Paul
Goble
Staunton, March 31 -- 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 typically presents a selection of 13 of these
other and typically neglected stories at the end of each week. This week, it
offers almost a double – 25 stories from Russia and 12 from countries in
Russia’s neighborhood because of the extent to which the Navalny demonstrations
eclipsed other news.
This is the 76th such
compilation. It is only suggestive and far from complete – indeed, once again,
one could easily have put out such a listing every day -- but perhaps one or
more of these stories will prove to be bellwethers of the future or of broader
interest now.
1.
Putin is ‘an Autocrat
but Not a Tsar’ and ‘a Criminal but Not Stalin.’ Russian commentators continue to try to
define the Kremlin leader with these two characterizations having been offered
in the last week (rosbalt.ru/blogs/2017/03/24/1601730.html
and kasparov.ru/material.pp?id=58D8E8624F78D).
This week, Putin attracted attention for his visit to the Arctic where he
announced some grandiose plans even as he cast doubt on the human origins of
climate change. Many found Putin’s words
unpersuasive given first that he earlier promised to expand protected areas in
the Arctic but in fact has cut them (sobkorr.ru/news/58D8F7785ED18.html), second
that it is far from clear that there is any money to pay for his plans (gazeta.ru/business/2017/03/30/10603499.shtml#page5), and third
that evidence surfaced of Soviet plans to use human means to change the climate
in the Russian Far East (newsland.com/community/129/content/v-arkhivakh-gosplana-sssr-nashlis-proekty-izmeneniia-klimata-dalnego-vostoka-i-arktiki/5747334). Putin was also widely attacked for his
attempts to impose his power vertical on the Russian Academy of Sciences,
something scholars said would further undermine Russia’s capacity for growth
and development (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=58D8B7479B992).
2.
Russians Amused by
‘Meester Trump’ and His Tweets But Politicians Say He’s No Different than
Obama.
The American president still delights many Russians who say that his tweets
sound even better in Russian than they do in English (themoscowtimes.com/articles/meester-trumps-russian-tweets-57522).
But now that he has imposed new sanctions on Russia, Russian politicians “have
ceased to distinguish” him from his hated predecessor, Barack Obama (newsland.com/community/7451/content/v-sovfede-rossii-perestali-otlichat-trampa-ot-obamy/5753410).
3.
Putin’s Plan to
Boost Russian Military to Soviet Size Faces Serious Hurdles. Vladimir Putin attracted attention this week
by issuing a decree calling for the Russian military to expand to a size almost
equal that of the Soviet one (versia.ru/prezident-rf-podpisal-ukaz-ob-uvelichenii-chislennosti-vooruzhennyx-sil). But it is unlikely he’ll be able to do that.
On the one hand, even by raising the upper draft age, Moscow is finding it
difficult to find enough soldiers. Indeed, Putin didn’t boost the size of this
spring’s draft sufficiently to get to his goal.
Nor did he indicate how he would avoid having such an army dominated by
non-Russians (kavpolit.com/articles/prizyvniki_severnoj_osetii_dolzhny_budut_predostav-32745/). And on the other, it is far from clear that
the Russian economy could support what a larger military would entail, not just
more soldiers but bases and military equipment (newsland.com/user/17610/content/russkii-medved-na-samom-dele-mysh-ekonomika-ne-pozvoliaet-rossii-byt-sverkhderzhavoi/5753195, svpressa.ru/war21/article/169406/,
ng.ru/columnist/2017-03-30/5_6961_baltisk.html,
and sobkorr.ru/news/58D4FD4AD7FAF.html).
And this week brought more bad news on the military front: all second and third
stage motors for the Proton rocket have been recalled to fix problems (polit.ru/news/2017/03/30/proton/),
and Moscow has been caught again trying to hide just how many casualties its
forces in Syria have suffered (newsland.com/community/5652/content/rossiia-skryvaet-svoi-poteri-v-sirii/5746055).
4.
Russians have
Become Poorer Four Straight Years – and There is No End in Sight. Russian statistics show that Russians have
suffered their fourth straight year of declining real incomes (rosbalt.ru/russia/2017/03/28/1602762.html),
and economists say that even if the Kremlin’s plans to turn things around are
ultimately successful, at least initially, these innovations will make the
situation worse in the short and medium term (rbc.ru/economics/28/03/2017/58d9170e9a7947ee76ee97f2?from=main).
Three other pieces of economic news: regional debt rose again last month (regnum.ru/news/economy/2255925.html), an
international rating agency found Russian banks rank below those of Mexico (ng.ru/economics/2017-03-30/1_6961_banks.html),
but polls suggest that some Russians at least are quite willing to pay higher
taxes despite everything (newsland.com/community/7285/content/rossiianam-dazhe-nravitsia-kogda-im-povyshaiut-nalogi/5752723).
5.
Social Problems
Continue to Multiply.
Wherever one looks in Russia, there are intensifying social problems. Among
those which were noted in the media this week are the following: no one should
be breathing the air in Omsk as the atmosphere there has more than 400 times
the permissible level of chemical contaminants (sobkorr.ru/news/58D51F2999840.html),
there are now more HIV/AIDS cases in Russia than tuberculosis ones (demoscope.ru/weekly/2017/0721/barom03.php), but TB is
an increasing problem among wealthier groups (ura.ru/news/1052282630), bears
searching for good are driving people out of their homes in Pskov oblast (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/03/26/71899-volchie-mesto),
book sales in Russia are plummeting (rbc.ru/business/27/03/2017/58d8fd309a7947d791ca612a?from=main),
drug use is down overall but up significantly among younger age groups (demoscope.ru/weekly/2017/0721/barom04.php),
and more than half of all products in Russian stores do not correspond to
Russian government sanitary norms (versia.ru/bolshe-poloviny-produktov-v-rossijskix-magazinax-ne-sootvetstvuyut-normam). And Russians are wrestling with problems for
which they have no answers, including how to make graduate education useful for
those who do not intend to pursue an academic career (iq.hse.ru/news/204467042.html).
6.
To Fight Alcohol
Surrogates, Moscow May Ban Night Sales of Perfume and Cleaning Supplies. Russian
officials say that one way to reduce the consumption of alcohol surrogates is
to ban the nighttime sale of perfumes and cleaning supplies (versia.ru/v-rossii-mogut-zapretit-nochnuyu-prodazhu-spirtosoderzhashhego-parfyuma-i-moyushhix-sredstv). Another official wants to promote beer
drinking as a way of getting people off vodka (znak.com/2017-03-31/glava_minzdrava_komi_predlozhil_borotsya_s_alkogolizmom_pivnymi_festivalyami). But no one has any idea how to deal with the
biggest problem of all: ethnic Russians are ruining their health by
overconsumption of hard alcohol, and members of Muslim nationalities are
experiencing better health and even living longer because they consume far less
of that (http://izvestia.ru/news/673638,
nazaccent.ru/content/23581-eksperty-sostavili-kartu-trezvosti-regionov-rossii.html).
There were two other alcohol-related stories that received a great deal of
media play: a prostitute declared that she didn’t take money for her services
but only various amounts of vodka (newsland.com/community/7233/content/deneg-za-seks-ia-ne-brala-tolko-vodku/5754166),
and a man threatened to blow up a store unless he was given a bottle of vodka (politsovet.ru/54910-uralec-ugrozhal-vzorvat-magazin-chtoby-poluchit-butylku-vodki.html).
7.
Russian Statistics,
Never Reliable, Appear Set to Get Much Worse.
Researchers are expressing alarm about the way in which the transfer of
Rosstat to the economic development ministry is likely to make statistics even
less reliable than they are now. As bad as things are at present, they say,
this move will make it worse (newsland.com/community/4109/content/ruki-proch-ot-rosstata/5752056). And bad
they are already. Here are some examples
from this week: Moscow was able to understate the collapse of foreign travel by
including Abkhazia as a foreign destination (newsland.com/community/politic/content/ostorozhno-rossiia-zakryvaetsia-infografika/5747410), Rosstat
inflation statistics are so distorted that no one should rely on them (newsland.com/community/politic/content/infliatsiia-ili-rosstatovskie-chudesa/5748071),
Rosstat reported that Russians were becoming healthier when regional figures
showed just the reverse (newsland.com/community/4765/content/bolnykh-bolshe-a-statistika-luchshe/5751748),
and in the most ridiculous release of the week, Rosstat reported an average
salary for doctors that researchers say only 5.7 percent of them get (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=58DBFAAC50588). But these problems are not limited to Rosstat
by any means: In Daghestan, doctors said they would not confirm any harm
inflicted by the police or siloviki unless the latter authorized them to,
something very unlikely ever to happen (chernovik.net/content/inye-smi/mahachkalinskie-mediki-boyatsya-podtverzhdat-poboi-silovikov-bez-razresheniya-samih), and
VTsIOM, a polling agency with links to the Kremlin said it publishes only ten
percent of the survey results it collects for clients. One can understand why:
In making that statement, officials there said that they had found that one
Russian in every four still thinks the sun goes around the earth rather than
the earth around the sun (regnum.ru/news/society/2257049.html).
8.
No Let Up in
Monument Wars.
The high – or rather, low – point in Russia’s monuments wars this week was a
decision by the authorities to refurbish the Pushkin Statue in Moscow over the
coming months, thus depriving the Russian opposition of one of its favorite
places to demonstrate (republic.ru/posts/81262). Among other developments on this “front” were
the following: Moscow announced it would spend two billion rubles (33 million
US dollars) to restore the Motherland Calls statue in Volgograd (yug.svpressa.ru/society/article/145354/),
the fight over St. Isaac’s showed no sign of being resolved (newsland.com/community/1506/content/gorizbirkom-peterburga-dal-khod-referendumu-po-sudbe-isaakiia/5752915
and spektr.press/news/2017/03/29/v-rpc-nazvali-referendum-po-isaakiyu-pravovym-nonsensom/), a recently
erected statue honoring Russia’s construction workers was knocked down by a
strong wind (znak.com/2017-03-29/v_volgodonske_ruhnul_nedavno_postroennyy_pamyatnik_stroitelyam),
the Old Believers, following the Orthodox, the Muslims, and the Roman
Catholics, now say that they want the government to give them their churches
back (interfax-religion.ru/?act=print&div=20174),
officials in Irkutsk announced plans to build a Museum of Russian America there
(nazaccent.ru/content/23588-muzej-russkoj-ameriki-poyavitsya-v-irkutske.html),
fights continued over plans to build a cathedral and a mosque in Yekaterinburg
(portal-credo.ru/site/?act=monitor&id=25352
and portal-credo.ru/site/?act=monitor&id=25350),a
Lenin statue was decapitated by vandals in Oryol (rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=77645),
a prominent Muslim leader spoke out against anyone erecting a statue to Ivan
the Terrible because of the latter’s sacking of Kazan (islamrf.ru/news/russia/rusnews/41768/),
and Kaliningrad officials say they lack the funds to restore a memorial to the
Great Fatherland War (newsland.com/community/4109/content/pravitelstvo-kalinigradskoi-oblasti-prodaet-memorial-vov-iz-za-nekhvatki-sredstv-na-ego-soderzhanie/5746480)
and that they won’t restore an imperial palace there either (newsland.com/user/1487190146/content/imperskii-zamok-v-kaliningrade-vosstanavlivat-ne-budut/5756706).
9.
German Athletes
May Boycott World Cup if FIFA Doesn’t Move It from Russia. German sports
organizations say that German footballers may refuse to take part in the 2018
World Cup if that competition is not taken away from Russia (forum-msk.org/material/news/13008702.html). Despite
the continuing doping scandal, it appears unlikely that FIFA has the will do to
that. Indeed, it said this week it saw no reason to move the competition (.osbalt.ru/russia/2017/03/29/1602794.html). Nonetheless, news coming out of Russia was
not encouraging: Putin admitted that the Russian anti-doping system had broken
down (newsland.com/community/politic/content/putin-priznal-proval-antidopingovoi-sistemy-v-rossii/5751558).
Evidence of this was provided by the Russian government shortly after he made
that remark: it took one of the banned substances off the list of drugs
athletes are not allowed to use (profile.ru/obsch/item/116305-ugolovno-nakazuemyj-doping).
10.
Protests Spread
and Authorities Prepare to Crack Down. There were protests across Russia last
week that had nothing to do with corruption or with taxes on long-haul drivers.
Among those were environmental issues in
Sochi and Asbestos (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/299812/ and nakanune.ru/news/2017/3/25/22464845/) and over ethnicity in Buryatia (regnum.ru/news/accidents/2254598.html
and sova-center.ru/racism-xenophobia/news/racism-nationalism/2017/03/d36667/).
The Putin regime was preparing to respond: it was noted that Russia now has
more police per capita than any other country, including North Korea (newsland.com/community/4765/content/rossiia-strana-silovikov/5748163) and that the FSB is now actively studying how to
torture those it detains (linkis.com/echo.msk.ru/blog/ala/mwA3Y).
In addition, it was announced that the Russian Guard plans to use drones to
monitor protests (newsland.com/community/4765/content/rosgvardiia-planiruet-sledit-za-massovymi-aktsiiami-s-bespilotnikov/5751925)
and that the police will use all available means against any future protesters
(themoscowtimes.com/news/top-russia-official-pledges-to-release-full-police-arsenal-on-illegal-protests-57567).
Other developments were more closely linked with the widely covered Navalny
protests, but some aspects of those protests and their fallout were not covered
extensively. Among these: St. Petersburg deputies want to impose a minimum age
for those taking part in demonstrations (polit.ru/news/2017/03/27/meeting_age/),
Russian siloviki are now going after the children of those who do take part in
demonstrations (ng.ru/editorial/2017-03-31/2_6963_red.html),
and, unexpectedly, last Sunday’s demonstrations did not spark a dramatic rise
in Yandex searches about the issues involved (svoboda.org/a/28395830.html). Perhaps the two most important results of the
protests were these: parliamentarians decided they must talk about the problems
raised (svpressa.ru/politic/article/169399/), but some of them said that fighting against
corruption in Russia was unpatriotic (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=58DBCB0456194).
11.
The Islamic State
Creates a Russian-Language Website. Reflecting the fact that more than 10,000
people from Russia and other former Soviet republics are now fighting for ISIS
and that it expects to recruit even more, the Islamic State has set up a
Russian-language website to promote itself to Russian speakers (ca-news.org/news:1372101 and regnum.ru/news/polit/2255464.html).
12.
Nothing Sells in
Russia as Well as Russophobia, Schulmann Says. Russian scholar
and commentator Yekaterina Schulmann says that russophobia or charges of
Russophobia guarantees public attention because “nothing sells as well in
Russia” as that (rosbalt.ru/blogs/2017/03/22/1601059.html).
13.
Creating Christian
Political Parties in Russia Would Open a Pandora’s Box. Many are calling for the formation of one or
more Christian political parties in Russia, but taking that step, commentators
says, would open a Pandora’s box not only by dividing Christians but by
encouraging Muslims and other religious groups to do the same thing (polit.ru/article/2017/03/24/nochristparties/).
14.
Moscow to End
Northern Peoples Benefits for Those Who Live Outside Their Homelands. Russian law
specifies that Moscow provides specific monetary benefits to members of the
numerically small peoples of the North; but now, to save money, the central
government is providing such funds only to those who live in the region and
engage in traditional economic activity. Those who move elsewhere will no longer get the
benefits (nazaccent.ru/content/23564-v-pasportah-korennyh-malochislennyh-narodov-ne.html).
15.
Russian Gun Rights
Advocates Say Russian Laws Protect Criminals. Russia’s guns
rights advocacy group says that Russians need guns for self-deference but that
existing laws make it hard for them but not for criminals to get firearms (rusurvival.ru/text/Samooborona-v-rossii.html).
16.
Moscow Commentators
Denounce NATO Study on Russian Humor. Russian commentators say that a NATO
study of Russian humor shows just how bankrupt the Western alliance is. The
NATO study is available at stratcomcoe.org/stratcom-laughs-search-analytical-framework;
the Russian critiques at rubaltic.ru/article/politika-i-obshchestvo/21032017-yumor-kak-bazuka/
and echo.msk.ru/blog/diletant_ru/1949838-echo/).
17. Putin’s Troll Factory Expands into Major Media Holding
Company. A company established to run trolling
operations against Western targets has now grown into a major media holding
company in Russia with a wide variety of media properties under its control (rbc.ru/technology_and_media/23/03/2017/58d2c2df9a7947273ccb28e5?from=newsfeed,
rufabula.com/news/2017/03/24/troll-factory
and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=58D4E08F0F06F).
18.
Putin’s Foreign Agents Law has Forced a Third
of All Russian NGOs to Close Down. The law
introduced by Vladimir Putin requiring any non-governmental organization
receiving money from abroad to identify itself as “a foreign agent” has led 33
percent of all Russian NGOs to cease operations (bellona.org/news/russian-human-rights-issues/russian-ngo-law/2015-10-foreign-agent-law-has-put-33-percent-of-russias-ngos-out-of-business).
19.
Four Out of Five
Russians Say They’ve Never Personally Encountered Corruption. Despite evidence of massive corruption in
Russia and the attention that issue has received recently, 78 percent of
Russians, according to a new poll, say that they personally have never
encountered the phenomenon (regnum.ru/news/polit/2255443.html).
20.
Russian Interior
Ministry Says There are 10 Million Immigrants in Russia. Few statistics
are more politically sensitive than the numbers of immigrants legal and
otherwise now in Russia. The numbers offered by various outlets range from
three million to 18 million or more. Now the Interior Ministry has entered the
fray and suggested there are 10 million immigrants at present (ng.ru/politics/2017-03-29/3_6960_mvd.html).
21.
Moscow Media Claim
that Alaska Would Have Been Better Off Russian Blows Up. The Russian media claimed that Alaska would
have been “a more developed region” if it had remained part of Russia (newsland.com/community/4489/content/aliaska-mogla-by-byt-bolee-razvitym-regionom-esli-by-ostalas-v-rossii/5755267),
a claim it said was based on a statement by an Alaskan official. But the claim, absurd on its face given
conditions on the other side of the Bering Straits blew up in the faces of
those who made it. On the one hand, the Russian blogosphere pointed out just
how absurd this suggestion was (apostrophe.ua/news/world/ex-ussr/2017-03-30/na-chukotku-deneg-ne-hvatilo-seti-pozabavila-novaya-propaganda-rossmi-pro-alyasku/91660),
and on the other, the Alaskan official cited said he had never made any such
statement (meduza.io/news/2017/03/31/ria-novosti-privelo-tsitatu-chinovnika-ssha-chto-alyaske-bylo-by-luchshe-v-rossii-on-takogo-ne-govoril).
22. Hijab Again Legal in Two Russian Federal Subjects. Many Russians
oppose the hijab, seeing it as an offensive symbol of Islam, and they have
tried to prevent school children and others from wearing it. But now the courts in one region, Mordvinia,
and the government in another, Chechnya, have restored the right of Muslim
women to wear this traditional dress (rufabula.com/news/2017/03/28/islamisation
and novayagazeta.ru/news/2017/03/31/130316-vlasti-chechni-razreshili-nosit-hidzhaby-v-shkolah).
23.
Putin Promises Russians Will Live Longer to
Hide That There Will Be Fewer of Them.
Vladimir Putin has proudly projected that he will increase life
expectancy in Russia by four years in the coming decade. It is unlikely that he
can do that, but regardless of whether it happens, one commentator suggests the
Kremlin leader is only making that projection to distract attention from a
fundamental reality: over the same period, there will be far fewer Russians as
a result of falling fertility rates and rising mortality ones (nakanune.ru/articles/112738/).
24.
If Putin is Pushed
Out, Russia will Disintegrate Regionally.
Russian commentators are again arguing that only if the current Kremlin
leader remains in power will Russia avoid civil war and disintegration. What is
interesting about the latest suggestions in this regard is that most of them
point to Russia falling apart regionally rather than along ethnic lines (newsland.com/community/88/content/eksperty-predrekaiut-grazhdanskuiu-voinu/5757441).
25. Half of Russia’s Elderly Help Others
Even More Needy than Themselves. Russia’s elderly, even now when the Russian
government is making it ever more difficult to life on their pensions or even
to get them, are frequently helping others who are in an even more difficult
position than themselves, with about half of all elderly doing so on a regular
basis (https://iq.hse.ru/news/204237860.html,
rosbalt.ru/russia/2017/03/30/1603436.html
and rosbalt.ru/russia/2017/03/30/1603420.html).
And 12 more from countries in
Russia’s neighborhood:
1.
Planting Season
Explains Absence of Belarusian Protests. Many observers have suggested that the
Belarusian protest movement has run out of steam, pointing to the fact that
opposition figures have not called for any demonstrations until early May as
evidence. But the reason for the absence of protests in the coming weeks is not
a decline in anti-Lukashenka sentiment but rather the requirement that people
in the regions plant their crops and thus cannot easily get away to take part
in demonstrations (belaruspartisan.org/politic/374901/).
2.
Moscow Tries Again
to Play Hungarian Card Against Kyiv. The Russian government is working with
some in Hungary to promote the idea that a Hungarian autonomy should be formed
in the Western part of Ukraine. The idea
has periodically surfaced, but Russian outlets have stepped up their articles
about this possibility in recent days (apostrophe.ua/article/politics/regional-policy/2017-03-25/zakarpate-nashe-zachem-vengrii-avtonomiya-v-ukraine/11205).
3.
Crimean Occupation
Forces Building Company Towns There. Even though company towns (monogorody) in Russia itself are rapidly
dying out, the Russian occupation forces in Crimea are planning to create
analogues of these disasters there (lenta.ru/news/2017/03/25/mono/).
Other occupation news this week: there have been 43 kidnappings since the
Anschluss (kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/activists-report-43-abductions-crimea-since-russian-annexation-infographic.html),
Moscow has increased subsidies to flights to Crimea hoping that more Russians
will travel there(rbc.ru/politics/31/03/2017/58dddab69a7947a07945a357?from=main),
the occupation authorities say that Crimean Tatars are not filling the
classrooms in Crimean Tatar language schools (nazaccent.ru/content/23574-krymsko-tatarskie-klassy-okazalis-ne-vostrebovany-v.html), and
Bashkortostan closed its representation in Crimea (idelreal.org/a/28393369.html).
4.
Revisionist
History on Central Asian National Delimitation Raises Questions about the
Future. According to a new history of the
national-territorial delimitation of Central Asia in 1924, Central Asians, not
Moscow, promoted the idea (centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1490596440). That challenges the accepted wisdom that
Moscow took this step either as part of a divide and rule campaign or to
promote itself in the eyes of colonial subjects in British India as solicitous
to Muslim concerns. But if the new
interpretation has an impact on the thinking of current elites in the region,
that could open the way for border changes or recombinations of various ways.
5.
GUAM Creates a
Free Trade Zone.
At the urging of Kyiv, the organization of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and
Moldova have agreed to form a free trade zone by the end of this year (ng.ru/cis/2017-03-28/6_6959_ukraina.html).
If these countries succeed, it will further undermine the importance of the
Russian-led CIS. Meanwhile, in Moscow, a group of communists has
announced a counter-effort, calling for the restoration of the Communist Party
of the Soviet Union as a first step toward the restoration of the USSR (newsland.com/community/129/content/obnovlennaia-kpss-vosstanovit-sssr/5751926).
6.
Russian Historian
Says Soviet Deportations from Baltics Didn’t Have an Ethnic Character. In yet another
revisionist claim that is contradicted by all available evidence, a Russian
historian argues that Stalin did not deport people from Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania on the basis of ethnicity but only on the basis of class status and
antagonism to Russia (rubaltic.ru/article/kultura-i-istoriya/28032017-sovetskie-deportatsii-iz-pribaltiki/).
7.
Kazakhstan Justice
Ministry calls for Imposing Death Penalty on All who Threaten Country’s
Stability.
Kazakhstan may soon have the most draconian law in the post-Soviet space if
Astana goes along with a justice ministry call for introducing the death
penalty for crimes that threaten the stability of the country (fergananews.com/news/26188).
8.
Kyrgyzstan
Officials Must Know Kyrgyz by 2018. The Kyrgyzstan government says that by
next year, all its officials must know the national language. Many now speak
only Russian even though Kyrgyzstan has been independent since 1991 (centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1490629020).
9.
Moldovan
Government Wants to Withdraw from CIS.
Chisinau officials say that their country is planning to pull out of the
Russian-dominated Commonwealth of Independent States. If it does, and given Ukraine’s
suspension of membership, Moscow will no longer be able to claim that that
group includes the majority of the post-Soviet states (ng.ru/cis/2017-03-29/1_6960_moldova.html).
10.
Belarusian Young
People Turning from TV to the Internet. A
major reason that Russian influence in Belarus has declined is that young
people are no longer watching television, most of it Russian produced and
supplied, but instead relying on the Internet which is much less Russian
dominated than TV (https://charter97.org/ru/news/2017/3/29/245315/).
11.
Kazakhstan Now
Providing ‘Citizens for Russia and Wives for China.’ Experts in Kazakhstan say that Central Asian
country is increasingly the source for additional citizens for the Russian
Federation and wives for Chinese husbands (regnum.ru/news/polit/2256087.html).
12.
Only One Russian
in 25 Thinks Moscow Should Help Kyiv Restore Control over Donbass. A new poll shows
that Russians who have an opinion are nearly equally divided between those who
think that the Donbass should be absorbed into Russia and those who think it
should become independent. Most striking, however, is that only four percent
think that Moscow should, as it is committed to doing under the Minsk accords,
help Kyiv restore Ukrainian control over the region (newsland.com/community/129/content/pochti-polovina-rossiian-za-priznanie-nezavisimosti-dnr-i-lnr-ili-ikh-vkhozhdenie-v-sostav-rossii/5754228).
No comments:
Post a Comment