparison with the Russian Federation now.

            The third relocator with whom Kravtsova spoke is a 28-year-old from Voronezh who moved to Brest in May of this year. He says that he began to think about leaving Russai when mobilization began in 2022; but as things got worse, he decided it was “incomprehensible” why he didn’t move to Belarus.

            Igor said that life in Belarus is far more pleasant than in his homeland and that he actively encourages other Russians to move. They won’t regret it, he suggests, however many temporary difficulties they may encourage. Life in the two countries is quite similar but life in Belarus is better.

            And the fourth, 38-year-old Elena, come from Minsk but after graduating from the Belarusian State University moved to Russia where she worked in advertising and in the public relations departments of various state institutions. She moved back because of increasing repression and the rising cost of living.

            So far, she has not found a job in Minsk; but she is optimistic and glad she has chosen to return to her original homeland. Life is better in many ways; and the fact that one has to avoid talking about politics is not a problem for Russians: they’ve already learned that lesson well. 

Declining Water Levels in Caspian ‘Irreversible’ and Littoral States Must Adapt, Azerbaijani Official Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 8 – The decline of the water level of the Caspian Sea, now falling at between 20 and 30 centimeters (eight to twelve inches) has become “irreversible,” Aliaga Azizov, deputy head of the State Supervision Service for the Use and Protection of Azerbaijan, says.

            Consequently, it is long past time to stop debating whether this is so and to focus instead on adapting to the situation now and preparing for it to become worse in the future, Baku’s senior water specialist says (casp-geo.ru/obmelenie-kaspijskogo-morya-stalo-neobratimym-protsessom-schitayut-v-baku/).

            He observes that “the shallowing of the Caspian Sea has a serious impact on various areas: ports, shipping, fishing, coastal tourism and oil and gas infrastructure. This poses additional challenges to countries that depend on sea resources,” and taken together those will require residents and businesses to adapt to new conditions.”

            Azizov’s words are important instance not only because they put Azerbaijan at odds with Russian specialists who remain more optimistic about the future but also because they come from someone on the southern shores of the Caspian where water levels over the last decades have fallen less rapidly than in the north.

            But more important still is his call for adapting to this new reality rather than continuing to deny it. If Azizov’s position reflects the thinking of the Azerbaijan government – and it is difficult to think that it does not – then Baku will be taking the lead in dredging operations and reconstruction of ports.

            That will be an expensive choice, but it is likely to be the only one that will allow Azerbaijan and her littoral neighbors to continue to use the Caspian as a source of food, petroleum products and transit, something that will have an impact on China, the EU, and the West generally which want to continue to send oil and other cargo across the Caspian. 

Karelian Activists Seek to Make Dual-Language Ballots Automatic For Themselves and Others

Paul Goble     

            Staunton, July 7 – Karelian activists are seeking to make dual-language ballots automatic in areas where ethnic minorities life rather than leaving question of whether to have such ballots printed up to local officials who often refuse to prepare such ballots even when requested to do so.

            The Russian constitution specifies that non-Russians have the right to ballots and other election forms in their native languages; but that provision of the basic law increasing is ignored by officials. Now activists in Karelia are trying to change that (mariuver.eu/2026/07/07/aktivisty-trebujut-bjulletenei-na-nacionalnyh-jazykah/).

            They are calling on Karels and Weps to continue to bombard election officials with demands that ballots be printed in their languages and to force the government to live up to its constitution not only there but elsewhere, demands that may seem a small point but are an indication of the kind of action that may have some chance of success.

            After all, calling on Moscow to live according to its own laws and constitution was one of the strongest tactics of the Moscow Helsinki Group in the last decades of Soviet power not because that organization got its way but because it gained support for the idea of a law-based state, something the Karelian activists clearly hope can happen again. 

Duma Approves Measure Taking Regulation of Migrant Workers Away from Labor Ministry and Giving It to Interior Ministry

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 8 – The Duma has now completed passage of a bill that takes the regulation of migrant workers away from the ministry of labor and gives it to the interior ministry, a step that seems set both to further centralize control in the hands of the police and to limit the crazy quilt of regulations which now vary from region to region.

            The measure makes two important changes that justify that conclusion. It gives the interior ministry rather than the labor ministry the power to define the list of professions migrants may fill; and it specifies that Moscow can now give migrant workers with permission in one place to exercise that right in others (nazaccent.ru/content/45671-professii-dlya-migrantov-teper-budet-vybirat-mvd-rossii/).

            If the measure is signed into law and there is every reason to believe it will be as it was pushed by the ruling United Russia Party, that will expand the role of Moscow and the police in regulating immigrant labor and thus allow the center to rewrite regulations in regions that the central government judges to be at odds with its interests. 

Per Capita, Russians in Far East Fall Victim to Politically Motivated Criminal Cases Far More Often than Those in Other Federal Districts, ‘Memorial’ Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 8 – The Memorial human rights organization reports that 2.5 per every 100,000 residents of the Russian Far East fell victim to politically motivated criminal cases during the first half of this year, the highest rate per capita of any federal district in the Russian Federation.

            Memorial researchers say that the reason for this is that increases in charges against Jehovah’s Witnesses. In the Far Eastern FD, almost one in four of such political charges involved religious groups whereas in other federal districts, the share was only seven percent (semnasem.org/news/2026/07/08/dalnij-vostok-vnov-stal-liderom-po-chislu-politicheski-motivirovannyh-ugolovnyh-del-na-dushu-naseleniya).

            They note that this is not the first time that the Far Eastern FD has led the Russian Federation in terms of such charges. The same thing was true throughout 2025 and thus continues a trend in which Russian officials far from Moscow are increasingly likely to bring such charges confident that they won’t be held to account by outside coverage. 

            Because this trend is greatest in the Far East and because it involves a religious group rather than an overtly political one, this aspect of repression in Putin’s Russia receives far less attention than it deserves given how few journalists or diplomats visit the region or even track what is going on there on a regular basis.