Paul
Goble
Staunton, November 18 -- 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 109th 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.
60 False Bomb
Threats on Putin’s Route into St. Petersburg. According to the Kremlin,
anonymous callers said that they had placed 60 bombs along Putin’s route into
the northern capital. None of the bombs were found (https://republic.ru/posts/87788). Meanwhile, some
Russian communists have warned the Kremlin leader that he risks sharing the
fate of Muammar Qadaffi (newsland.com/community/129/content/kommunisty-rossii-predupredili-a-chto-on-mozhet-povtorit-sudbu-kaddafi/6084386 and 9tv.co.il/news/2017/11/17/250506.html). One Russian
commentator says that Putin is very much aware that he is a dictator and that
dictators don’t always have happy ends (openrussia.org/notes/716039/), but former
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma compares Putin to a God, and gods often have
happier ends (politros.com/politic/98118/?utm_source=politobzor.net). This week, the
Kremlin leader was honored with a new statue showing him as a winged bear (znak.com/2017-11-16/zhitel_astrahani_sozdal_skulpturu_eto__v_vide_krylatogo_medvedya_s_osetrom_v_lapah). Putin attracted most attention this weak for
speaking directly by telephone with the heads of the DNR and LNR in Ukraine,
something that led to predictions that he is getting ready to announce some
major deal about their futures and is even dragging out his announcement of his
presidential candidacy for that reason (newsland.com/community/3550/content/-vpervye-lichno-pogovorit-s-glavami-dnr-i-lnr/6081528, echo.msk.ru/news/2093534-echo.html and newsland.com/community/5325/content/-tianet-s-vydvizheniem-na-vybory-v-nadezhde-dogovoritsia-s-amerikantsami/6086374).
But a cautionary note has been sounded by Turkish President Racip Erdogan who
points out that Putin doesn’t want to resolve the Karabakh dispute because not
solving it works to his benefit (turantoday.com/2017/11/erdogan--karabakh.html).
2.
Russians Know
Putin Lies to Them Even if Trump Doesn’t. Russians are very aware that Putin lies
to them regularly even if US President Donald Trump doesn’t seem to understand
that, a Russian commentator says (echo.msk.ru/blog/kiselev/2091578-echo/ and newsland.com/community/4852/content/tramp-obiavil-chto-verit-putinu-i-ne-verit-spetssluzhbam-ssha/6076160). The Kremlin
seems pleased with that state of affairs and blames all problems in bilateral
ties on the US establishment rather than Trump (newsland.com/community/7904/content/pushkov-administratsiia-ssha-sorvala-vstrechu-putina-i-trampa-na-ates/6077052). Meanwhile,
Russia has opened another troll factory, this one in Yugra far from prying
Western eyes (ura.news/articles/1036272918), some are
speculating that the sex scandals which began with Weinstein will ultimately
spread to Trump as well (politsovet.ru/57158-vaynshteyn-speysi-sleduyuschiy-tramp.html), Russians are
upset that the US embassy is turning down the highest percentage of Russian
visa applicants in the last ten years (newsland.com/user/2432324994/content/kolichestvo-otkazov-rossiianam-v-gostevykh-amerikanskikh-vizakh-dostiglo-maksimuma-za-poslednie-10-let/6084164)
with some in the Duma calling for breaking off diplomatic relations with the US
(newsland.com/community/4109/content/v-gosdume-trebuiut-razorvat-diplomaticheskie-otnosheniia-s-ssha/6076290), and opposition
candidate Kseniya Sobchak has made it clear that she unlike Putin doesn’t have
any particular sympathy for the American president (newsland.com/community/8211/content/sobchak-zaiavila-chto-ne-ispytyvaet-simpatii-k-trampu/6084252).
3.
Protests Connected
with Economic Situation and Tightening of Screws, Not Election. The Kremlin
maintains that protests of various kinds around Russia are the result of the
upcoming election, but a new sociological study concludes that they are the
product of the economic situation and repression (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2017/11/13/ozhidat_li_v_rossii_revolyuciyu/).
The Kremlin is correct to be concerned about participation: unexpectedly high
participation in one local election in Pskov oblast allowed opposition candidates
to win (afterempire.info/2017/11/13/peipsi/
and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A0C318073A6D).
The Russian Orthodox Church is having problems with this election, on the one
hand speaking out against Sobchak but on the other saying priests must not
advocate voting for any particular candidate (interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=68583
and rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=79434).
As for Sobchak herself, she is organizing in the regions but has no plan to do
so in the North Caucasus (afterempire.info/2017/11/11/sobchak-euspb/
and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/312507/).
To boost Putin, the Kremlin has called on media to report more good news (echo.msk.ru/blog/statya/2092236-echo/).
Meanwhile, an effort in Sakha to restore the voting against all line on the
ballot failed (regnum.ru/news/economy/2345797.html).
The majority of Russians now say that they cannot have any influence on
government decisions, and experts conclude that only a conspiracy within the
elite could topple the current regime (newsland.com/community/129/content/bolshinstvo-rossiian-zaiavili-chto-ne-mogut-povliiat-na-proiskhodiashchee-v-strane/6078557 and ersia.ru/nikolaj-starikov-predat-rossiyu-mozhet-tolko-yelita). A United Russia official says there
are no divisions or influence groups within that party (kommersant.ru/doc/3467243),
and those who want to rewrite the Constitution say that is necessary because it
was “written by liberals,” in the words of one Duma deputy (ivpavlova.blogspot.com/2017/11/blog-post_18.html#more).
And in yet another indication that Putin takes care of his own even if he
removes someone from one position, the Kremlin leader decorated the former head
of Daghestan (kavpolit.com/articles/putin_vruchit_abdulatipovu_orden_aleksandra_nevsko-36530/ and gave a former Vagner paramilitary
commander the chance to enrich himself as a restauranteur (sobkorr.ru/news/5A0BF54B04CD4.html).
4.
Russian Economy
Stagnating, Incomes Down, Business Profits Down and Bankruptcies Up. This past week
brought little good economic news.
Russians’ real incomes continue to decline for the fourth year in a row (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/11/15/v-rossii-realnye-dohody-naseleniya-snizhayutsya-uzhe-4-goda.html),
business production has stagnated again (gazeta.ru/business/2017/11/13/10983536.shtml),
industry is facing collapse (newsland.com/community/4109/content/khronika-neizbezhnogo-krakha-promyshlennost-rossii-vozobnovila-padenie/6084506),
bankruptcies are near historic highs (meduza.io/news/2017/11/12/chislo-bankrotstv-v-rossii-priblizilos-k-istoricheskomu-rekordu and https://republic.ru/posts/87703),
bank profits fell and most businesses feel that (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A0C39AF4852D
and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A0BEBC624E5B),
the pension fund is almost exhausted (newsland.com/community/129/content/kudrin-priznalsia-chto-deneg-na-pensii-u-rossii-zakonchilis/6081391),
inflation is rising and most people expect it to continue to do so (regnum.ru/news/omy/2345381.html
and nakanune.ru/news/2017/11/14/22489244/),
studies show that families having three or more children are condemned to
poverty (newizv.ru/comment/valeriy-panyushkin/16-11-2017/valeriy-panyushkin-ne-uyazvlyayte-uyazvimyh-13c077c2-11f8-4cdf-902a-1a2b5a784337),
and the wealthy are working ever harder to hide their money (https://momenty.org/city/i178928/).
5.
Russians Will Have
to Pay More to Celebrate Less at New Year’s. Prices for champagne, salmon and
caviar are all up dramatically (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A095CA27EFDB
and rbc.ru/business/11/11/2017/5a05c17b9a794751e67eb3f2?from=main).
Many workers are angry because they are told that their productivity has risen
but their wages have declined (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A0831EF72D39).
Russians now rank 38th in the world in terms of knowledge of English
(centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1510385760).
Animal rights activists continue their protests at the Duma (ng.ru/politics/2017-11-13/3_7113_zoo.html).
Nearly 50,000 Russians now go missing each year (agonia-ru.com/archives/13132).
And Russians say tha they won’t increase consumption to pre-crisis levels even
if their incomes eventually rise (rbc.ru/economics/15/11/2017/5a0bf5259a7947d13258355f?from=main).
6.
Most Russians are
Unhappy with Their Medical Care After Putin’s Optimization. Cutbacks in medical spending by the
government under Putin’s program have left a large majority of Russians upset
about the quality of medical care they are receiving (newsland.com/community/5652/content/bolshinstvo-rossiian-nedovolny-otechestvennoi-meditsinoi/6085682 and newsland.com/community/4788/content/raskhody-na-zdravookhranenie-v-regionakh-sokratili-vdvoe/6076404). Many can no longer get even basic vaccines (newsland.com/community/politic/content/minzdrav-izuchit-dostupnost-meditsinskoi-pomoshchi-posle-optimizatsii-zdravookhraneniia/6083480,
versia.ru/rossiyane-rasskazali-ob-aktualnyx-problemax-zdravooxraneniya
and openrussia.org/notes/716137/).
And unless Putin makes a visit when officials shut down factories to clear the
air, ever more Russians are getting sick because of pollution (politsovet.ru/57159-na-uralskom-zavode-nashli-148-istochnikov-zagryazneniya-vozduha.html,
sibreal.org/a/28852962.html,
newizv.ru/news/politics/15-11-2017/ochevidtsy-vo-vremya-priezda-putina-v-chelyabinsk-zavody-prekratili-vrednye-vybrosy and sobkorr.ru/news/5A095E4C2064B.html).
On the demographic front, marriages and divorces are both down, but divorces
outnumber marriages (newsland.com/community/4636/content/pochemu-rossiiskie-muzhchiny-zheniatsia-na-maloletkakh/6076375).
7.
Seventy-Three
Years after Deportation, Meskhetians Still Can’t Go Home. On the 73rd
anniversary of their deportation by Stalin, the Meskhetians, perhaps the most “punished
people” of Soviet times, still can’t go home again (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/312477/).
The first Chechen to come out as gay apologizes for the furor he caused (themoscowtimes.com/news/first-chechen-to-come-out-as-gay-apologizes-on-local-tv-59578). A Daghestani court blocks further construction at
least for a time of a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Makhachkala (chernovik.net/content/lenta-novostey/verhovnyy-sud-dagestana-vremenno-zapretil-stroitelstvo-sobora-aleksandra).
The situation in that republic is deteriorating as well with more protests and
some even accusing the Makhachkala regime of sabotage (onkavkaz.com/novosti/3442-dve-gruppy-protestuyuschih-na-ploschadi-mahachkaly-trebuyut-vstrechi-s-vladimirom-vasilevym.html,
chernovik.net/content/lenta-novostey/kolichestvo-protestov-na-centralnoy-ploshchadi-mahachkaly-rastet-proshel
and chernovik.net/content/lenta-novostey/obshcherossiyskiy-narodnyy-front-obvinil-pravitelstvo-dagestana-v-sabotazhe). And Moscow’s pressure on Tatarstan
is splitting elites there and creating problems far beyond the language issue (newizv.ru/news/society/15-11-2017/pyataya-kolonna-respubliki-pochemu-tatarstan-teryaet-stabilnost-519c041e-ce91-4022-ba67-6359f87a430a).
8. How Many Tatars Speak Tatar? As the fight over
required instruction in Tatar heats up, so too have disputes about just how
many Tatars use their national language rather than Russian in their daily
lives, with figures ranging from as low as five percent to a majority for the
population at large (business-gazeta.ru/article/364255)
and roughly 50 percent of actors and actresses on the Kazan stage (business-gazeta.ru/article/363574).
Just how sensitive the issue has become is indicated by the fact that Moscow
officials have postponed two promised meetings on the subject even as the new
policy hits the teaching staff of Tatar schools hard (nazaccent.ru/content/25948-vasileva-poobeshala-provesti-konferenciyu-po-voprosam.html,
idelreal.org/a/28857192.html
and nazaccent.ru/content/25931-uchitelej-tatarskogo-yazyka-perekvalificiruyut-v-geografov.html). More protests took place against the Putin
language policy (nazaccent.ru/content/25923-aktivisty-potrebovali-sohranit-obyazatelnoe-izuchenie-komi.html and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A0C39BCB8032).
But probably the most important
development in the language wars took place not in Moscow but in
Strasbourg where the European Court has taken up a case of a Chuvash convicted
for seeking to defend his language (irekle.org/news/i2034.html, sova-center.ru/misuse/news/persecution/2013/10/d28274/,
asiarussia.ru/news/7182/ and idelreal.org/a/28837718.html).
9.
Russian Orthodox
Church Says Men and Women are ‘Unequal by Nature.’ A Russian Orthodox priest says that men and
women are “unequal by nature” and that efforts to ignore that are doomed to
fail while promoting depravity (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2017/11/16/muzhchina_i_zhenwina_neravnopravny_po_prirode/).
Meanwhile, the Moscow Patriarchate says it supports some sex education in
schools but far less than the government has proposed (politsovet.ru/57163-v-rpc-podderzhali-seksualnoe-prosveschenie-v-shkolah.html).
Following sharp criticism by Patriarch Kirill, Bishop Shevkunov, long rumored
to be Putin’s spiritual advisor, has denied that he is close to the Kremlin
leader (newsland.com/community/4765/content/patriarkh-kirill-nedovolen-bolshimi-ambitsiiami-dukhovnika-putina/6083410
and portal-credo.ru/site/?act=monitor&id=26255).
One Muslim Spiritual Directorate (MSD) has called for introducing religious instruction
from the fourth to the 11th grades (rbc.ru/society/14/11/2017/5a0ab9659a794766e4725006?from=main).
The cornerstone of the first mosque in Karelia has been laid (ansar.ru/rfsng/v-karelii-zalozhili-kamen-pod-pervuyu-mechet),
a Buddhist center has opened in Moscow (ng.ru/ng_religii/2017-11-15/11_432_karma.html,
and attacks continue on Jehovah’s Witnesses (sova-center.ru/religion/news/extremism/counter-extremism/2017/11/d38280/).
In other developments, Moscow media report that Satanists now threaten both
Orthodox Christians and Muslims in Russia (ria.ru/religion/20171113/1508580515.html),
and members of traditional pagan faiths in Russia have asked the state for help
in defending themselves against other religious denominations (mariuver.com/2017/11/14/mtr-pomosch/).
10.
Under Putin,
Russia’s Regions Being Crushed, Zubarevich Says. Putin’s policies are destroying the regions
of the Russian Federation, Natalya Zubarevich says, by demanding that they do
more with ever less (polit.ru/article/2017/11/14/s/).
Many Russian regionalists are inclined to take a “plague on both your houses”
to political disputes in Moscow (freeural.org/dlja-menja-zaputincy-i-antiputincy-jeto-te-zhe-negodjai/),
but others note that if Moscow forms larger units as Putin wants to do, he may
face more opposition from the new regions than he does now if European attitudes
are any guide (afterempire.info/2017/11/09/eu100flags/).
The Free Ingria movement has issued its manifesto on the future (freeingria.org/2017/11/manifest-grazhdanskogo-dvizheniya-svobodnaya-ingriya/). A major divide in media use patterns splits Moscow
and the rest of the country (fedpress.ru/article/1893868). And
the Russian government has warned the Siberian Realities portal of RFE/RL that
it is at risk of being listed as a foreign agent (sibreal.org/a/28857104.html).
11.
Moscow Sought to
Keep Protests at a Minimum on Revolutionary Anniversary. There were fewer
protests in Russia in the days just before and just after the November 7
anniversary as Moscow officials sought not to take any risks that a meeting for
one purpose could attract supporters of other causes and get out of hand.
Nonetheless, there were demonstrations of various kinds across the country,
from protests by reindeer herders to calls for freedom for dolphins to defense
of the European University in St. Petersburg (openrussia.org/notes/715941/, openrussia.org/notes/715923/,
ura.news/articles/1036272894,
openrussia.org/notes/716194/,
openrussia.org/notes/716185/,
meduza.io/feature/2017/11/11/bogatye-ruki-proch-ot-nauki
and gorod-812.ru/kak-sobchak-osvistali-kulturu-podderzhali/).
12. Putin’s Russian Guard Rapidly Becoming His Personal
KGB.
The Russian Guard that Vladimir Putin established is rapidly growing in size
and gaining ever more powers, an indication that it rather than a revamped FSB
may serve as Putin’s personal KGB in the future (znak.com/2017-11-10/rosgvardiyu_zhdut_novye_funkcii_ot_ord_do_borby_s_ekstremizmom,
realtribune.ru/news/authority/404
and ng.ru/politics/2017-11-07/2_7110_rosgvardia.html).
13. Moscow Increases Repression. The Constitutional
Court approved the ban on deputies meeting constituents in groups without
permission (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/11/13/74535-sobiratelstvo-zapretili,
the Duma approved the foreign agents law but did not act on a proposal to make
all foreigners working in Russia foreign agents by definition or agree to a
proposal requiring that all volunteers for any activity be registered (politsovet.ru/57192-gosduma-odobrila-zakon-o-smi-inostrannyh-agentah.html,
novayagazeta.ru/news/2017/11/14/136991-v-gosdume-predlozhili-priravnyat-vse-rabotayuschie-v-rossii-inostrannye-smi-k-inoagentam
and politsovet.ru/57189-pravitelstvo-otkazalos-ot-obyazatelnoy-registracii-volonterov.html). Meanwhile, journalists report that Moscow’s
plans to struggle against anonymizers have not really begun (ng.ru/politics/2017-11-13/1_7113_vpn.html)
and that its efforts to get Russians off Linked In have failed. After a year of
trying, 60 percent of Russians signed on to it still are (rbc.ru/technology_and_media/16/11/2017/5a0c0bbd9a7947de35a7e886?from=main)
Russians continued to be convicted of extremism for all sorts of reasons this
past week (openrussia.org/notes/716209/),
including for the promotion of vegetarianism (sobkorr.ru/news/5A08168A58897.html).
But Moscow officials refused to start a case against a Russian woman who used
offensive terms about North Caucasians (onkavkaz.com/novosti/3444-policija-himok-ne-zahotela-vozbuzhdat-delo-v-otnoshenii-zhitelnicy-obozvavshei-dagestancev-chur.html).
Memorial recognizes eight Muslims detained in Tatarstan as political prisoners
(ova-center.ru/religion/news/harassment/harassment-protection/2017/11/d38311/),
the culture ministry now posts its own black list of people unwelcome in Russia
(echo.msk.ru/blog/echomsk/2093406-echo/),
officials say RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service is to be registered as a foreign
agent (islamrf.ru/news/russia/rusnews/42841/), and a leading Russian nationalist activist seeks
and gets asylum in Europe (nazaccent.ru/content/25954-nacionalist-malcev-poluchil-ubezhishe-v-evrosoyuze.html).
14.
Radical Islamists
Said Seeking Arrest in Russia to Recruit Muslim Prisoners. There are now so
many Muslims in Russian prisons that radical Islamists are committing crimes
precisely in order to get behind bars and thus be in a position to recruit in
jails and camps there (ura.news/articles/1036272910).
There have been arrests for the gas explosion in Izhevsk which may not have
been the accident officials first described it as being (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A07F8FD84748).
More gunfights took place in the streets of Moscow (egnum.ru/news/accidents/2344231.html
and echo.msk.ru/news/2092222-echo.html),
and another two Russian soldiers have died during an explosion at a military exercise
(themoscowtimes.com/news/two-soldiers-dead-in-explosion-at-military-drill-59544).
Mass evacuations in response to telephone bomb threats continue across the
country and in Moscow itself (politsovet.ru/57205-v-ekaterinburge-evakuiruyut-posetiteley-torgovyh-centrov.html,
nakanune.ru/news/2017/11/17/22489671/,
kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A0EB571C8116
and echo.msk.ru/news/2094598-echo.html).
The manager of the Russian government bunker has been arrested and charged with
corruption (rosbalt.ru/moscow/2017/11/16/1661360.html).
The Russian government has decided to fire all overweight policemen (newsland.com/community/5862/content/v-rossii-uvoliat-vsekh-tolstykh-politseiskikh/6086306). And Russian gun enthusiasts have published
guidance on what to do if the government tries to take away anyone’s firearms (sputnikipogrom.com/weapons/79721/farewell-to-arms/).
15.
Russian Archives
Show What Moscow Denies: Red Army Entered Eastern Europe as an Occupier. A new archivally
based study shows that the Red Army went into Eastern Europe as an occupier and
not just as a liberator as Moscow invariably insists (versia.ru/osobye-pogranichnye-batalony-byli-sozdany-dlya-sovetizacii-evropy), and one Duma deputy even acknowledged
that the Soviet Union “occupied” part of Finland (regnum.ru/news/2343442.html). Meanwhile, Putin increased the size of
the military and announced a 300 billion US dollar ten-year program of defense
modernization, putting Russia on course to spend more than 5.3 percent of its
GDP on the military (politsovet.ru/57226-putin-uvelichil-chislennost-vooruzhennyh-sil.html,
newizv.ru/news/politics/15-11-2017/novaya-gosudarstvennaya-programma-vooruzheniy-oboydetsya-v-19-trillionov-rubley
and ng.ru/economics/2017-11-15/1_7116_budget.html).
Elsewhere, Russia suffered an embarrassment with contractors building its
embassy in Panama City (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/11/17/74585-posolstvo-na-kostyah)
and ceded back to Kazakhstan part of the Baikonur space launch facility (turantoday.com/2017/11/baykonur.html).
Many commentators suggested British Prime Minister Teresa May’s speech was an
update of Churchill’s iron curtain speech of 1946 (gordonua.com/blogs/platon/vcherashnyaya-rech-mey-po-suti-fultonskaya-rech-cherchillya-oficialnoe-obyavlenie-rossii-holodnoy-voyny-20-217292.html).
A UN commission condemned Russia for violating human rights in occupied Crimea
(kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A0BD7E30CD06),
and the European Court ruled against Moscow for its treatment of LGBT citizens
(kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A0B25594D570).
But Moscow was able to block via a veto a UN investigation into the use of
chemical weapons by the Syrian regime it supports (newsland.com/community/4765/content/rossiia-zablokirovala-rassledovanie-o-primenenii-khimoruzhiia-v-sirii/6084011).
But with the war in Syria winding down, some are wondering whether Putin will
launch a new aggressive move somewhere else, possibly against Ukraine (ura.news/articles/1036272957).
16.
Sainthood Urged
for Poklonskaya, the Opponent of the Mathilda Movie. A group of
Orthodox activists has called for Natalya Poklonskaya to be put in line for
sainthood for her opposition to Mathilda even though she did not succeed in
getting the film banned and may have only attracted more attention to it (newsland.com/community/8211/content/za-veru-tsaria-i-prilichiia-kak-poklonskaia-ostalas-odna-v-svoei-borbe/6078359).
17.
Is Lenin Already
Buried?
The controversy about whether to bury Lenin has intensified with the culture
ministry coming out against (rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=79465)
and many Russians attacking his monuments or replacing them with statues of
Ivan the Terrible (politsovet.ru/57161-na-urale-tresnul-lenin.html
and newsland.com/community/5434/content/na-glavnoi-ploshchadi-kalugi-pamiatnik-ivanu-iii-smenil--lenina/6076830). But there is one curious twist: some are suggesting
that Lenin is already buried because his body is now two meters below ground,
possibly as a result of Stalin’s theological training (ng.ru/ng_religii/2017-11-15/10_432_lenin.html).
18.
Fights
over Monuments of All Kinds Continue. Russian
Orthodox activists want to have the Kremlin towers feature two-headed eagles
rather than red stars and to have all streets in Russian cities named for new
martyrs rather than for the people who killed them (rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=79465
and rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=79461).
A group in St. Petersburg wants to try to put up a monument to Marshal
Mannerheim despite earlier controversy (newsland.com/community/5652/content/v-peterburge-khotiat-snova-ustanovit-pamiatnuiu-dosku-mannergeimu/6085211).Kaluga
has discovered a new holiday, the stand against the Mongols in 1480 (polit.ru/article/2017/11/11/ugra/).
Memorials are slated to go up to Nicholas II and a tsarist general in St. Petersburg
(newsland.com/community/7636/content/v-peterburge-otkroiut-pamiatnye-doski-generalu-skalonu-i-gosudariu-nikolaiu-ii/6076446). Activists in Siberian cities have joined the “last
address” movement in memory of Stalin’s victims (sibreal.org/a/28837914.html).
Following complaints, Stalin’s visage has been removed from advertising in one
city (politsovet.ru/57164-paket-so-stalinym-udalili-iz-kataloga-sima-lenda.html).
A bust of Ivan the Terrible is dedicated in Vladimir (rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=79420),
and a monument to the ingatherers of Russian lands is opened in Kaluga (newsland.com/community/7451/content/pamiatnik-sobirateliu-russkikh-zemel-kniaziu-ivanu-iii-otkryt-v-kaluge/6077063).
A monument to victims of the Holocaust is opened in Stavropol (nazaccent.ru/content/25964-pamyatnik-zhertvam-holokosta-otkryli-v-stavropole.html),
but a monument to Admiral Kolchak is removed in Yekaterinburg (sova-center.ru/racism-xenophobia/news/racism-nationalism/2017/11/d38306/).
19.
IOC to Decide
December 5 on Russian Participation in South Korean Olympics. The
International Olympic Committee has announced that it will decide whether and
how Russian athletes can take part in next year’s Olympiad now that WADA has
not restored RUSADA to full membership because Moscow refuses to admit any
guilt (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A0ED4BC6E9C6,
vedomosti.ru/opinion/articles/2017/11/17/742059-politika-dopingovii-skandal
and graniru.org/Society/s/m.265642.html).
Adding Russia’s problems are reports about more Russian athletes being exposed
for using illegal drugs (newsland.com/community/5652/content/wada-poluchilo-novye-svedeniia-o-dopinge-v-rossii/6074931 and regnum.ru/news//2344516.html).
The Kremlin has responded by denouncing WADA as a branch office of NATO (regnum.ru/news//2345847.html),
claiming the US is using the IOC to meddle in Russian politics (themoscowtimes.com/news/the-us-is-using-the-olympics-to-meddle-in-russian-politics-kremlin-propagandist-says-59551), and declaring that Russia won’t broadcast the
games if Russian athletes aren’t there (newsland.com/community/7552/content/rossiiskie-telekanaly-mogut-otkazatsia-translirovat-zimniuiu-olimpiadu/6084431). More immediately, Moscow still faces real problems
with its preparations for the World Cup. Hotels and venues aren’t ready (regnum.ru/news/economy/2344867.html
and newsland.com/community/5652/content/chm-2018-obeshchaniia-i-realnost-gotov-li-ekaterinburg-k-chempionatu/6078464),
access to tickets is already a problem (znak.com/2017-11-14/dlya_biletnyh_spekulyantov_na_chm_2018_vvedut_millionnye_shtrafy), and Russian fans are upset that Moscow is imposing
tighter controls over their behavior as FIFA has demanded (echo.msk.ru/blog/echomsk/2090962-echo/
and regnum.ru/news//2344233.html).
20.
Russian
Compatriots Abroad Moscow’s True ‘Soft Power’ There. Moscow should do more to
exploit its most important soft power tools, ethnic Russians living abroad,
according to Russian commentators in Moscow (realtribune.ru/news/people/445).
But over the last decade, 675,000 of them have returned to Russia (migrant.ferghana.ru/newslaw/chronicle/за-последнее-десятилетие-в-россию-вер.html),
90,000 of them in the past year alone (newsland.com/community/4489/content/okolo-90-tys-chelovek-vernulis-v-rf-po-programme-pereseleniia/6078023).
21.
Fearing
Counterfeits, Khabarovsk Stores Refuse to Accept New Banknotes. Stores in Khabarovsk say they are so afraid
that the new 200 and 2000-ruble banknotes are going to be counterfeited that
they are refusing to accept them for purchases (regnum.ru/news/accidents/2344444.html).
22.
Successful People
in Moscow Increasingly Choosing to Move to the Countryside. Russians who are
doing well in their positions in the city of Moscow are increasingly choosing
to move to the countryside to avoid congestion, to take advantage of distance
work opportunities, and to rely on improved transportation networks (newsland.com/community/8218/content/zachem-uspeshnye-zhiteli-stolitsy-uezzhaiut-v-derevniu/6080476).
23.
RT, When Registering
in US as Foreign Agent, Can’t Say Where Its Money Comes From. The US demand that RT register as a foreign
agent has led to yet another embarrassment for the Russian television station.
Its leadership couldn’t – or more likely wouldn’t – say where the network gets
its money (newsland.com/community/5652/content/stavshii-inoagentom-v-ssha-telekanal-rt-obiavil-chto-ne-znaet-kto-daet-emu-dengi-v-rossii/6078803).
24.
New Slowness
Record on Russian Roads: One Kilometer in 45 Days. Russian roads are
notoriously bad, but in what is likely a new record even for them, a driver
reports that it took him 45 days to go one kilometer, a rate of speed that
would have been exceeded by many species of snails (newizv.ru/news/society/16-11-2017/novyy-rekord-pochty-rossii-kilometr-za-45-dney-98464f7a-0618-4ff5-87e0-7fd5b23cda22).
25.
Foreigners
Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Call Russia ‘Russia.’ A Russian nationalist activist
says Moscow must insist that foreigners call the Russian Federation “Rossiya”
and not get away with “Russia,” which he claims has negative sound connotations
and must be rejected (slvf.ru/слово-russia-раша-это-величайшая-диверс/).
26.
New Crimes of Communist
Museum Opens on Karl Marx Street in Lenin’s Home Town. Sometimes an
address tells it all. People in Ulyanovsk, the hometown of the Bolshevik
leader, have opened a new Crimes of Communism Museum on Karl Marx Street (openrussia.org/notes/716132/).
And
13 more from countries in Russia’s neighborhood:
1. Occupiers’ Methadone Ban Fueling HIV Explosion in
Crimea. The Russian occupation authorities have
banned the use of methadone in Crimea leading to a spark upward in the number
of HIV/AIDS cases there (themoscowtimes.com/articles/russias-methadone-ban-is-fueling-a-hiv-59488). Meanwhile,
Human Rights Watch has documented that these same powers that be have stepped
up their repression of Crimean Tatar activists (qha.com.ua/ru/politika/rossiya-usilivaet-repressii-protiv-krimskih-tatar-human-rights-watch/182264/).
2.
Gold
Found in Donetsk, as Coal from Occupied Donbass is Exported to Six European
Countries.
Occupation officials report that gold has been discovered in the DNR,
potentially giving Moscow yet another reason to hold on to that territory (evrazia.org/news/47360). Meanwhile,
Russian officials report that coal from the occupied Donbass is now finding its
way to six EU countries in violation of international law (svpressa.ru/politic/article/185883/).
3.
Russians Say
Ukrainian Radicals Plan to Promote Revolt against Kadyrov in Chechnya. Ukrainian radicals, urged on by the West, are
planning to launch a war against Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin’s man in Chechnya,
in the hopes of overthrowing him, according to some Moscow commentators (https://newsland.com/community/5903/content/zapad-gotovit-rossii-voinu-na-kavkazskom-fronte/6081530).
4. Moscow Opens Passenger and Freight Rail Line around
Ukraine.
Russian Rail has announced the completion of the rail network bypassing Ukraine
that it began building in 2014. Officials describe this as Moscow’s “final
goodbye” to Kyiv (newsland.com/community/4109/content/moskva-skazala-kievu-poslednee-proshchai-rossiiskii-kontrotvet-realizovan-polnostiu/6081060).
5. Belarus Remains
Among Most Corrupt Countries in the World. Experts
say that Belarus remains “stable” in the bottom half of the most corrupt countries
in the world (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/11/12/vladimir-kovalkin-belarus-stabilno-nahoditsya-v-posledney-polovine-naibolee-korrumpirovannyh-stran.html). It also is one
of the three countries of Europe at the bottom the incomes its citizens receive
(thinktanks.by/publication/2017/11/11/belarus-v-troyke-stran-s-samymi-nizkimi-dohodami-v-evrope.html).
6.
Belarusian
Orthodox Church Publishes New Testament in Belarusian. The Belarusian Orthodox Church of the Moscow
Patriarchate has published its own translation of the New Testament into
Belarusian, completing something it has been working on for two decades (regnum.ru/news/polit/2345857.html). But despite
this, Belarus remains the only country in the post-Soviet space where ever more
people are using Russian as opposed to the titular language of the country (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/11/15/belarus-edinstvennaya-strana-kotoraya-prodolzhaet-rusifitsirovatsya-na-postsovetskom-prostranstve.html).
7. Only One Belarusian in 12 Fears His Country Will Lose
Its Sovereignty.
Twelve percent of Belarusians say they are afraid that their country might lose its sovereignty in the relatively
near future; the remainder reject that possibility (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/11/14/v-belarusi-poteri-suvereniteta-boitsya-lish-8-naseleniya.html).
8.
Ruutel
Recalls How a Friendly Word to Yeltsin Helped Gain His Support for Estonian
Independence.
Former Estonian President Arnold Ruutel said at the presentation of a
new book about his career that his extension of a friendly word to Boris
Yeltsin just after he had left the CPSU caused the Russian leader to promise
that he would support Baltic independence when the time came (rus.postimees.ee/4315283/arnold-ryuytel-my-byli-s-elcinym-kak-dve-belyh-vorony).
9.
Zingeris Says West
May Follow Magnitsky List with Nemtsov List. Lithuanian politician Emanuelis
Zingeris says the West may soon adopt a Nemtsov List on the same basis as it
did the Magnitsky list to go after those Russian officials involved in the
murder of the Russian opposition politician (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/11/16/74575-na-ocheredi-prinyatie-spiska-nemtsova).
10.
Tashkent Calls for
Formation of Association of Regions within Central Asia. Following on its proposal for a new union of
Central Asian countries, the Uzbekistan government has called for creating an
association of the regions of these countries as a first step (centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1510388460).
11. Kyrgyzstan Turns Its Largest Banknote on Its Side. In a move that may confuse consumers but that will
certainly attract those who collect currencies, Bishkek has turned the obverse
of its 2000-som note 90 degrees so that it has to be viewed lengthwise rather
than the other way (centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1510696620).
12.
Kazakhstan
Suffering from Serious Brain Drain. Kazakhstan is losing doctors, economists
and educators faster than it can replace them, putting some of its key sectors
in difficulty already and promising more ahead (migrant.ferghana.ru/newslaw/в-казахстане-отток-специалистов-прев.html and ratel.kz/kaz/kazahstan_pokidajut_vrachi_ekonomisty_i_pedagogi_issledovanie).
13.
Turkmen Men Die
Before Reaching Pension Age. Turkmenistan faces a demographic problem that may
ease its fiscal ones: On average, Turkmen men die before they reach retirement
age and thus do not have to be given a pension (gundogar.org/?0130518029000000000000011000000). Environmental
factors are playing a major role in this, and Ashgabat is trying to plant trees
so as to block dangerous dust from the bottom of the now dried up portions of
the Aral Sea (centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1510639860).
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