Paul
Goble
Staunton, December 4 -- 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 111th 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.
One Place Putin
Won’t Be: Right on the Money.
The Russian Central Bank says that it will not put a picture of Vladimir
Putin on Russian currency (newsland.com/community/7285/content/dengi-s-putinym/6103800),
but he is being featured ever more often in popular poetry (republic.ru/posts/88088). Meanwhile,
Putin made history by becoming the first Russian leader to visit an assembly of
the Russian Orthodox Church (newsland.com/community/4765/content/prezident-putin-vpervye-posetit-arkhiereiskii-sobor-rpts/6099106).
He came out again as a defender of family values and called on Russians to
prepare for war, although he did not specify just who Russia’s enemy in such a
conflict would be (politsovet.ru/57330-putin-rasskazal-o-semeynyh-cennostyah-na-primere-glistov.html and forum-msk.org/material/politic/14020282.html).
Once again the Moscow media was filled with stories about Putin’s supposed
“secret” daughter (http://www.ej.ru/?a=note&id=31852
and newsland.com/community/4765/content/kollega-kateriny-tikhonovoi-podtverdil-chto-ona-doch-putina-reuters/6100578).
And Putin shocked some by putting on shoes with enormous high heels so that he
would appear almost as tall as Alyaksandr Lukashenka (by24.org/2017/11/30/putin_visited_lukashenko_in-huge_heels/).
2.
Russian Business
Leaders Distancing Themselves from Putin Because of Sanctions Threat. The threat that
Russian business leaders will be targeted by American sanctions early next year
has caused many of them to put as much distance as they can between themselves
and the Russian president (republic.ru/posts/88072),
even though the Kremlin is now allowing Russian firms to mislead buyers by
misidentifying transfer companies to hide their role and thus escape existing
sanctions (apn.ru/index.php?newsid=36872).
The US Congress has stripped RT journalists of their accreditation to cover the
American legislature, and in response, deputies at both the all-Russian and
local levels are seeking to do the same with US journalists in Russia (snob.ru/selected/entry/131820,
politsovet.ru/57366-v-sverdlovskoe-zaksobranie-mogut-zapretit-vhod-amerikanskim-zhurnalistam.html and www.kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A212F864BCD6).
Meanwhile, in another sign of worsening relations between Russia and the US,
officials in the Russian Far East are refusing to meet with the new American
ambassador (rbc.ru/politics/02/12/2017/5a2240199a79475c0dc70c0a?from=main).
3.
Russians Urged to
Remember What Putin has Promised and Then Not Done. Opponents of the
Kremlin leader say that Russians should remember all the things that Vladimir
Putin has promised to do but not in fact done when they go to vote, something
that those who still support him have managed to avoid doing (censoru.net/23090-slava-rabinovich-v-blizhnem-okruzhenii-putina-ne-ostalos-ni-odnogo-psihicheski-normalnogo-cheloveka.html).
Meanwhile, Moscow has cut the number of outside observers it will allow for the
March vote (newsland.com/community/129/content/rossiia-sokratit-kolichestvo-zapadnykh-nabliudatelei-na-vyborakh-2018/6100817),
promoted regional referenda and regional media coverage to enhance
participation (newsland.com/community/4765/content/v-kremle-razreshili-regionam-provodit-referendumy-ni-o-chem-v-den-prezidentskikh-vyborov/6102558
and fedpress.ru/article/1903264),
Kseniya Sobchak has briefly suggested she may withdraw from the race (newsland.com/community/politic/content/kandidat-protiv-vsekh-kseniia-sobchak-peredumala-ballotirovatsia-v-prezidenty-rossii/6101590),
Aleksey Navalny’s campaign has been accused of lobbying for more anti-Russian
sanctions (newsland.com/community/4109/content/soratniki-navalnogo-lobbiruiut-priniatie-novykh-antirossiiskikh-sanktsii/6099138),
Russian courts have forced Navalny to return some of the contributions he has
received (newsland.com/community/4489/content/v-moskve-sud-obiazal-shtab-navalnogo-vernut-pozhertvovanie/6101198), even as Navalny has picked up more
advocates for the idea that he should be allowed to take part in the race (newsland.com/community/politic/content/sergei-markov-navalnyi-dolzhen-priniat-uchastie-v-vyborakh/6096501)
and as Boris Titov has declared his candidacy (newsland.com/community/4489/content/boris-titov-obiavil-ob-uchastii-v-vyborakh-prezidenta-rossii/6096551).
4.
80 Percent of
United Russia Party Staff Reportedly to Be Purged. Sources close to
the ruling party say that the Kremlin plans to purge up to 80 percent of all
party workers, the first mass purge of that organization and a warning sign
about the future (ura.news/articles/1036273118).
Constitutional Court head Valery Zorkin says that Russia is turning into a
society in which a small elite manipulates everyone else (newsland.com/community/129/content/valerii-zorkin-predupredil-o-griadushchem-raskole-obshchestva-na-elitu-i-manipuliruemye-massy/6103957). Rumors are
swirling that a new Russian constitution has in fact already been written (profile.ru/politika/item/122118-obraz-budushchego-rossii-obrel-cherty-izmeneniya-gosudarstvennogo-ustrojstva).
And the finance ministry says that too many Russians get support from the state
(echo.msk.ru/news/2100676-echo.html).
5.
Ruble Predicted to
Collapse by Early 2018. Ever more experts are saying that the Russian ruble
will collapse by the beginning of next year (rusmonitor.com/v-yanvare-ozhidaetsya-masshtabnyjj-obval-rublya.html). More
Russian banks are in trouble (newsland.com/community/1841/content/v-problemnykh-bankakh-sgoreli-50-milliardov-rublei-pensionnykh-nakoplenii-rossiian/6104768).
Economists say that the Russian economy is not going to grow by two percent
this year despite government claims (ng.ru/omics/2017-11-28/1_7124_golikova.html). Seven
Russian regions now have debt loads greater than their annual incomes (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A1C5CB30950A). And a new
study finds that relations between corporations and investors in Russia are
more fraught than in most countries (iq.hse.ru/news/212548876.html).
6. Russian Suffering Increased by Rising Inflation. Many Russians now
can’t afford to buy food, housing and medicine all at the same time, not only
because of reduced incomes (despite the same or even more hours of work) but
because prices are rising far higher than the government says. Real inflation
this year for basic needs is running at 10 to 12 percent, experts say (newsland.com/community/5837/content/naselenie-stremitelno-bedneet-no-menshe-rabotat-nikto-ne-stal/6096621,
regnum.ru/news/omy/2351766.html
and rosbalt.ru/moscow/2017/11/24/1663520.html). And stories continue to come in of people
offering to sell precious things in order to eat: One Russian this week offered
to sell or exchange his World War II medals to get enough money to smoke (newsland.com/community/8218/content/volgogradets-opublikoval-obiavlenie-gde-predlozhil-obmeniat-nagrady-vov-na-veip/6097837).
7.
Putin’s Demographic Proposals Savaged as
Ineffective.
Experts say that Vladimir Putin’s proposal to provide subsidies to Russian
women who have a first child won’t help solve Russia’s demographic problems (snob.ru/selected/entry/131851 and
svpressa.ru/society/article/187331/). Instead,
they say, the government must massively invest in health care, something it
isn’t doing, and subsidize third and fourth children in order to raise the
fertility rate about 2.1 (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A213EE0B375D,
echo.msk.ru/news/2101588-echo.html
and newsland.com/community/4109/content/skolko-budet-stoit-novaia-programma-stimulirovaniia-rozhdaemosti/6100037). Indeed, this week there has been a public
outcry against the closing of birthing facilities in ten Moscow districts,
something that will push infant and maternal mortality up, exactly the reverse
of what Putin says he wants (openrussia.org/notes/716603/).
8.
Russians More
Afraid of Getting Sick than Going to War, Levada Center Says. Russians say that they are most afraid of getting
sick, far more so than of their country going to war (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/11/30/levada-tsentr-ozvuchil-glavnye-strahi-rossiyan.html).
But Russians have other social problems as well: Airline prices are predicted
to soar next year (svpressa.ru/economy/article/187429/),
crime is rising in predominantly ethnic Russian regions (versia.ru/banditov-po-oseni-schitayut-genprokuratura-nazvala-samye-bezopasnye-regiony-dlya-zhizni),
new restrictions on the sale of alcohol have been imposed in some places (apn.ru/index.php?newsid=36858),
red caviar a staple of New Year’s celebrations has disappeared from stores (momenty.org/restaurants/i179476/),
and the housing market is at the edge of collapse in many parts of Moscow (newsland.com/community/4765/content/renovatsiia-gotovit-gigantskii-krakh-na-rynke-nedvizhimosti/6096829,
newsland.com/community/4765/content/tsur-kak-pravitelstvo-moskvy-imitirovalo-kampaniiu-za-snos-piatietazhek-v-sotsialnykh-setiakh/6095710
and newsland.com/community/4765/content/situatsiia-s-probkami-v-tsentre-moskvy-okazalas-naikhudshei-za-piat-let/6098582).
9.
Which is Better --
Standing in Line for Sausage in Soviet Times or for Doctors Now? Russians are asking whether they have made
real gains since Soviet times. Then, they had to stand in line for basic
foodstuffs but now thanks to Putin’s optimization plan they have to stand in
line when they are sick to see a doctor (newsland.com/community/5862/content/chto-luchshe-ochered-za-kolbasoi-v-sssr-ili-ochered-k-vrachu-v-rf/6096824),
and if they have cancer, they may find treatments both expensive and useless (versia.ru/lechitsya-ot-raka-v-rossii-dolgo-dorogo-i-bespolezno). As has
always been true, Russian regions have far higher rates of alcohol consumption
than Muslim ones (regnum.ru/news/society/2350266.html),
and in many of them, illegal vodka continues to be sold under the table (https://www.kp.ru/daily/26762/3793691/).
And Russia now ranks third in the world in terms of new HIV cases, with heterosexual
sex having become the main channel of infection and 52 regions reporting that
they have no anti-HIV medicines at all (newsru.com/russia/01dec2017/hiv_medicine.html,
snob.ru/selected/entry/131912,
snob.ru/selected/entry/131834 and ura.news/news/1052314655).
10.
As with Chernobyl,
Europeans Point to Radiation Leak in Russia Before Moscow Does. Western European governments have identified
a radiation leak in the Urals before the central Russian government has acknowledged
any problem, a sad recapitulation of what happened at the time of the Chernobyl
nuclear accident (freeural.org/rutenij-106-iz-cheljabinska-vtoroj-chernobyl/, newsland.com/community/4852/content/pod-cheliabinskom-est-zona-smertelnogo-zarazheniia-ruteniem-106/6099868 and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A2022845F3E4).
Meanwhile, environmental activists report there are problems with radiation
leakages elsewhere in Russia as well (thebarentsobserver.com/en/node/3260
and russian.eurasianet.org/node/64986).
But radiation is far from the only environmental problem in Russia. Coal is spreading
a dark cloud over many formerly pristine areas, contamination that is so
widespread that it is now being mapped (chornobyl.in.ua/karty-zagriaznenia-rossii.html
and /thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic/2017/11/dark-shadow-over-russian-arctic-comes-coal).
And Lake Baikal is at risk because of water sales to China and government
policies that have allowed its water level to fall by two meters (ng.ru/ideas/2017-11-28/5_7124_baykal.html,
newsland.com/community/4765/content/grinpis-reshenie-rossiiskogo-pravitelstva-ugrozhaet-baikalu/6097290
and newsland.com/community/129/content/grinpis-rossii-protiv-izmeniat-uroven-baikala-do-dvukh-metrov/6096561).
11.
Ever More
Non-Russians Say Putin Wants to Destroy All Non-Russian Republics. Given Putin’s language policies and his regional
amalgamation plans, ever more non-Russians say that the Kremlin leader wants to
disband all non-Russian republics, something many ethnic Russians favor but
that non-Russians fear (apn-spb.ru/opinions/article27249.htm).
But at least one republic has people who say that their nation will long
outlive Putin (idelreal.org/a/putin-segodnya-yest-zavtra-net-a-chuvashiya-budet-vsegda/28890833.html). In other
nationality news this week, Moscow completed the liquidation of the All-Russian
Azerbaijani Congress (nazaccent.ru/content/26057-vserossijskij-azerbajdzhanskij-kongress-oficialno-likvidirovan.html), rights activists demanded that Moscow enforce Russian law in Chechnya
(kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/313024/), and Ramzan Kadyrov talked about attacks
on him and his desire to eventually retire (lenta.ru/news/2017/11/26/ramzan/ and znak.com/2017-11-26/kadyrov_zayavil_chto_mechtaet_peredat_vlast_v_chechne_i_dazhe_znaet_komu).
12. Putin’s Language Policies Unwittingly Create Two
Russian Languages. Putin’s new pro-Russian language policies
have unwittingly created two distinct Russian languages in the schools of the
non-Russian republics: Russian as a state language for those for whom it isn’t
native and as a native language for those for whom it is (afterempire.info/2017/11/30/2russians/). The Council of Europe has sharply criticized
Moscow’s new language approach (idelreal.org/a/28885938.html).
Russian and Tatar officials are split on what is going on in schools and society
there with Russian ones talking about the failure of schools to teach enough
Russian and the Tatars talking about the need for young people to speak more
Tatar (echo.msk.ru/news/2101292-echo.html,
nazaccent.ru/content/26022-predstavitel-dum-rf-udivilsya-obyazatelnomu-obucheniyu.html,
business-gazeta.ru/article/365054
and interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=68690).
13.
Putin Helping to
Form Siberian Nation, Some There Say. Just as Putin’s attack on Ukraine has
helped unify Ukrainians, so his failure to help Russians east of the Urals is
having the effect of leading more people there to re-identify as Siberians and
even as a distinct Siberian nation (rusmonitor.com/sibiryaki-nedovolny-putinym.html). That is true in other regions as well, but
some Moscow commentators dismiss the possibility that regional identities are
even possible within the Russian nation, an attitude that may further promote
them (forum-msk.org/material/fpolitic/14013795.html).
One regional movement, that of Ingriya, has announced that its preferred
borders are those of Novgorod before the Muscovites came (afterempire.info/2017/11/29/ingria-borders/),
and many in the regions say they were better off under the Mongol Horde than
they are under Moscow (afterempire.info/2017/11/30/igo/).
14. Suggestion Imperial Family Was Killed as a Ritual
Murder Divides Russians. The Moscow Patriarchate’s suggestion that there is
much evidence that Nicholas II and his family were killed as part of a ritual
murder has attracted government investigators but much anger among some
Orthodox and many Jews and opposition politicians (portal-credo.ru/site/?act=comment&id=2202,
politsovet.ru/57316-evrei-vozmutilis-versiey-o-ritualnom-ubiystve-carskoy-semi.html , ng.ru/faith/2017-11-29/1_7125_kprf.html,
rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=79556
and portal-credo.ru/site/?act=comment&id=2202).
So much attention was lavished on this issue that many other steps the Moscow
Patriarchate took this week were ignored, but they merit recording at least:
The Russian Orthodox Church banned marriages of gays, transsexuals and heretics
(regnum.ru/news/society/2352515.html), prohibited
anyone from being married more than three times (harter97.org/ru/news/2017/12/2/271070/),
allowed Russians to venerate 28 Ukrainian saints (rusk.ru/st.php?idar=79559), denounced priests
who spend too much time in the media (politsovet.ru/57335-patriarh-kirill-raskritikoval-mediynyh-svyaschennikov.html),
and said it wants to take the lead in Christianizing space (lenta.ru/articles/2017/11/30/saint/).
It also provided new data on the size of the church: the Moscow patriarchate now
has 303 bishoprics, ten more than last year and 144 more than when Kirill
became patriarch, and 36,000 parishes (rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=79548).
The Patriarchate also announced that the government is providing it with more
subsidies (politsovet.ru/57348-pravitelstvo-vlozhit-152-milliona-v-sovmestnyy-zavod-s-rpc.html). And there was a telephone bomb threat near
where Patriarch Kirill was (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A1BF20212CED). Meanwhile, one anti-Muslim commentator said
that the super-MSD Council of Muftis of Russia is near collapse (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2017/12/01/sovet_muftiev_rossii_na_grani_raspada/).
15.
‘Soon Everyone in
Russia Will Be a Foreign Agent, Except Putin, Of Course.’ Opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov says that
the sobriquet ‘foreign agent’ is being tossed around to casually that soon almost
all Russians, except Putin, may be labelled as such (echo.msk.ru/programs/personalno/2102088-echo/).
Despite this, protests of various kinds and about various issues continue to
grow and spread (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/312972/,
newsland.com/community/129/content/otkrytoe-pismo-dmitriiu-medvedevu-ot-aktivistov-samoi-bolshoi-derevni-rossii/6096815, kavpolit.com/articles/dagestanskie_morjaki_v_plenu_u_skota-36681/,
and meduza.io/news/2017/11/27/dagestanskie-moryaki-ob-yavili-golodovku-oni-uyut-protiv-polugodovogo-aresta-ih-teplohodov), even as
more are denounced as the work of foreign agents and police harassment has
increased (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A1AC943C2241,
novayagazeta.ru/news/2017/11/26/137361-pravozaschitniki-na-vserossiyskom-s-ezde-zayavili-o-neobhodimosti-likvidirovat-tsentr-e
and graniru.org/Politics/Russia/m.265877.html).
The authorities are cracking down on more groups, lowering the age at which children
can be tried as adults (znak.com/2017-12-01/moskalkova_vyskazalas_za_snizhenie_vozrasta_polnoy_deesposobnosti_podrostkov),
making the work of ESP adepts illegal (politsovet.ru/57329-v-ugolovnom-kodekse-poyavitsya-nakazanie-dlya-ekstrasensov.html),
restricting the use of anonymizers (newsland.com/community/8223/content/s-1-ianvaria-2018-goda-v-rf-zapretiat-anonimno-polzovatsia-mobilnymi-messendzherami/6101768) and focusing on the need to restrict
computer games (profile.ru/obsch/item/122129-game-chats). Meanwhile one analyst pointed out what should
have been obvious: the purpose of Kremlin propaganda is to get people to think
that what the powers that be want is their own idea (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A1BF643A0036).
16. Telephone Bomb Threats, Evacuations Continue Unabated. Despite the
absence of central media coverage, both bomb threats and the evacuations of
buildings they force continue unabated around Russia and in Moscow itself (newsru.com/russia/27nov2017/miny.html
and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A1C52564B966). Russia now is ranked in the top ten countries
in the world in terms of terrorist threats (lenta.ru/news/2017/11/30/terror/),
and Russians say they are more frightened of conflicts now than in the past (nazaccent.ru/content/26043-rossiyan-stali-bolshe-bespokoit-nacionalnye-konflikty.html),
at least in part because of the Ukrainian spy mania the authorities appear to
be promoting (newsland.com/community/8218/content/ekspert-rasskazal-s-chem-sviazana-aktivizatsiia-ukrainskikh-shpionov-v-rossii/6102532 and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A20198D51BA4).
More worrisome, a trainee at the military-space academy has been accused of
plotting to carry out a terrorist action (novayagazeta.ru/news/2017/11/30/137501-kursanta-voenno-kosmicheskoy-akademii-obvinili-v-podgotovke-terakta).
17.
Russian Military
Faces Serious Problems Because of Lack of Decent Roads. Russia’s lack of high-quality
roads imposes serious limits on Moscow’s ability to move forces around or
launch attacks in a rapid way, experts say (afterempire.info/2017/12/01/wartime/). In other
military news, Vladislav Surkov says that Russians are the world’s most
effective peacekeepers (newsland.com/community/7285/content/surkov-nazval-rossiiu-samym-effektivnym-mirotvortsem/6102357),
a Russian senator says Moscow is prepared to create a military base in Sudan (newsland.com/community/5325/content/senator-klintsevich-zaiavil-o-gotovnosti-rossii-sozdat-voennuiu-bazu-v-sudane/6096305),
new draftees are required to denounce their parents as extremists in Voronezh (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A210B9093B89)
and Ramzan Kadyrov says there are more than 100 Russians in Baghdad jails (snob.ru/selected/entry/131813).
18.
Doping Scandal
Continues to Grow. As ever more evidence of a doping program
organized by the Russian government has surfaced, Russian officials remain in
denial and attack mode, claiming simultaneously that the charges are part of an
effort by the West to make Russia into a member of “the axis of evil” (versia.ru/mutko-obvineniya-v-adres-rossii-po-povodu-dopinga-svyazany-s-popytkami-sozdat-obraz-osi-zla)
and that the information about them is totally false (novayagazeta.ru/news/2017/11/28/137410-sk-obvinil-informatora-wada-rodchenkova-v-podmene-rezultatov-doping-prob-rossiyskih-smenov,
meduza.io/news/2017/11/26/advokat-rodchenkova-rasskazal-o-prosbe-rossiyskih-chinovnikov-iit-doping-probu-ukrainskogo-smena,
kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A1ABA2A0FE7E
and graniru.org/Society/s/m.265849.html). And in
advance of the IOC decision on banning Russia from the Olympics, Moscow has
threatened to cost the organization money by not broadcasting the competition,
even as some in the Russian capital have insisted that Russia would benefit by
being kept out of the games (themoscowtimes.com/news/Putin-prepares-tough-response-to-Russias-expected-Olympic-ban-59769,
iarex.ru/articles/54805.html
and newsland.com/community/7694/content/uslovie-putina-dlia-pokaza-olimpiady-2018-na-rossiiskom-televidenii/6095871).
19.
Russia’s
Hosting of World Cup Next Year Becomes Ever More Problematic. Now that the Olympics is out of reach, Russia’s
hosting of the 2018 World Cup has become more problematic as well. The United
Nations has weighed in against Russian restrictions on HIV-infected participants
(kommersant.ru/doc/3485722).
Gay activists have put out guidance on how LGBTs will have to behave if they
want to avoid problems in Russian venue cities (babr24.com/msk/?IDE=167885). The doping
scandal that has hit other parts of Russian sports is spreading to football as
well (newsland.com/community/7285/content/fifa-reshila-vziat-dopingkonstrol-v-svoi-ruki/6103714
and regnum.ru/news/polit/2349760.html).
Moscow insists it is clean and ready for the competition (https://regnum.ru/news//2352376.html),
but some are worried that racism by Russian fans could lead to forfeited
matches (themoscowtimes.com/news/racism-59712,
nazaccent.ru/content/26078-v-moskve-obsudili-protivostoyanie-rasizmu-na.html and meduza.io/news/2017/11/27/sudi-na-chm-2018-vpervye-poluchat-pravo-pereryvat-match-iz-za-rasizma). Meanwhile, a debate has broken out as to whether
the competition will bring a profit. Most experts say Moscow may benefit
briefly but will lose over time; other venue cities will lose from the outset from
this 13 billion US dollar effort (ng.ru/regions/2017-11-23/5_7121_mundial.html,
themoscowtimes.com/news/2018-world-cup-wont-boost-russias-economy-analysts-say-59768, regnum.ru/news//2352355.html
and rbc.ru/newspaper/2017/12/01/5a1ff2e19a7947379548d5bc).
Meanwhile, as ever more Russian athletes are stripped of their medals from the Sochi
Games, that Putin achievement is turning to dust with Russia predicted to fall
to anywhere between third and fifth place in the total national medal count (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A1D07355A22A,
newsland.com/community/5625/content/rossiiskaia-medalistka-sochi-2014-otkazalas-vernut-medal-mok/6099123 and newsland.com/community/5652/content/pro-olimpiiskie-medali/6099115).
20.
Monument Wars
Continue Non-Stop.
Fighting over toponymy in St. Petersburg has reached new levels (ng.ru/kartblansh/2017-11-27/3_7123_kartblansh.html,
gorod-812.ru/opros-kakuyu-ulitsu-vyi-byi-hoteli-pereimenovat/
and afterempire.info/2017/11/26/toponimika/).
Opposition to the Islam Karimov statue planned for Moscow grows (fergananews.com/articles/9661).
Volgograd’s Jewish community puts up a monument for Holocaust victims (ng.ru/regions/2017-11-23/100_volgograd2311.html).
The young Russian who expressed sympathy for German POWs gets an anti-monument
in response (politikus.ru/v-rossii/101990-vtyumeni-otkryli-pamyatnik-malchiku-kole-iznovogo-urengoya.html).
Sverdlovsk oblast residents press for renaming their region perhaps in honor of
the murdered imperial family (newsland.com/community/5652/content/pochemu-by-nash-region-ne-nazvat-v-chest-tsarskoi-semi/6104268).
A school in Krasnodar is renamed for Cheka founder Feliks Dzerzinsky (newsru.com/russia/28nov2017/ironfelix.html?utm_source=nr).
And the controversial film Mathilda has earned at the box office only five
percent of what was spent on it, opponents say (newsland.com/community/politic/content/pribyl-filma-matilda-sostavila-5-ot-zatrachennykh-na-nego-sredstv/6102192
and vz.ru/news/2017/11/29/897337.html).
21. Moscow Now Using Cloned Dogs as Guards at Siberian
Labor Camp. The Russian
penal system has begun testing the use of specially cloned dogs as part of the
guards force at a force labor camp near Yakutsk in the Russian Far East (siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/two-cloned-dogs-start-work-guarding-prisoners-at-forced-labour-camp-1-in-yakutsk/).
22. Anti-Moscow Revolutions and Armageddon Share the Color
Orange, Tajuddin Says. Talgat Tajuddin,
who sometimes styles himself as the Supreme Mufti of Holy Russia, says that
orange revolutions and the end of the world have this in common – their color (business-gazeta.ru/article/365441).
23. Ayn Rand Hated Not Only Communism but Russians Too. Ayn Rand, the novelist and philosopher of
libertarianism, hated both communism and the Russians because of her early
experience in fleeing the Bolsheviks, a new study says (ttolk.ru/articles/otkuda_voznikla_nenavist_k_pravitelstvam_i_rusofobiya_ayn_rend).
24. War and Talk of War Allows Russians to Escape from
Memories, Conscience, Belkovsky Says. One of the reasons Vladimir Putin keeps Russia on a war
footing is that it helps him ensure that Russians can escape from their
memories and their consciences which otherwise might cause them to revolt against
him, Moscow commentator Stanislav Belkovsky says (echo.msk.ru/programs/personalnovash/2099510-echo/).
25. When Moscow Runs Out of Carrots, Russians in the
Regions will Revolt. Analysts from
Russia’s regions say that their populations are not unlike people elsewhere and
that when Moscow finally runs out of carrots, physical and psychological, the
Russian people will revolt against them (fedpress.ru/article/1902348).
26. Russia’s Biggest Problem: Moscow Cares More about
Territory than about Russians. Moscow analysts
say that Russia’s problems throughout history reflect its rulers’ desire to
acquire territory even if the needs of the people have to be ignored or
sacrificed (newsland.com/community/7268/content/mysli-vslukh-pochemu-dlia-kremlia-priobretenie-novykh-territorii-vazhnee-tselostnosti-russkogo-naroda/6100311).
And
13 more from countries in Russia’s neighborhood:
1.
Four Out of Five
Ukrainians Say Putin is an Enemy of Their Country. Will new studies showing that the Kremlin leader has
inflicted more than 15 billion US dollars in damages to Ukraine not to mention
deaths and the displacement of populations, 82 percent of Ukrainians say that
Vladimir Putin is the enemy of their country (stoletie.ru/lenta/poteri_ukrainy_ot_razryva_s_rf_prevysili_15_milliardov_dollarov_382.htm and twitter.com/lvivSF/status/926167404895490049/photo/1).
2.
Ever More Russians
Fleeing Moscow’s Oppression for Ukraine. Almost every day another Russian flees
his country for Ukraine, a culturally similar but far freer place than his own
and a trend that represents perhaps the biggest threat to the future of Putin’s
regime (dsnews.ua/politics/troe-grazhdan-rossii-poprosili-ubezhishcha-v-ukraine-iz-za-presledovaniy-02122017125900
and sobkorr.ru/news/5A1AA783EE31F.html).
3.
Donbass Occupiers
Show Their True Russian Colors. The pro-Moscow forces have now put up
Russian flags on their “government”
buildings thus revealing their true colors however much Moscow and some in the
West still deny that fact (novayagazeta.ru/news/2017/11/30/137499-na-zdaniyah-mvd-v-lnr-poyavilis-rossiyskie-flagi). Meanwhile, more Russian mercenaries
including some from the notorious Vagner group are flooding into the region (versia.ru/rossijskie-dobrovolcy-v-lnr-ukrainskie-smi-soobshhili-o-pribytii-v-lugansk-chvk-vagnera).
4.
Kyiv Worried about
Bleeding of Weaponry from Front into Society. More than five million guns have
bled back into Ukrainian soldiers from the frontlines against the Russian
occupation forces (politikus.ru/events/102203-po-ukraine-gulyaet-5-mln-stvolov-otkuda-oruzhie.html).
5.
Ukrainians Will
Now Get Both Eastern and Western Christmas Off. Since 1991,
Ukrainians have gotten a day off for Eastern Christmas; they will now get one
for Western Christmas as well (echo.msk.ru/news/2101582-echo.html).
6.
Russian Repression
of Crimean Tatars Intensifies, Becomes More Deadly. While it does
not get the attention it did earlier, Russian oppression of the Crimean Tatars
on the occupied Ukrainian peninsula is not only intensifying but claiming more
victims, including an 82-year-old man who died after questioning (newsland.com/community/politic/content/kreml-o-repressiiakh-protiv-krymskikh-tatar-nichego-ne-znaem/6096932
and novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/11/25/74687-zaprescheny-v-rf).
7.
Ukrainian President
Calls on Moscow to Express Remorse about Holodomor. President Petro
Poroshenko says that Moscow should express remorse for Stalin’s Holodomor (echo.msk.ru/news/2099302-echo.html).
8.
Lithuania Adopts a
Magnitsky Law Against Russia. Lithuania has become the latest country
to adopt a version of the US Magnitsky Law to punish those responsible for his
death (charter97.org/ru/news/2017/11/27/270513/).
9.
Details of Future
Tallinn-Helsinki Tunnel Presented. Officials in Estonia and Finland have
provided new details about the construction of a rail and highway tunnel
between the two countries sometime in the coming decades (regnum.ru/news/economy/2350264.html).
10.
Kazakhstan Muslim
Leaders Seek to Define a National Version of Islam. The leaders of
Kazakhstan’s Muslim community are developing what they say will be a uniquely
Kazakh version of Islam, one shorn of inappropriate foreign borrowings and
reflecting the traditions of that nation alone (kazislam.kz/ru/songy-janalyktar/item/15447-kazakhstan-smozhet-sformirovat-sobstvennyj-put-ponimaniya-islama).
11. Terror in Turkmenistan Said Now an Everyday Thing. The government in Ashgabat is so repressive that
those few people who can study it say it has thoroughly penetrated all aspects
of life there (fergananews.com/articles/9666).
12.
Kyrgyz Elections
Make Possible First Normal Transfer of Power in Central Asia. The
just-completed presidential elections in Kyrgyzstan mean that country is the
first in Central Asia to have a peaceful transfer of power from one living
president to his successor, a remarkable achievement in a region where that
hasn’t happened before (forum-msk.org/material/news/14016554.html).
13.
Uzbek TV Airs
Criticism of Tashkent’s Security Service for First Time. Yet another
breakthrough under the new Uzbekistan president is that the media appears to be
getting freer and can now criticize some government institutions, including the
formerly sacrosanct national security agency (fergananews.com/news/27387). And in another development reflecting the
changes that are coming to post-Karimov Uzbekistan, some hotels there are
placing Korans, Bibles and Torahs in all guest rooms (kazislam.kz/ru/songy-janalyktar/item/15403-v-otelyakh-uzbekistana-poyavyatsya-koran-i-molitvennyj-kovrik).
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