A Baker’s Dozen of Neglected Russian Stories – No. 30

Paul Goble

          Staunton, May 6 -- The flood of news stories from a country as large, diverse and strange as the Russian Federation often appears to be is far too large for anyone to keep up with. But there needs to be a way to mark those which can’t be discussed in detail but which are too indicative of broader developments to ignore.

          Consequently, Windows on Eurasia presents a selection of 13 of these other and typically neglected stories at the end of each week. This is the 30^th such compilation. It is only suggestive and far from complete – indeed, once again, one could have put out such a listing every day -- but perhaps one or more of these stories will prove of broader interest.

1.      Even Putin’s Opponents Will Vote for Him.  Vladimir Putin’s support among Russians is so broad that sizeable majorities in both the parliamentary and extra-systemic opposition parties say they will vote for him if he runs for another term, according to a pro-Kremlin foundation (rbc.ru/politics/05/05/2016/572a3ea89a79470b860b3490?from=main).

2.      Russian Officials having Hard Time Getting Victory Day Propaganda Right.  Among the shortcomings in Russian propaganda in advance of Victory day are official posters showing a Dutch flag rather than a Russian one and an American tank rather than a Soviet one (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=572AE13EEDE89 and  life.ru/t/%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8/405690/v_pietierburghie_priedlozhili_uvolniat_chinovnikov_za_oshibki_v_plakatakh_k_9_maia).  At least part of the reason for such mistakes is that there are ever-fewer veterans of World War II remaining alive; and many of the chief propagandists are either pseudo-veterans who never fought in that conflict (newsonline24.com.ua/lzhivaya-veteranskaya-svoloch-pobedobesie-ryazhenyx-klounov-foto-video and  kasparov.ru/material.php?id=572ACEEDBD5D1). But officials are doing one thing to make sure Victory Day takes place without a hitch: they are spending 350 million rubles (six million US dollars) to seed clouds so the skies over Moscow will be blue on May 9 and on other Russian holidays this year (forum-msk.org/material/news/11750918.html).

3.      Moscow Won’t Address Issue of Five Million Soviet MIAs in World War II.  There are many issues the Russian government won’t address in the run up to Victory Day including the fact that Stalin was once Hitler’s ally, that the Soviet dictator helped the Nazi leader carve up Poland, and that Soviet “liberation” at the end of the war was anything but for the peoples of Eastern Europe.  But Russians today are especially agitated that the authorities won’t take up the issue of the estimated five million Soviet soldiers who are still MIA in that conflict (novayagazeta.ru/society/72941.html).

4.      More than 15 Million Russians Live in Places without Paved Roads.  Despite all the talk about building roads, more than 15 million Russians – more than one in every nine – live in places without paved roads (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=572ADDC31A9E5).  The majority who live where there are paved roads aren’t much better off. Some face unrepaired potholes that are so large that in one Urals city the population has named each of them for a local official (ura.ru/news/1052248363).

5.      Russia’s Muslims Far More Committed to Their Faith than Russia’s Orthodox Are. A new poll shows what many have long suspected: Muslims in Russia are far more committed to their faith than are Orthodox (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2016/05/03/nyne_rech_idet_o_konsolidacii_ateistov/).

6.      Blogger Fined 8,000 US Dollars for Saying Russian News Outlet Invented News.  A Russian blogger who suggested that a Moscow news organization had invented news stories was ordered by a court to pay a 500,000 ruble fine (meduza.io/en/news/2016/04/29/russian-blogger-ordered-to-pay-news-agency-russia-today-half-a-million-rubles-for-saying-it-invented-news?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=share_twitter&utm_campaign=share).

7.      Two Duma Deputies Want Moscow to Reactivate Russian Signals Intercept Station in Cuba. Two Duma deputies say that given rising East-West tensions, Moscow should re-open the signals monitoring station in Cuba it operated against the US during the Cold War (babalublog.com/2016/04/30/reports-from-cuba-two-russian-deputies-propose-reestablishing-signal-intercept-station-in-cuba/).

8.      FIFA Official Admits Taking Bribes from Moscow. In yet another blow to Russia’s prospects to host the upcoming World Cup competition, a FIFA official admits that he took bribes from Moscow, something many have assumed but that no one has admitted up to now (uacentr.com/full.php?id=187&g=820886501366475).

9.      Russian Labor Minister Says There are No Poor Pensioners in His Country.  In yet another triumph of Groucho Marxism in Russia, the country’s minister for labor says there are no poor pensioners there, even though statistics show that Russians have become impoverished to a degree unprecedented in the post-Soviet period (themoscowtimes.com/article/567441.html  and mk.ru/social/2016/03/14/obnishhanie-rossiyan-dostiglo-samogo-katastroficheskogo-urovnya-so-vremen-perestroyki.html).

10.  Duma Elections in Russia Really Matter But Not in the Ways Most Think. Despite the Kremlin’s use of administrative measures to control their outcome, the Duma elections in Russia really matter.  On the one hand, the existence of single-member districts mean that even the ruling United Russia party may have less control over its deputies in the future parliament (ura.ru/articles/1036267753).  And on the other, the upcoming vote determines the timing of many things: Vladimir Zhirinovsky is rumored to be kicked upstairs to the Federation Council after the vote and thus effectively retired (ura.ru/articles/1036267753) and Moscow’s hopes for regional amalgamation and stripping Tatarstan of its presidency are on hold at least until after the electorate speaks (http://asiarussia.ru/news/12186/).

11.  Neanderthals Lasted Longer in What is Now Russia than They Did in Europe, Scholars Say.  A group of scholars has announced that genetic studies show that the Neanderthals lasted far longer on the territory of what is now Russia than they did in Europe where they were earlier displaced by the ancestors of modern humans (nkj.ru/news/28759/).

12.  Great Russian Dream is Not to Have a Future, Commentator Says. A Moscow commentator says that one of the reasons Putin has gotten away without articulating a vision of the future is that “the great Russian dream” is not to have a future but to live only in the present (snob.ru/selected/entry/107904).

13.  ‘Next Year in the USSR’ – How Russians Should Copy Jewish Strategy.  Another Moscow commentator has come up with an unusual proposal: Russians should lay the groundwork for the restoration of the Soviet Union by declaring “Next Year in the USSR,” thereby copying the historical Jewish saying, “Next Year in Jerusalem,” that ultimately led to the restoration of the state of Israel (svpressa.ru/blogs/article/147790/).

And six more from Russia’s neighbors:

14.  Four Countries Bordering Russia Building Walls to Prevent Infiltration. Norway has become the fourth country bordering Russian to announce plans to build a wall along its border with that country. Ukraine, Estonia and Latvia are the others (nr2.com.ua/News/Ukraine_and_Europe/Tri-strany-namereny-postroit-stenu-na-granice-s-Rossiey-119171.html).

15.  When Moscow Behaves Like Taliban and ISIS, Where is the International Outrage?  Russian officials have destroyed classical antiquities in occupied Crimea just as the Taliban did in Afghanistan and ISIS has in Syria, but there has been very little international outrage about that (qha.com.ua/ru/proisshestviya/okkupanti-v-krimu-unichtojili-antichnuyu-usadbu/158859/).

16.  Lavrov Says Balts Insufficiently Grateful for Soviet Liberation.  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that the people and governments of the Baltic countries should be more grateful to Russia for liberating them from the Nazis rather than going on about the Soviet “occupation” that followed (abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/lavrov-baltics-show-gratitude-moscow-letting-38754112).

17.  327 Places in Ukraine Renamed to Drop Soviet References; 987 More Slated to Follow by February 2017.  Ukrainian officials have already renamed 327 villages and towns in Ukraine to end links to the Soviet past. Some 987 more are to be renamed by next February (charter97.org/ru/news/2016/5/5/202904/).

18.  Moscow Sending Officers for Training in Occupied Donbas. If any further indication was needed that Russia is occupying the Donbas and that the Kremlin views the methods it has employed there as a model, that has been dispelled by the announcement that Russian military academies will now be sending their officer students to the region to study the tactics Moscow has employed (charter97.org/ru/news/2016/5/5/202899/).

19.  Transdniestria Shifting Its Trade Away from Russia and toward the EU. Eurasianet reports that the breakaway Moldovan region, long a bastion of Russian influence in the region, is now reorienting its trade away from the Russian Federation toward the EU, a change that will help salvage its economy and make it easier to cooperate with Chisinau (eurasianet.stfi.re/node/78636?sf=bvklbon).