Paul
Goble
Staunton, July 29 -- 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 each week
presents a selection of these other and typically neglected stories at the end
of each week. This is the 93rd such compilation, and it is again a
double issue with 26 from Russia and 13 from Russia’s neighbors. Even then, it
is far from complete, but perhaps one or more of these stories will prove of
broader interest.
1.
Is Putin a CIA
Agent or Only the Richest Man on Earth?
Vladimir Putin has done so much harm to
Russia that the only possible conclusion is that he is an agent of Western
special services, a charge that recalls those made by Soviet loyalists against
Mikhail Gorbachev (charter97.org/ru/news/2017/7/27/257752/). Meanwhile, Willilam Browder, the founder of
Hermitge Capital and the man behind the Magnitsky Act, suggests that Putin
is “the richest man in the world” with a net worth of perhaps 200 billion US
dollars (echo.msk.ru/news/2026742-echo.html). Putin is
certainly wealth and he has helped his friends to great wealth as well: this
week it came out that he had made a dollar billionaire of the man who
supervised his kandidat dissertation (znak.com/2017-07-24/rektor_universiteta_gde_zachichal_dissertaciyu_putin_okazalsya_dollarovym_milliarderom). But Putin
seems to be losing it in some ways, denying the obvious – there is no
censorship of any kind in Russia, the Kremlin leader says, or confusing the
figures about the growth or decline of the Russian population (echo.msk.ru/blog/echomsk/2023044-echo/ and newsland.com/community/4765/content/putin-pereputal-prirost-naseleniia-rossii-s-ego-ubyliu-ili-bednaia-geografichka/5924883). He did reveal
his KGB name – Platov (newsland.com/community/politic/content/putin-raskryl-svoi-psevdonim-kotorym-polzovalsia-v-razvedshkole/5924801) – and said he
maintains his equilibrium by remaining on Moscow time even when he travels (kp.ru/daily/26705.7/3733249/).
2.
Criticism of Putin
Mounts among Commentators and Officials. It is perhaps no surprise that many Russian
commentators are critical of Putin these days: One said that distrust in his regime
is so great that Aleksey Navalny looks good by comparison (rosbalt.ru/blogs/2017/07/25/1633448.html). But more
seriously, some officials are become more if still implicitly critical of the
Kremlin leader: Challenged by those who object to new charges for carryon
luggage, the transportation ministry said Putin had made the decision, a claim
that it may have thought would end discussion but that highlights objections to
his policies within the Russian government (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59777E171876B).
3.
Trump is Like
Having Zhirinovsky in Power, Russian Analyst Says. If criticism of Putin is generally circumspect,
criticism of the US president Putin had hoped would be his ally is not. One Russian writer suggested that Donald
Trump is the American equivalent of the outrageous LDPR leader Vladimir
Zhirinovsky and is behaving just as Zhirinovsky would if he were in the Kremlin
(kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59777E2FF027D). Another Russian
analyst says that Trump may not be Putin’s agent but he uses many of the same
propaganda techniques, an analysis that cuts both ways (stopfke.org/kseniya-kirillova-propagandistskie-shemy-tramputinizma/). But Russian
commentator are suggesting that Trump and Putin are beginning to understand
each other better, with the former recognizing that Putin is a real danger and
the latter realizing that an American president isn’t all powerful (snob.ru/selected/entry/127303 and echo.msk.ru/blog/taratuta/2025172-echo/). Antoher Russian
analyst (Igor Eidman) says that the two are a lot alike but that the US system
is in many ways “idiot proof” while the Russian one isn’t (facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1564698910259749&id=100001589654713).
4.
To Save Economy,
Some in Moscow Thinking about Reviving Five-Year Plans. One measure of how bad the Russian economy
now is as compared to Kremlin claims about it is that some officials are now
proposing that the Kremlin revive the Soviet practice of five-year plans to
organize economic activity (forbes.ru/biznes/348269-vernut-pyatiletki-ekonomike-nuzhen-plan-za-kotoryy-mozhno-sprosit).
Such proposals have surfaced as the IMF predicts an economic boom just about
everywhere except in the Russian Federation (svpressa.ru/omy/article/177498/) and Russian
state policies are suppressing entrepreneurialism or driving it underground (profile.ru/omics/item/118682-kto-ne-spryatalsya-tot-i-vinovat). Other
distressing economic news this week incudes: housing prices have fallen but not
enough to compensate for falling incomes, leading to a collapse in property
markets and in the building industry (svpressa.ru/realty/article/177774/, fedpress.ru/news/77/society/1826736 and ng.ru/omics/2017-07-26/4_7037_stroyspad.html); ever fewer
Russians can pay their loans in a timely fashion or qualify for new ones (ng.ru/economics/2017-07-27/1_7038_dolg.html, rbc.ru/finances/27/07/2017/5979df939a79470326be964f?from=newsfeed, newsland.com/community/4788/content/rossiiane-vse-glubzhe-pogruzhaiutsia-v-dolgovuiu-iamu/5927870
and finanz.ru/novosti/lichnyye-finansy/bolee-7-millionov-rossiyan-ne-mogut-oplachivat-bankovskie-kredity-1002208404),
real per capita incomes are back where they were in 2007 (newsland.com/community/4765/content/realnye-dokhody-rossiian-zastriali-na-urovne-2007-goda/5929701),
trade unions are warning of massive unemployment ahead (newsland.com/community/4788/content/profsoiuzy-predupredili-o-budushchei-massovoi-bezrabotitse-v-rossii/5924507), business
confidence in Russia is declining (kommersant.ru/doc/3367080), and Moscow is
discovering that trying to end run sanctions may make its situation even worse
(themoscowtimes.com/articles/siemens-sanctions-scandal-58486). One mile post
in the economy this week deserves to be noted: the first-ever legal post-Soviet
Russian dollar millionaire has died (rosbalt.ru/russia/2017/07/23/1632809.html).
5.
Moscow Will Soon
Be Divided Between Rich Neighborhoods and Slums. Russians have
long been proud that their cities are not divided between rich neighborhoods
and slums as is the case in many cities abroad, but the current city government
is taking actions that many fear will transform Moscow into a city like any
other (snob.ru/selected/entry/127373). Other unwelcome
social news at the individual level: pensioners have been promised only a four
US dollar increase in their monthly pensions (rosbalt.ru/russia/2017/07/25/1633307.html), government
support for Russian university students ihas fallen behind that of Ukraine,
Belarus or Kazakhstan ( http://www.ng.ru/economics/2017-07-27/4_7038_students.html), the tourism tax
has outraged many Russians and convinced them not to travel at all this year (newsland.com/community/6437/content/gosduma-postavila-krest-na-rossiiskom-turizme/5927356), Russians face
the prospect that they soon will not be able to get payday loans (gazeta.ru/business/2017/07/24/10802756.shtml), only a quarter
of Russians say they have saved any money for their funerals (newsland.com/community/5652/content/chetvert-rossiian-rasskazali-ob-otlozhennykh-na-pokhorony-dengakh/5928746),
Russians confined to psychiatric facilities are being seriously mistreated,
according to a new study (meduza.io/feature/2017/07/25/nu-vyzdoravlivayte), and the
electric commuter trains many Russians now rely on have been declared
increasingly unsafe (forum-msk.org/material/news/13498868.html).
6.
Reducing Number of
Hospital Beds Improving Access to Russian Health Care, Officials Say. Last year, the
Russian government as part of Putin’s optimization campaign reduced the number
of hospital beds in the country by 23,000. This week, the health ministry
insisted that this improved access to health care in Russia (newsland.com/community/4788/content/sokrashchenie-chisla-bolnichnykh-koek-minzdrav-schitaet-povysheniem-dostupnosti-medpomoshchi/5928401 and
rbc.ru/society/24/07/2017/5970a5939a79474bc77c9a7d?from=newsfeed). There was more bad news on the health front, including a report that
there is now only one doctor for every 85 residents in St. Petersburg which is
better served than many other cities (newsland.com/user/3566637532/content/strakh-i-zdorove-malenkogo-sankt-peterburga/5928802), a serious
reduction in the amount of government money going to help those with
Alzheimer’s (echo.msk.ru/programs/personalnovash/2023016-echo/), and showing that two-thirds of Russians are now
suffering health problems because of environmental problems, including dirty
air (kommersant.ru/doc/3365825 and takiedela.ru/news/2017/07/25/v-negative/). Meanwhile, a
controversies broke out about the high prices and low availability of condoms in Russia (newsland.com/community/6437/content/glave-rospotrebnadzora-pozhalovalis-na-vysokuiu-stoimost-prezervativov/5927357)
and about corruption in medication supply chains (svpressa.ru/economy/article/177511/). But perhaps the
most disturbing reports of all concern increases in the number of Russians
suffering and dying from cancer. At present, 1,000 of them are dying of that
disease every day (rusjev.net/2017/07/26/v-rossii-ot-raka-kazhdyiy-den-umiraet-tyisyacha-chelovek/)
and the incidence of cancer is increasing in all age groups (mk.ru/social/2017/07/25/rak-v-rossii-stal-nacionalnym-bedstviem.html). One hospital
has come up with an idea to “improve” the situation: medical personnel will be
docked 500 rubles (eight US dollars) for each patient who dies on their watch (newsland.com/community/4765/content/na-urale-iz-zarplat-vrachei-vychitaiut-po-500-rublei-za-smert-patsienta/5929828).
7.
Kremlin Behind
Kadyrov’s Offer to Go to Jerusalem, Israeli Analyst Says. Avraam Shmulyevich says that Ramzan Kadyrov’s
offer to resign and go to Jerusalem to solve the conflicts over access to the
Temple Mount is a Kremlin stunt designed to distract attention from Moscow’s
failure to extend the power-sharing accord with Tatarstan and to mollify
Russia’s Muslims who often feel that the Russian government doesn’t do enough
for them (rusmonitor.com/za-iniciativojj-kadyrova-po-khramovojj-gore-stoit-kreml.html). Other
developments on the nationalities front this week include: studies show that
the Kremlin’s program to distribute free land in the Far East is harming the
indigenous population (nazaccent.ru/content/24801-ledkov-zakon-o-dalnevostochnom-gektare-lishaet.html), the Chuvash
have taken the lead in opposing Putin’s line on non-Russian languages (ireklekh.blogspot.ru/2017/07/blog-post_22.html), the situation
in Daghestan is slipping out of control with fewer people supporting the
Moscow-installed regime, more officials kidnapped, and continuing tensions
about the Nogays (caucasustimes.com/ru/opros-v-dagestane-bolee-poloviny-zhitelej-respubliki-stali-zhit-huzhe-i-utratili-doverie-k-vlastjam/, onkavkaz.com/news/1790-nogaicy-nanesli-abdulatipovu-pervoe-oschutimoe-porazhenie-no-on-gotovit-pozicii-k-otvetnomu-uda.html, and republic.ru/posts/85225), protests have
erupted in Bashkortostan against the Moscow-imposed ruler there (/fedpress.ru/article/1823606), the 650,000
ethnic Kazakhs living in Russia are forming an all-Russian organization to
defend their interests (nazaccent.ru/content/24820-kazahskie-organizacii-rossii-obedinilis-v-soyuz.html), the Hilton
hotel chain is planning to open a hotel in Sakha (siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/stay-at-the-hilton-if-youre-hunting-for-diamonds-or-woolly-mammoths/), the ousted
president of Mari El is appealing to the outside world with his own poetry (mariuver.com/2017/07/24/oklevet-markel/), officials are
playing games with the Russian language examination to keep Circassians from
Syria from gaining Russian citizenship (ekhokavkaza.com/a/28635875.html), and hostility
in the North Caucasus to people from Central Asia appears to be on the rise (kavpolit.com/articles/ty_uzbek_ezzhaj_v_uzbekistan-34953/).
8.
Liberal Russians
Failing to Protest State’s Effort to Declare Bible Translation ‘Extremist.’ The Russian
government is continuing its efforts to have a translation of the Bible
prepared by the Jehovah’s Witnesses declared “extremist” in contravention of
Russian law (portal-credo.ru/site/?act=comment&id=2192),
but unfortunately, Russian liberals aren’t protesting this egregious action,
according to a Moscow commentator (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=597AEB1E762B4). Meanwhile,
despite complaints that the Russian Orthodox Church isn’t maintaining buildings
returned to it, many in the legislature are pressing for giving it even more
buildings including empty houses that the church had never owned before (newsland.com/community/4765/content/v-gosdume-predlozhili-perestraivat-nenuzhnye-moskve-doma-v-khramy/5930935, politsovet.ru/56014-sverdlovskie-vlasti-otdali-rpc-pamyatnik-arhitektury.html and novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/07/26/73240-zachem-rpts-razbrasyvaet-kamni). The Moscow
Patriarchate has also reached agreement with the culture ministry to prepare
joint texts to promote the “correct” views about Russian classics (rg.ru/2017/07/26/ministerstvo-kultury-i-cerkov-sozdali-pushkinskij-soiuz.html).
9.
Moscow, Local
Governments Step Up Fight Against Regionalist Movements. Governments in
various parts of the Russian Federation have joined with Moscow to try to
suppress regionalist movements (nazaccent.ru/content/24835-sajt-dvizheniya-svobodnaya-ingriya-zablokirovali-za.html, afterempire.info/2017/07/24/censorship/, facebook.com/groups/freeingria.org/
and thebarentsobserver.com/en/civil-society-and-media/2017/07/murmansk-burgeoning-fight-between-city-government-and-free-press).
Among the things powering regionalism is Moscow’s reduction in subsidies for
key issues like demography and the impact of global warming on the Russian
north (politsovet.ru/56065-naselenie-sverdlovskoy-oblasti-prodolzhaet-ubyvat.html, newsbabr.com/irk/?IDE=162680, takiedela.ru/kamchatka/ and regnum.ru/news/economy/2304035.html).
10. Blood Drawings Not Acceptable for Security Services’
Anniversary.
Pupils in a Siberian school have been told that their offerings in a drawing
competition on the occasion of the anniversary of Russia’s security services
won’t be accepted if they are drawn in blood as some of the children planned (themoscowtimes.com/news/siberian-drawing-competition-for-security-services-centenary-wont-accept-bloody-artwork-58494 and
znak.com/2017-07-22/v_tomskoy_oblasti_shkolnikov_poprosili_pozdravit_fsb_bez_krovavyh_baek). Other protests
this week including a demonstration against migration in Ingushetia that was
forcibly suppressed by police (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/306736/), complaints by
Russians about officials who increase their own pay when others are suffering (7x7-journal.ru/anewsitem/97149), a Moscow
demonstration in favor of Internet freedom that led to the arrest of one man
with a sign reading “Putin lies” (newsland.com/community/politic/content/moskovskaia-aktsiia-za-svobodnyi-internet-sobrala-800-chelovek/5926938 and republic.ru/posts/85207), more protests
about renovation plans in Moscow with the likelihood that these will spread now
that the center has decided to extend the renovation plan to the entire country
(newsland.com/community/7149/content/khroniki-renovatsionnoi-afery-o-nelegitimnosti-sobranii-zhiltsov-v-polovine-domov/5925530, rbc.ru/politics/24/07/2017/596de2a99a7947525e17e142?from=mai, themoscowtimes.com/news/moscow-demolition-s-unlikely-58478
and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5976D55FC07CD), miners declared
a hunger strike and sued the VTsIOM
director for his dismissive comments (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/306621/ and snob.ru/selected/entry/127305),
Kazan residents protest against the construction of a mosque there (idelreal.org/a/28636968.html), Derbent
residents demonstrate against handling of trash (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/306661/), Pulkovo astronomers
who complained to Putin are fired (ng.ru/regions/2017-07-25/2_7037_piter.html), Yaroslavl
people picket against cutting down trees in city center (regnum.ru/news/polit/2304651.html), and liberals
and Russian naitonalists work together in Penza to call for the freedom of all
political prisoners (sobkorr.ru/news/597854829AFFC.html).
11. Too Much Knowledge about Repressions a Threat to
Russian Identity, Teachers Say. Teachers in Perm say that children
should not be given too much information about repressions in the past (and
presumably in the present?) lest it undermine their Russian national identities
(ura.news/articles/1036271606). Meanwhile, in
other measures of repression, fewer officials were charged with corruption and
bribery over the last six months than a year ago (rosbalt.ru/russia/2017/07/27/1633973.html and republic.ru/posts/85335), but only one in
every 500 ordinary Russians charged in Sverdlovsk oblast was found not guilty (politsovet.ru/56052-v-sverdlovskoy-oblasti-sudy-vynesli-021-opravdatelnyh-prigovorov.html), more than half
of Chelyabinsk residents say they don’t trust the police (fedpress.ru/news/74/society/1827076), the authorities
have brought extremism charges against a Magnitogorsk witch for supposedly
threatening them (openrussia.org/notes/711974/), officials
seeking power to shutter websites without a court hearing (ng.ru/editorial/2017-07-27/2_7038_red.html), other officials
have been caught using sexual torture against students who take part in
protests (svoboda.org/a/28632270.html), Moscow wants to
ban those who beg on behalf of sick children (rosbalt.ru/russia/2017/07/22/1632755.html), inmates have
been tortured to change their testimony and confess (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/07/22/73201-ya-ves-sodrogalsya-i-bilsya-golovoy-o-podlozhennoe-sidenie-primerno-30-minut-menya-bili-tokom, ixtc.org/2017/07/voronezhskogo-aktivista-izbili-beysbolnoy-bitoy/ and echo.msk.ru/news/2024206-echo.html), definition of
bribery may be expanded to include non-monetary gifts, thus opening the way for
more to be charged (politsovet.ru/56009-v-gosdumu-vnesli-zakon-o-nematerialnyh-vzyatkah.html), the Kremlin has
appointed a new official to oversee the Internet (politsovet.ru/56026-v-kremle-poyavitsya-esche-odin-kurator-interneta.html), and officials
have launched a case against a glossy journal for photographs of models in a
non-working church (newsbabr.com/msk/?IDE=162753).
12. GULAG Not Only Continues Under Putin But is Getting
Worse.
Russia’s prison camps remain an integral part of its economy and penal system,
and conditions in them are in fact getting worse after compared to their state
at the end of Soviet times (themoscowtimes.com/articles/how-gulag-lives-on-in-russias-prison-economy-58482 and ivpavlova.blogspot.com/2017/07/blog-post_21.html).
This week, reports about a secret FSB prison near Moscow, one that some Russian
writers christened “the Russian Guantanmo” because it houses suspected
terrorists from Central Asa, sparked a sharp debate about the GULAG more generally,
with activists and former inmates talking about torture and other forms of
terror and repression while officials denied such facilities even exist (snob.ru/selected/entry/127271,
spektr.press/news/2017/07/24/zhurnalist-ilya-rozhdestvenskij-uvolilsya-iz-rbk-iz-za-otkaza-redakcii-opublikovat-statyu-o-sekretnyh-tyurmah-fsb/,
spektr.press/news/2017/07/26/upolnomochennyj-po-pravam-cheloveka-otkazalas-verit-v-suschestvovanie-sekretnoj-tyurmy-fsb/, themoscowtimes.com/news/metro-bombing-suspects-claim-existence-of-russian-guantanamo-58480 http://spektr.press/podval-dlya-terroristov-chto-izvestno-o-sekretnoj-tyurme-fsb/, republic.ru/posts/85167
https://newsland.com/community/6207/content/vas-legche-pokhoronit-chem-lechit-sergei-mokhnatkin-o-tiuremnoi-bolnitse/5928705,
ru.rfi.fr/rossiya/20170724-sergei-mokhnatkin-o-bolnitse,
echo.msk.ru/blog/lev_ponomarev/2024376-echo/
and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5976247E0AB9C).
13.
Radical Russian
Nationalists Caught Illegally Selling Guns to Population. Russian
officials have lost control of the gun market, as two reports this week showed:
According to one, a group of Russian neo-Nazis were selling guns to anyone who
wanted them (nazaccent.ru/content/24866-v-moskve-zaderzhali-torgovavshih-oruzhiem-neonacistov.html),
and according to the second, Daghestan’s effort to buy back guns in private
hands has collapsed (kavkazr.com/a/sdavat-ili-ne-sdavat-vot-v-chem-vopros/28639051.html).
Significantly, those who want to buy guns this way want to buy foreign made
ones which are considered to be of higher quality despite their higher prices (lenta.ru/articles/2017/07/21/importozam/). Putin’s Russian Guard which has made fighting illegal private gun
ownership one of its targets got its own aviation wing this week as well as promises
to organize companies of scientists to help it do its job (lenta.ru/articles/2017/07/26/aviaguard/
and politsovet.ru/56056-v-rosgvardii-poyavyatsya-nauchnye-roty.html). But its overreaching has sparked opposition: a
group of Russians in a Moscow suburb blocked its efforts to build a new
facility there (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=597ADF1EBF652).
And in another indication of the domestic security situation, two women
appealed to Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to end the conflict
so that their sons and the sons of others could return home (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/07/27/73256-eto-v-vashih-silah-vernut-domoy-nashih-detey-i-prekratit-voynu).
14. Only Honest Part of Putin’s Defense Plan is Provision
Saying It Will Be Cut if Budget Requires. Putin’s ambitious defense plan will not
be realized, experts say who point out that the only honest provision is one
that says it will be modified according to the amount of money available (ej.ru/?a=note&id=31366).
(Indeed, Dmitry Medvedev has already indicated it won’t be fulfilled as far as
its Arctic sector plans are concerned (newsland.com/community/5652/content/medvedev-realizatsiia-riada-arkticheskikh-proektov-budet-otlozhena/5931873). Instead, Putin seems set on spending
massively on public demonstrations of force without really building things up (newsland.com/community/6437/content/na-baltike-sotni-millionov-rublei-vyletiat-v-korabelnye-truby-radi-nebyvalogo-prazdnika/5926322,
regnum.ru/news/polit/2304013.html
and lenta.ru/articles/2017/07/27/grandfleet/).
Many ships will be in drydock far longer than the plan specifies and Russia is
unlikely to be able to catch up with the US in key technology areas (https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2017/07/nuclear-missile-cruiser-out-waters-35-years
and regnum.ru/news/it/2304360.html).
Russia is also wrestling with a shortage of draft age males. This week, the Russian
ombudsman proposed allowing the drafting of women but this has sparked much
negative comment (takiedela.ru/news/2017/07/26/national-army/,
newsbabr.com/msk/?IDE=162766 and newsland.com/community/4765/content/komitet-soldatskikh-materei-otreagiroval-na-ideiu-moskalkovoi-o-zhenskoi-sluzhbe/5931426). Meanwhile, recognizing that it has few
friends and allies and thus little soft power (stoletie.ru/rossiya_i_mir/chto_predlozhim_miru_766.htm
and censoru.net/19910-v-seti-dali-chetkiy-otvet-rossiyanam-pochemu-ih-nenavidyat-sosednie-strany.html), Russian officials and businesses are hiring more
lobbyists but in fact, because of the budget, spending less on them than they
were (rbc.ru/newspaper/2017/07/26/597754619a79474245d52c3a).
In other defense news, Moscow approved a unified group of forces with Armenia (charter97.org/ru/news/2017/7/27/257757/) and took a 49 year lease on an airbase in Syria (themoscowtimes.com/news/russia-extends-syrian-airbase-lease-by-49-year-58512).
15. Ivan the Terrible, Nicholas II and Dzerzhinsky Statues
Go Up as Gogol Monument Crumbles. In order to get a statue of Ivan the
Terrible up in Moscow quickly, the authorities moved one there from Vladimir
Oblast (rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=78617 and politikus.ru/v-rossii/print:page,1,97242-vazhnoe-sobytie-v-centre-moskvy-ustanovlen-pamyatnik-ivanu-groznomu.html).
Also going up is one to Nicholas II and the Imperial Family (newsland.com/community/7231/content/pamiatnik-nikolaiu-ii-i-ego-seme-otkroiut-v-nizhegorodskoi-oblasti/5931186) and to Cheka founder Feliks Dzerzhinsky (newsland.com/community/6399/content/v-kurske-po-prosbe-veteranov-ustanoviat-bronzovyi-pamiatnik-palachu-dzerzhinskomu/5927187). But an older statue of Nikolay Gogol in Moscow fell apart into the
street because of lack of repairs (themoscowtimes.com/news/gogol-sculpture-crumbles-in-moscow-58487). The Constitutional Court said it would not consider an appeal against
handing St. Isaac’s back to the Russian Orthodox Church (znak.com/2017-07-21/konstitucionnyy_sud_rf_ne_stal_rassmatrivat_zhalobu_o_peredache_isaakiya_rpc),
but conflicts continued over the film “Mathilda” (forum-msk.org/material/news/13482456.html)
and a statue to a Soveit general who suppressed Manchukuo in 1945 (http://newsbabr.com/irk/?IDE=162736).
Ecologists have now weighed in against the construction of the Church on the
Waters in Yekaterinburg (politsovet.ru/56055-institut-ekologii-uro-ran-ocenil-vred-ot-stroitelstva-hrama-na-vode.html).
And controversy is likely ahead in the cases of two monuments planned to honor
the victims of Soviet power: those who died in the Great Terror (newsland.com/community/8181/content/vlasti-i-obshchestvennost-vitebska-sporiat-o-massovykh-zakhoroneniiakh-30-kh-godov/5931885)
and those Russian officers killed in the Red Terror in 1918 (opengaz.ru/stat/zhestokoe-bylo-vremya).
16. Russians Furious Over Desecration to Volgograd’s
Mamayev Kurgan to build World Cup Parking. Vladimir Putin’s regime may have
done more to block the 2018 World Cup being held in Russia than any of his
foreign opponents. Moscow has ordered the construction of a parking lot on some
of the holiest land in Russia: the site of the Soviet defense of Stalingrad
against the Germans in World War II. Russians are furious and there is no
indication that their fury won’t extend to the entire world cup effort (rosbalt.ru/russia/2017/07/28/1634482.html,
znak.com/2017-07-27/volgograde_iz_za_mesta_pod_parkovku_k_chm_2018_vyrubili_chast_parka_u_mamaeva_kurgana and rosbalt.ru/russia/2017/07/27/1633969.html). Giving Russians free tickets won’t do the
trick (znak.com/2017-07-25/na_chempionate_mira_po_futbolu_2018_budut_razdavat_besplatnye_bilety).
Moreover, none of the old problems has disappeared: the construction of venues
has been corrupt and incompetent (economist.com/news/europe/21725330-they-have-become-symbol-corruption-under-putins-rule-cost-overruns-russias-world-cup?fsrc=rss
and rbc.ru/society/22/07/2017/597394f49a79472418034798?from=main),
and the doping scandal shows no sign of
disappearing although it has received less coverage in recent weeks (ura.news/news/1052298291, novayagazeta.ru/news/2017/07/25/133803-trehkratnogo-chempiona-mira-po-hokkeyu-zaripova-diskvalifitsirovali-iz-za-dopinga and themoscowtimes.com/news/after-doping-scandal-russian-athletes-wont-be-allowed-anthem-ringtone-58495). Also unchanged has been Russia’s response: to blame the West for
Russia’s failures (politobzor.net/show-139110-anglosaksonskaya-sportivnaya-mafiya-sovsem-poteryala-sovest.html) and to threaten to organize its own games to which
Western athletes won’t be invited (versia.ru/esli-rossijskix-sportsmenov-ne-vosstanovyat-v-pravax-doping-konflikt-perejdyot-v-politicheskuyu-ploskost).
17. Bring Back ‘Comrade’ as Russian Greeting, KPRF Says. Russian communists have called on Moscow to
drop the use of “mister” and use the Soviet-era term “comrade” as the proper
greeting of one Russian to another (newsland.com/community/politic/content/kommunisty-poprosili-pravitelstvo-smenit-gospod-na-tovarishchei/5928391).
18. Russian Justice ‘More Perfect’ than European Human
Rights Court, Moscow Ombudsman Says. In the increasingly Orwellian discourse
of Russian officials, this week’s prize for the most outrageous remark in the
Russian Federation goes to the Russian human rights ombudsman who says that
Russian justice is “more perfect” than that of the European Human Rights Court
in Strasbourg (meduza.io/short/2017/07/26/upolnomochennyy-po-pravam-cheloveka-o-spravedlivosti-v-rossii-i-evrope-tsitata).
19. Wallenberg Family Sues FSB for Release of Information
on Family Patriarch. The family of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish
diplomat who saved hundreds of Jews at the end of World War II before
disappearing into the maw of the Soviet occupation organs, has sued the FSB for
the release of information about him (zona.media/news/2017/07/26/wallenberg
and graniru.org/Society/Law/m.262854.html).
20. Nothing New Under the Sun: Femen has Roots in Tsarist
Okhrana Practice. The radical femen movement which uses nudity
to make political points can trace its origins not to the hippies of the West
in the 1960s but to some of the tactics the tsarist secret police used against
Nicholas II’s enemies, according to a new study (nn.by/?c=ar&i=194562&lang=ru).
21. Gigantist Russian State Projects Allow for More
Corruption.
One reason that Moscow likes gigantist projects is the importance of size in
all things to Russian officials; but another and more compelling reason, a
Moscow commentator says, is that large projects offer many more opportunities
for corruption and theft (echo.msk.ru/blog/mmironov/2025852-echo/).
22.
Russian Officials
Working Hard to Remove Data about Themselves from Internet. Russian officials are Internet-savvy
enough to know that any information that goes on the web will be mined by
others and possibly used against them. They are not savvy enough to recognize
that almost everything is cached and therefore retrievable even if it is
removed by those who put it up (newsland.com/community/4765/content/pochemu-rossiiskie-chinovniki-udaliaiut-informatsiiu-o-svoem-obraze-zhizni-iz-interneta/5930137).
23. ‘You Can Take
Russians Out of the 1990s But You Can’t Take the 1990s Out of Russians.’ A
Moscow blogger points out that it is not only a question of removing Soviet
values from contemporary Russians but also removing some of the highly
distorted ones that were widespread in the first decade after the end of the
USSR and suggests that doing that may prove far harder than anyone now thinks (morena-morana.livejournal.com/714605.html).
24. Russian Internet Posters May Not Be Becoming Smarter
but They are Using Bigger Words. A massive new study of online posts by
Russians finds that these increasingly feature longer words and thus concludes
that Russians are becoming smarter, an intellectual leap many might challenge (takiedela.ru/news/2017/07/28/polzovateli-sozsetei-umneyut/).
25. Leader of Black Hundreds Movement Celebrated. A prominent
Russian Orthodox nationalist portal this week celebrated the life of the
organizer of the notoriously anti-Semitic Black Hundreds movement. The lengthy
hagiography praised his activities as reflecting “the conscience” of the
Russian people (ruskline.ru/analitika/2017/07/28/sovest_protiv_revolyucii/).
26. Russia is ‘God’s Bad Joke on Humanity.’ A Russian
commentator, Igor Yakovenko, says that Russia now as in the past is “God’s bad
joke on humanity” (7days.us/igor-akovenko-usmeska-boga).
And 13 more from
countries in Russia’s neighborhood:
1. Superheroes Retake Crimea for Ukraine – at Least in
the Comics.
A Ukrainian publisher has released a new line of comic books featuring a
variety of superheroes. In one of the books, the superheroes combine to oust
the occupiers from Crimea and restore Ukrainian sovereignty in that peninsula (newsland.com/community/7451/content/na-ukraine-predstavili-komiks-pro-supergeroev-kotorye-osvobozhdaiut-krym/5930030).
2. Kyiv Documents
Russian Financing of Terrorists in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian government has turned over thousands of pages of documents to the
International Criminal Court that show Moscow has been financing terrorist
groups on Ukrainian territory (112.ua/glavnye-novosti/v-mezhdunarodnyy-sud-oon-peredany-tysyachi-stranic-dokazatelnoy-bazy-otnositelno-finansirovaniya-rossiey-terrorizma-gricak-402469.html).
3.
More than Eight Million Guns have Leaked into Ukraine,
Russia from Donbass War Zone. Military
veterans estimate that more than eight million guns have leaked into private
hands in Ukraine and Russia. Few of these have been registered with the
authorities in either country, and almost all of which create problems for the
two societies (versia.ru/veterany-ato-vooruzheny-do-zubov-u-nix-na-rukax-bolee-8-millionov-stvolov).
4.
55 Russians Take
Ukrainian Citizenship During First Half of 2017. According to Kyiv officials, 55 former
Russian citizens took Ukrainian citizenship during the first six months of this
year, a relatively small number but one that suggests such people are betting
on Ukraine’s future rather than Russia’s (ukranews.com/news/509589-55-rossyyan-poluchyly-ukraynskoe-grazhdanstvo-v-2017 ).
5.
Moldova’s
Parliament Demands Russia Pull Its Troops from Transdniestria. Even though
Moldova has a pro-Russian president, its parliament is solidly anti-Moscow and
has now demanded that the Russian government pull its troops out of the
breakaway republic of Transdniestria so that Moldovan sovereignty and control
can be restored there (sprotyv.info/ru/news/kiev/parlament-moldovy-trebuet-vyvesti-rossiyskie-voyska-iz-pridnestrovya?_utl_t=fb).
6.
Smolensk Should Again
Be Part of Belarus, Many Residents Say. Many people in Smolensk oblast which is
now part of the Russian Federation identify with Belarus in which their
territory was situated before World War II, and at least some of them now
proudly declare that they are “an island of Belarus” within Russia (charter97.org/ru/news/2017/7/22/257272/ and rufabula.com/articles/2015/11/19/island-of-belarus-in-russia).
7. Lithuanian Visiting Belarus Asks that People Speak
Belarusian, Not Russian with Her.
Saying that she is “from Lithuania and doesn’t understand Russian in all
cases,” a Lithuanian visiting Belarus has asked her interlocutors there to
“speak Belarusian” instead (nn.by/?c=ar&i=194245&lang=ru and charter97.org/ru/news/2017/7/22/257276/).
8.
Kyrgyzstan to Test
Officials for Kyrgyz Language Knowledge Beginning Next Year. Kyrgyzstan has been one of the slowest of the
post-Soviet states to go over to the language of its titular nation in official
business, but now Bishkek has announced that beginning in 2018, it will require
all officials to take and pass a test in Kyrgyz (centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1500787740).
9.
Armenians are
Learning Azerbaijani. In what must be one of the most unusual linguistic
developments in the post-Soviet space, Armenians are now learning Azerbaijani,
educational officials say, apparently convinced that knowledge of that language
will ultimately be more useful to them than say Russian (oc-media.org/a-growing-trend-in-armenia-learning-azerbaijani/). At the same
time, there are ever more calls from the opposition for Yerevan to break with
Russia (rosbalt.ru/world/2017/07/25/1632956.html).
10.
To Balance Russian
Influence, Kazakhstan Seeks Closer Military Ties with the US. In order to counter Moscow’s attempts to
dominate it, Astana is pursuing closer military and other ties with the West in
general and the US in particular (exclusive.kz/kazakhstan_uravnoveshivaet_vliyanie_rossii_voennym_dogovorom_s_ssha).
11.
Two-Thirds of
Georgians Want to Join the EU, NATO. More than six out of ten citizens of the
Republic of Georgia want their country to become a member of the two key
Western institutions, the European Union and NATO (ekhokavkaza.com/a/28639033.html).
12.
Outmigration and
Immigration Changing Ethnic Mix in Post-Soviet States. Lithuania is
only one country where the influx of immigrants is compensating for the
departure of native Lithuanians, but there as elsewhere, this process is
changing in large ways or small the ethnic mix of the populations of these
states (charter97.org/ru/news/2017/7/24/257381/).
13.
Estonia Treats
Pensioners Best in Former Soviet Space; Russia Isn’t Even in Top 30. Estonia pays
higher pensions and provides better medical care to its aging population than
any other post-Soviet state, according to a new international ranking. Russia
in contrast doesn’t even make the top 30 (forum-msk.org/material/news/13502942.html).
No comments:
Post a Comment