Paul
Goble
Staunton, October 7 -- 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 52nd
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.
Russian Orthodox
Advised on How They Should Pray for Putin. Lest Russians come up for a
prayer for Vladimir Putin like the one the Jews famously had in tsarist times (“May
the Lord God Preserve and Keep the Tsar Far Away from Me!”), Russian Orthodox
hierarchs have now come up with recommendations on how Russians should pray for
the current Kremlin ruler (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2016/10/05/kak_pravoslavnym_molitsya_za_prezidenta/).
2.
Caligula’s Horse
Strategy Doesn’t Work Out in Kaliningrad. Putin’s appointment of his bodyguard to
be governor of Kaliningrad has ended in failure, with the Kremlin leader conceding
by replacing him so quickly that being a Putin bodyguard may not be sufficient
training for someone who is charged with running a region (vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2016/10/07/659971-ohrannik-putina-ushel).
3.
‘Russians Must
Know Where Their Bomb Shelters Are’ and Other Signs of War. Forty million Russians
are currently going through civil defense drills where officials are telling
them among other things that they should know where their bomb shelters are (ura.ru/news/1052263382). Supporters of Putin’s
warmongering say that the West’s demonization of Russia is a sign that it
finally respects Russia (svpressa.ru/blogs/article/157783/),
while opponents say that Putin, having made Russia into “a besieged fortress”
is now on his way to making it into “an armed camp” (echo.msk.ru/blog/gudkov/1849752-echo/)
with defense spending both reported and secret going up dramatically (themoscowtimes.com/news/russia-to-increase-military-spending-whilst-slashing-budget-55583
and rufabula.com/articles/2016/10/07/secret-missile). Indeed, the only line item the defense
ministry appears interested in cutting is that for funerals of senior Russian
officials (gazeta.ru/business/2016/10/05/10231439.shtml). Other signs of war fever in Russia include: a
foreign ministry warning that Russians travelling abroad are in danger (vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2016/09/29/659044-mid-predupredil),
the appearance of Buk-shaped toys and beds for children, launcher used against
the Malaysian aircraft (en.censor.net.ua/photo_news/408489/production_of_bukshaped_kids_beds_launched_in_russia_photo),
polls showing that Russians are overwhelmingly opposed to having a woman as
president because the job of the state is to fight wars (iarex.ru/articles/53108.html),
the restoration of armored trains in the Russian military (thedrive.com/the-war-zone/4881/russia-has-revived-its-armored-trains),
and the formation of what are de facto ethnic units in the Russian land forces,
something Moscow has been reluctant to agree to except in time of war (tuvapravda.ru/?q=content%2Fv-tuvu-peredislociruyutsya-voennosluzhashchie-55-y-motostrelkovoy-brigady-i-ih-semi).
4.
Statue Wars Heat
Up Across Russia.
The statue wars continue in Russia, with people in St. Petersburg opposed to
putting up a monument to Admiral Kolchak (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2016/10/06/krovi_nashih_sootechestvennikov_na_etom_cheloveke_ne_meryano/)
and angry that some museum officials want to take down a memorial cross to
Rasputin in Tsarskoye selo (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2016/10/07/nasledniki_ubijc_rasputina/). Elsewhere, statues of Stalin and Ivan the
Terrible are going up, even as graffiti artists deface war memorials in
Kaliningrad (meduza.io/news/2016/10/06/v-surgute-snesli-pamyatnik-stalinu
and nazaccent.ru/content/22038-nacionalisty-osudili-oskvernenie-sovetskogo-pamyatnika-v.html).
Meanwhile, some are proposing a new statue for Moscow’s Red Square. It would
have Mickey Mouse, a stand in for Russians today, being escorted by Lenin and
Jesus Christ (facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1252602388124082&set=a.101578849893114.588.100001229974500&type=3&theater).
5.
Putin ‘Surprised’
by Teacher’s Small Salary – But He Shouldn’t
Be as He Cut It. Vladimir
Putin expressed surprise when Russia’s teacher of the year told him how little
she makes (tvrain.ru/teleshow/here_and_now/uchitel_goda-418404/).
He shouldn’t have been as he has been responsible for cutting the budget for education,
healthcare and other social services in order to finance his military
operations (vedomosti.ru/opinion/articles/2016/10/06/659824-lishnii-kapital).
In other bad economic news this week, it was reported that officials now think
two-thirds of Russians don’t need higher educations (rufabula.com/author/sklyarov/1365),
ever more people are leaving their home regions in search of work (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=57F4FD2B1FA40), Russia’s elderly can’t count on state assistance
in many areas (kommersant.ru/doc/3100850),
Russian incomes fell to a seven year low (charter97.org/ru/news/2016/10/4/225560/),
and 55 percent of university instructors now have to subsidize their own
publications (iq.hse.ru/news/192603233.html).
But some Russians are doing well. Media
outlets reported that the new Duma deputies were expensively attired (ura.ru/news/1052263668), that the descendants
of Soviet leaders are now living well in
the West (newrezume.org/news/2016-10-01-16544), and that the man who carried the Russian flag at
the Para-Olympics has been given an apartment in Moscow (echo.msk.ru/news/1849018-echo.html). Meanwhile, Russians are even cutting back on their
drinking, although they have cut their consumption of beer more than the amount
of vodka they drink (yug.svpressa.ru/economy/article/140178/),
and Russian Muslims were offered special “economy” rate haj tickets this year (kavpolit.com/articles/hadzh_dvizhimye_odnoj_ideej-28500/).
Ever more Russians are protesting specific problems while some are now posing
the question: why does Moscow have enough money to help people abroad but not
to help Russians at home (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=57F20B55D557D).
6.
Officials Want to
Replace Tolstoy and Shakespeare with the Bible and Second Foreign Languages
with Astronomy Classes. In actions reminiscent of the concluding frames of
Costa-Gavras’ classic film “Z,” Russian officials and activists seem to have
stepped up their competition over which of them can come up with the most
original bans. A group of educational
leaders say that Russian pupils should stop reading Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and
Shakespeare and read the Bible instead (charter97.org/ru/news/2016/10/7/226138/,
echo.msk.ru/news/1850360-echo.html
and lenta.ru/news/2016/09/30/ne_nuzhni/). Meanwhile, the education minister says that
legends can’t be challenged by historical research (ng.ru/editorial/2016-10-06/2_red.html). In other steps highlighting Russia’s increasing
isolation and retreat to the past, the Penza authorities refused to allow a gay
rights parade because they said there is nowhere in the city children might not
appear (sobkorr.ru/news/57F7564B6EB8E.html),
a Russian court said it is entirely appropriate for people to compare atheists
with circus bears (meduza.io/news/2016/09/30/prokuratura-ne-nashla-ekstremizma-v-sravnenii-ateistov-s-tsirkovymi-medvedyami),
but another court said it is wrong to use the slogan “Death to the Anti-Christ”
in public (life.ru/t/%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%88%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%8F/910912/v_podmoskovie_sk_vozbudil_dielo_na_kazakov_za_lozungh_smiert_antikhristu).
And officials in St. Petersburg have now been ordered to report any contacts
they have with foreigners (rferl.org/a/russia-st-petersburg-officials-foreign-contacts-reznik/28032970.html).
7.
FSB Spies on
Magistrates with Bugged Samovar.
The KGB infamously spied on the American ambassador by giving the US
embassy in Moscow a carved plaque to put on its wall. The FSB has now gone one
better: it has given the magistrates office a bugged samovar so that the
security services can listen in on what the investigators are discussing (interfax.ru/russia/531465).
8.
Tatars, Kalmyks
Infuriate Russians This Week. Tatars have infuriated Moscow by taking
two steps this week: the republic’s president visited Latvia and discussed
bilateral relations as if Tatarstan were an independent country (regnum.ru/news/polit/2189833.html),
while in Kazan, some Tatar officials asked that the street signs in the
republic be in Tatar as well as in Russian (idelreal.org/a/28036066.html).
Meanwhile, the Kalmyks have upset some in the Russian capital by starting
research to determine how many of them are direct descendants of Chingiz Khan (ng.ru/regions/2016-10-06/5_kalmykia.html) and talking about something Russians prefer not to
have discussed: the Kalmyk ancestry of Lenin (russian7.ru/post/kem-po-nacionalnosti-byl-lenin/).
9.
Siberian and Far
Eastern Pensioners Moving to Moscow Suburbs. Ninety percent of those
purchasing property in Moscow oblast in recent months are pensioners from east
of the Urals, a movement of population that undercuts the Kremlin’s efforts to
get Russians to move there in order to hold that region within Russia (regnum.ru/news/society/2189315.html).
10.
Death Squadrons Increase
Activity in North Caucasus. Even though Moscow seeks to present the situation in
the North Caucasus as ever more calm, there are new reports of increased
activity by death squadrons and by those who kidnap people for ransom coming,
Memorial says (memohrc.org/news/vsplesk-pohishcheniy-na-severnom-kavkaze-aktivizaciya-eskadronov-smerti).
11.
Coming to a Wine
Store near You: Chateau Permafrost from Siberia. Global warming
is making possible something few expected only a decade ago: Siberians are now
growing grapes and plan to make wine from areas whose terroir had been covered with
permafrost until recently (siberiantimes.com/business/siberianexport/features/f0258-coming-soon-chateau-permafrost-wine-from-siberia/).
Meanwhile, Tatarstan is boosting its production of cognac, and some in Kazan
are daring to suggest that it might be better than the original from France (business-gazeta.ru/article/324588).
12.
Russian Company
Now Offers Radioactive Tours. A Russian tour company is seeking to
compensate for its losses as far as travel abroad are concerned by offering
tours to Semipalatinsk, a Soviet-era nuclear test site. Among the things those
going on its excursions can expect to be offered are radioactive mushrooms (centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1475600760).
13.
Ukrainian Church
in Moscow Ordered Destroyed, as Russian Church Puts Vinyl Siding on Classic
Wooden Russian Ones. A Russian court has ordered the demolition of
an Orthodox church in Moscow that is subordinate to the Kyiv patriarchate (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=57F4BED1D14B4).
Meanwhile, Russian Orthodox priests are putting gup vinyl siding on some of
Russia’s famed wooden churches in hopes of saving them from destruction by the
elements (hraniteli-nasledia.com/articles/nasledie-rossii/vinilovaya-skazka-russkogo-severa-/).
And six others from countries in
Russia’s neighborhood:
1.
Ukrainian Hackers
Give Moscow Occupiers a Taste of Their Own Medicine. Russian hackers routinely disrupt things in
Ukraine and elsewhere. Now, a group of Ukrainian hackers has given Russians a
taste of their own medicine by hacking into official sites in occupied Crimea
and playing the Ukrainian national anthem over them (gordonua.com/news/crimea/ukrainskie-hakery-organizovali-translyaciyu-gimna-ukrainy-v-okkupirovannom-krymu-video-153364.html).
2.
Ukrainians Like
Americans Believe in Melting Pot; Russians Don’t. Ukrainians
believe that their country is a melting pot of peoples just as Americans do, an
attitude commentators say that sets the two apart from the Russians who can’t
accept that idea (pravdareport.com/world/ussr/ukraine/30-09-2016/135747-ukraine_russian_world-0/).
3.
Karimov’s Daughter
Tweets for Help Even as Her Father’s Grave Becomes Pilgrimage Site. The daughter of the late Uzbek president has
turned to Twitter to seek help for herself now that she doesn’t enjoy his
protection (belaruspartisan.org/politic/357880/).
Meanwhile, however, her father’s grave has already become a pilgrimage site for
Uzbeks (fergananews.com/news/25422).
4.
Post-Soviet States
Still Can’t Agree on Borders. Twenty-five years ago, far from all of
the former Soviet republics have been able to reach agreement on the borders
between them. Two pairs of countries – Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and Belarus
and Ukraine --announced problems in that regard this week alone (tengrinews.kz/kazakhstan_news/kazahstan-i-uzbekistan-gotovyatsya-k-demarkatsii-granitsyi-303244/
and belaruspartisan.org/politic/357476/).
5.
Dushanbe Puts Video
Monitors in Mosques.
The Tajikistan government has installed video cameras in the country’s major
mosques in order to follow what goes on there as part of its fight against
extremism (islamsng.com/tjk/news/11389).
Officials also want to require that imams use only Tajik and not Arabic in
services, perhaps for the same reason (centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1475682600).
6.
Lukashenka’s
Economic Miracle: Belarus Exports Five Times as Many Apples to Russia as It
Grows.
Alyaksandr Lukashenka has achieved another Soviet-style economic miracle: his
country exports to Russia five times as many apples as it grows. His secret?
His firms are buying apples in the West and then re-exporting them to Russia to
make money by endrunning the sanctions regime (themoscowtimes.com/news/belarus-sells-russia-five-times-more-apples-than-harvested-55546).
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