Paul
Goble
Staunton, December 17 -- 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 113th 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.
Putin’s Press
Conference Subjected to Intense Fact Checking.
The Kremlin leader said so many things that were either completely false
or highly distorted that numerous Russian media outlets published fact-checking
articles pointing this out (newsland.com/community/4109/content/desiat-primerov-togo-kak--lgal-na-press-konferentsii/6123553, newsland.com/community/6399/content/v-1954-godu-krym-otdali-ukraine-v-narushenie-zakona-zaiavil-/6123283, and polit.ru/news/2017/12/14/_army/). Putin also
attracted more attention to opposition figure Aleksey Navalny by his pointedly
avoiding saying his name (themoscowtimes.com/news/-snubs-navalnys-name-because-he-doesnt-like-him-kremlin-says-59964). But polls show Russians continue to give
Putin credit for good things while not holding him responsible for bad ones (burckina-new.livejournal.com/1000946.html). Happily, at
least one Russian commentator has now said that “Putin isn’t god” (svobodaradio.livejournal.com/3287736.html), and ever more
are suggesting that his next term will be a catastrophe for the country (ej.ru/?a=note&id=31890 and echo.msk.ru/blog/lev_ponomarev/2107706-echo/). Two personal
items about Putin: he was a bit player in movies in the 1970s, playing in one
instance a German soldier (snob.ru/selected/entry/132345); and exploiting
the president’s passion for fitness, one Russian firm is now selling dumbbells
in the shape of Putin’s head (facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1497971853653068&set=a.107042812745986.9938.100003208032044&type=3&theater).
2.
Putin System Becoming
Ever More Nepotistic. The son of the former governor of Ulyanovsk
oblast gets his father’s old job, the latest indication of the extent to which
the Putin elite is doing what it can to make itself hereditary and thus more
like the tsarist-era ruling strata than ever before (idelreal.org/a/28914425.html). That
development, however, was overshadowed in the media by Putin’s call for the
rotation of cadres and his dispatch of future governors to Singapore and
Malaysia to learn how to govern (rbc.ru/society/14/12/2017/5a324d749a79473bf21c6417?from=main and politsovet.ru/57467-buduschih-rossiyskih-gubernatorov-otpravyat-uchitsya-v-malayziyu-i-singapur.html). Meanwhile, the
Levada Center found that almost 40 percent of Russians have never read the
constitution (novayagazeta.ru/news/2017/12/10/137768-levada-tsentr-pochti-40-rossiyan-ne-chitali-konstitutsiyu-strany), but almost half think that budget moneys are being
spent incorrectly (newsland.com/community/5652/content/pochti-polovina-rossiian-schitaet-chto-biudzhetnye-sredstva-raskhoduiutsia-nepravilno/6119556). Nezavisimaya
gazeta suggests that the Duma missed a major opportunity to be useful by
its failure to hold hearings on the doping scandal (ng.ru/editorial/2017-12-14/2_7136_red.html). In other
developments affecting the future of the political system in Russia, the
speaker of the Federation Council is increasingly positioning herself as an
advocate for the regions (ttp://realtribune.ru/news/authority/525), opposition
groups in an increasing number of federal subjects are forming shadow
governments to better challenge the authorities (asiarussia.ru/news/18517/), and some
regions and republics, fearful Putin is about to amalgamate them, are working
on their own ideas of how to combine them (idelreal.org/a/28913694.html).
3.
Putin Wants to
Present Himself as Leader of the Nation and So Won’t Be a Party Candidate. Putin has decided
that he will nominate himself instead of being the candidate of one or another
party, so that he can present himself as “leader of the nation” (realtribune.ru/news/authority/535).
His support is rising, from 54 percent last month to 61 percent now (themoscowtimes.com/news/more-people-want-to-vote-for-putin-59925),
likely because the media have been ordered to be more upbeat about events in Russia
(militariorg.ucoz.ru/publ/vlast/temy_obnishhanija_naselenija_i_rosta_nedovolstva_popali_pod_zapret_do_vyborov_prezidenta/21-1-0-78140).
But participation is still predicted to be at a record low, something some in the
opposition believe can be used to delegitimize the kremlin leader (spektr.press/news/2017/12/13/levada-centr-sprognoziroval-rekordno-nizkuyu-yavku-na-vyborah-prezidenta-rf/ and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A3244ED965DD).
Meanwhile, opposition candidate Kseniya Sobchak still has not garnered more
than single digit support, although she avoided a problem when the FSB said it
didn’t find her remarks about Crimea an advocacy of separatism (politsovet.ru/57492-reyting-sobchak-sostavil-1.html
and echo.msk.ru/news/2109900-echo.html).
Father Frost has announced that he won’t run against Putin although he did
acknowledge he is preparing a gift for the incumbent president (themoscowtimes.com/news/ded-moroz-says-he-will-not-run-for-president-59962 and svpressa.ru/society/news/188672/).
Aleksey Navalny has attracted positive notice for his program which actually
addressed real issues (rosbalt.ru/blogs/2017/12/15/1668913.html
and newsland.com/community/7904/content/navalnyi-opublikoval-prezidentskuiu-programmu/6122973).
While there is general consensus that no real election is possible in Russia
today (echo.msk.ru/blog/aillar/2110300-echo/),
many are arguing that opposition candidates and parties will play a useful role
in setting the stage for a time when real elections can take place (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A2F75FFB6C1F).
Meanwhile, the OSCE says that Moscow has ignored almost all of its
recommendations for improving Russian voting (vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2017/12/13/745191-proignorirovala
and novayagazeta.ru/news/2017/12/14/137891-golos-rossiya-polnostyu-vypolnila-lish-12-rekomendatsiy-obse-po-vyboram).
And experts remain divided on whether there will be protests after the March 18
vote (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A3217200FB1A).
4.
Putin, Trump Now on
First Name Basis.
An exchange of telephone calls between Putin and Trump over Putin’s praise for
Trump’s economic achievements and Trump’s supplying of information that helped
foil a terrorist attack in St. Petersburg has led Putin to declare that he and the
American president are now on “a first name basis” (bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-14/putin-kicks-off-presidential-bid-with-pledge-to-boost-incomes
and stoletie.ru/lenta/putin_provel_telefonnyj_razgovor_s_trampom_645.htm). But if personal relations between the two presidents are
warm, those between their two countries remain quite cold. Moscow won’t allow US
diplomats to function as election observers (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A33F8E8EC74E),
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Russia didn’t interfere in the US elections
but that the US routinely does in Russian ones (stoletie.ru/lenta/lavrov_zajavil_o_vmeshatelstve_ssha_v_rossijskije_vybory_451.htm),
Washington bans use of Kaspersky Lab software in the US government (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A31356F0A68A
),and Moscow commentators say Trump is
on his way to becoming the most odious American president ever (politikus.ru/events/102643-licemer-tramp-prisvoil-sebe-zaslugi-rossii.html)
while complaining that Washington is trying to set the oligarchs and Putin at
odds (ria.ru/analytics/20171212/1510705412.html).
5.
Industrial Production
Falls 3.6 Percent Over Last Year. Despite some positive news and even more
upbeat claims, the Russian economy is not doing well: industrial production
dropped 3.6 percent from 2016 to 2017, the largest decline in eight years (newizv.ru/news/economy/16-12-2017/dannye-rosstata-stagnatsii-v-promyshlennosti-uzhe-net-est-rekordnyy-obval,
charter97.org/ru/news/2017/12/16/272610/
and gks.ru/bgd/free/B04_03/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d03/253.htm).
At the same time, while Moscow celebrated its grain harvest, analysts showed
that Russian grain harvests had grown only a few percent since 1978 while the
rest of the world’s had grown more than 90 percent in that period (echo.msk.ru/blog/aillar/2111584-echo/).
The Russian government has in effect ended all aid to small businesses despite
many claims to the contrary (russian.eurasianet.org/node/65031),
only Russia’s Baltic port of Primorsk saw a decline in turnover in 2017 while
all others saw increases (iarex.ru/news/54872.html).
To help the economy in Russian occupied Crimea, Moscow may force Russian
restaurants and stores to sell at least 30 percent of Russian wine (lenta.ru/news/2017/12/13/ruswine/).
Concerned that the Russian ruble may soon be devalued, stores in Manchuria are
refusing to accept rubles in payment (asiarussia.ru/news/18521/).
And capital flight rose 3.4 times this
year over last (newsland.com/community/4765/content/chistyi-ottok-kapitala-iz-rossii-za-11-mesiatsev-vyros-v-34-raza/6118126
).
6.
67 Percent of
Russians Say Economy in Bad Shape and 90 Percent have Cut Spending. Poll numbers like those continue to bring more
bad news that calls into question the accuracy of the Kremlin’s upbeat message
(kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A33C262AECA7
and kommersant.ru/doc/3494890).
Perhaps the worst survey result is that 42 percent of Russians say they have
only enough money for eating; and 15 percent say they do not have even that much
(regnum.ru/news/society/2356150.html).
Ever more voices are calling for the government to change course, to stop
saving banks and start saving people (newizv.ru/news/society/12-12-2017/iz-zhizni-von-istoriya-uchitelnitsy-i-materi-odinochki-vzyavshey-ipotechnyy-kredit).
Experts say that the newly poor feel
their situation far more intensely than those who have always been in that
status (iq.hse.ru/news/213012973.html),
and their incomes are especially hard to take given that Duma deputies now make
20 times what average Russians do (newsland.com/community/7638/content/1-k-20-takovo-sootnoshenie-zarplaty-deputata-k-srednim-dokhodam-rossiian/6117961). On the
basis of their daily experience, Russians overwhelmingly say that inflation is
now running at twice the rate the government says and express fears that it
will go up more in the new year (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A323C830B4A2,
vedomosti.ru/business/articles/2017/12/13/745069-moskvu-o-roste-tsen
and newsland.com/community/5652/content/maslo-podorozhalo-v-moskve-na-107-a-trusy-na-43/6120416).
Meanwhile, in another unfortunate development, the government’s introduction of
new banknotes has sparked an explosion of counterfeiting across the country (nakanune.ru/news/2017/12/13/22492445/).
7.
Russians
Increasingly Living According to the Principle ‘Apres Moi, Le Deluge.’ Given how bad
things are and how little they are expected to improve anytime soon, Russians
are increasingly living according to the principle that they should live for
today because tomorrow will be worse (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A3405CDE8608). They also are now saying more often that “other
countries have a mafia; only in Russia does the mafia have a country” (newsland.com/community/1003/content/vo-vsekh-stranakh-svoia-mafiia-no-v-rossii-u-mafii-svoia-strana/6124505) and expressing
the view that only a total purge of the ruling class can save the situation (svpressa.ru/politic/article/188458/). On the family front, children are beaten in 98
percent of poor families and in 50 percent of well-off ones (ttolk.ru/articles/detey_byut_v_98_neblagopoluchnyih_i_50_blagopoluchnyih_semey), every 40 minutes a Russian woman is killed by a
family member (newsland.com/community/4765/content/beskonechnyi-ad/6123675), and Russians who have tried to adopt are returning 5,000
children a year to orphanages because of psychological problems (snob.ru/selected/entry/132262). The
reactionary tsarist Domostroi on family life is returning to Russian schools
under the guise of family “values” (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A3103AB83083, kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A30EE8628E05, ej.ru/?a=note&id=31903 and politsovet.ru/57466-ministerstvo-obrazovaniya-odobrilo-shkolnyy-kurs-semevedenie.html). A study has
found that Russian scholars are declining in number (iq.hse.ru/news/212895868.html). The authorities are now setting more restrictive
rules on family plots in Russian cemeteries (ura.news/news/1052316682), and media report that underground gambling is
widespread in St. Petersburg (http://gorod-812.ru/p-12122/).
8.
Only Eight Percent
of Russia’s Doctors Receive What Health Ministry Says is Average Salary. One of the reasons many doctors and other
medical professionals are angry is that they receive far less than the Russian
government says they do. One example: according to a new survey, only one doctor in twelve receives what Moscow
says should be the average salary (versia.ru/pochemu-tolko-8-vrachej-poluchayut-zarplatu-kotoruyu-rosstat-schitaet-srednej-po-strane). Many are thus leaving the profession
outright. As a result, many regions are suffering from a serious shortage of
medical personnel (politsovet.ru/57516-na-urale-stalo-menshe-terapevtov.html).
At the same time, new statistics show that a higher percentage of Russians are
suffering from mental illnesses and from various kinds of cancer than ever
before (lenta.ru/news/2017/12/10/21stcenturyschizoidmen/
and mk.ru/social/2017/07/25/rak-v-rossii-stal-nacionalnym-bedstviem.html).
Meanwhile, new genetic tests suggest that 11 percent of Russians have genes
that dispose them to particular diseases (snob.ru/selected/entry/132349).
9.
Putin Refuses to
End State Financing for Abortions. To the consternation of the Russian
Orthodox Church, Vladimir Putin has announced that he will not end state
financing for abortions despite cutbacks in medical spending (rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=79681).
His decision will put further downward pressure on the demographic future of
Russians and given ethnic differences accelerate the relative growth of Muslim
nations within the Russian Federation.
10.
What Dreaming of a
White Christmas Really Means in North Russia. Russians living in the far
northern portions of the country are now dreaming of a white Christmas because
the major industrial plants there that have left the snow there anything but
white are shutting down, some for the holidays and some forever (thebarentsobserver.com/en/ecology/2017/12/dreaming-white-christmas).
Greenpeace Russia says the only positive change in Russia’s Year of Ecology was
greater attention to the problems. Unfortunately, it says, the government
generally made things worse in the name of boosting economic output kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A2E95983EB06).
Krasnoyarsk residents are angry because they not only are not given clean air
to breathe but have been denied all chances to find out why that is the case (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/12/12/74889-perekreschennyy-gorod).
Meanwhile, the air in Moscow has had a foul smell, almost certainly because of
the burning of trash (polit.ru/article/2017/12/15/smell/),
Russian officials now admit they were wrong about the source of a radioactive
leak in the Urals (ura.news/news/1052316389),
members of the Khanty nation for the first time have begun to speak about the
nuclear accident their homeland suffered 40 years ago in Soviet times (ura.news/articles/1036273263),
and Moscow to the delight of hunters and the horror of environmentalists has
dropped numerous animals from its restricted “red list” to allow more shooting
of endangered species (babr24.com/?IDE=168373).
11.
Moscow
Patriarchate has No Problem with Documents Showing Stalin Set Up Church Because
It has No Problem with Stalin, Critics Say.
Critics of the Moscow Patriarchate say that the Russian Orthodox Church
has reacted calmly to new documents showing the Stalin and his security
services controlled the restoration of the church hierarchy during World War II
because the church leaders have no problems with the Soviet dictator (portal-credo.ru/site/?act=monitor&id=26356).
Several analysts have pointed out that the notion that the Imperial Family was
killed in an act of ritual murder as Bishop Tikhon Shevkunov suggests was
examined and rejected in the 1990s (interfax-.ru/?act=news&div=68857
and interfax-.ru/?act=news&div=68844). Meanwhile, Russian officials and their allies
continued to attack Jehovah’s Witnesses and Scientologists (sova-center.ru//news/extremism/murders-violence/2017/12/d38470/ and politsovet.ru/57510-v-ekaterinburge-budut-sudit-glavu-uralskih-sayentologov.html).
And in the North Caucasus, three new Orthodox churches have been opened in
Chechnya, but the construction of a new Orthodox Cathedral in Daghestan’s
capital remains controversial because it would deprive the city of a major park
(kavpolit.com/articles/v_chechne_otkroetsja_tretij_pravoslavnyj_hram-36851/
and onkavkaz.com/novosti/3612-ekspertiza-pokazala-chto-hram-aleksandra-nevskogo-sobirayutsja-stroit-na-territorii-parka-ak-ge.html).
12.
Chechen Demands
for Apologies Prompt Ingush and Other to Do the Same. Non-Russians
across the North Caucasus are following Ramzan Kadyrov’s precedent and
demanding that Russians who make fun of them apologize. That in turn has
prompted Russians to complain that the North Caucasians are too sensitive and
shouldn’t be upset by a little humor (republic.ru/posts/88412,
vz.ru/society/2017/12/15/899818.html
and nazaccent.ru/content/26141-rukovodstvo-comedy-club-publichno-izvinilos-za.html).
Officials in Kabardino-Balkaria say that widespread social depression and
outmigration is threatening “the demographic security” of that republic (caucasustimes.com/ru/socialnaja-depressija-i-migracija-ugrozhajut-demograficheskoj-bezopasnosti-kabardino-balkarii/
and caucasustimes.com/ru/kabardino-balkarija-v-zerkale-obshhestvennogo-mnenija-2017/). Meanwhile,
the numerically small peoples of the North are going to get what is in effect a
nationality line in their passports to prevent others from demanding that they
get the special benefits allocated to these peoples (nazaccent.ru/content/26165-dlya-korennyh-narodov-severa-vvedut-udostoverenie.html).
The action follows Vladimir Putin’s statement that the rights of northern
peoples must be respected (regnum.ru/news/polit/2357352.html). In other ethnic developments, Russian
nationalists say that their party is organizing to seize power in Buryatia (babr24.com/bur/?IDE=168389),
Daghestanis are beginning to record a film on Imam Shamil (kavpolit.com/articles/v_dagestane_nachalis_semki_filma_imam_shamil_ahulg-36833/),
sociologists say that clans are declining in importance in most north Caucasus
republics (nazaccent.ru/content/26158-ekspert-zayavil-o-snizhenii-vliyaniya-klanov.html),
Chechnya’s nationality minister backs a proposed law defining what the Russian
nation is (kavpolit.com/articles/ministr_natsionalnoj_politiki_chechni_ideja_obsche-36817/),
and Tatar and Mari nationalists agree to cooperate in the face of what they say
is the Russian threat to their existence (idelreal.org/a/mairy-ushem-yoshkar-ola/28908267.html).
13.
Perm Scholars List
32 Autonomies in Russia, Including Six that ‘Don’t Exist Just Now.’ A group of
scholars has compiled a map of autonomies in countries around the world
including Russia. The most interesting detail is that the map specifies that in
Russia there are 32 autonomies, “including six that ‘don’t exist just now’” (nazaccent.ru/content/26159-permskie-uchenye-sostavili-atlas-etnicheskih-avtonomij.html).
Siberian commentators were dismissive of Putin’s remarks about development
suggesting they’ve heard enough promises (regnum.ru/news/polit/2357808.html).
St. Petersburg officials and scholars have been charged with coordinating
development plans for the Russian North (fedpress.ru/article/1914272). And many in the regions often shift from local
identities to that of citizens of the world, thus bypassing any common Russian identity
(momenty.org/city/i179759/).
14.
Only Seven Percent
of Tatars Said Agitated by Language Controversy. A poll in
Tatarstan finds that only seven percent of Tatars are upset by the language
controversy that is roiling much of the
elite and many Russians (business-gazeta.ru/article/366645). Both Grigory Yavlinsky and Kseniya Sobchak
have called for an end to attacks on Kazan’s position (idelreal.org/a/28914080.html and nazaccent.ru/content/26144-sobchak-potrebovala-prekratit-kavalerijskij-naskok-na.html).
Meanwhile, Russians must fight what some call “the Anglo-Saxon linguicide” of
Russian by getting rid of all English loan words (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2017/12/13/lingvocid/). And
ever more nationalities are coming out in defense of their right to require
instruction in their national languages (idelreal.org/a/ufa-syezd-bashkirskogo-naroda/28910452.html,
nazaccent.ru/content/26143-gilmutdinov-prizval-zakonodatelno-podderzhat-rodnye-yazyki.html
and nazaccent.ru/content/26140-kareliya-stanet-pilotnym-regionom-dlya-sozdaniya.html).
15.
Protests Become
More Widespread, More Diverse and More Political. Demonstrations occurred in more places about
more subjects and with a greater political dimension this week than at any time
this year. For a sampling of these, see among others these reports: kavkazr.com/a/kto-samy-ny/28914345.html,
kavkazr.com/a/v-kreml-putinu/28913916.html,
themoscowtimes.com/news/russian-nationalist-detained-for-attack-on-sturges-exhibition-59924, kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A30E8313382B,
regnum.ru/news/society/2356712.html,
ura.news/articles/1036273256, newsland.com/community/4788/content/tikho-ne-budet-v-moskve-proshiol-miting-obmanutykh-dolshchikov/6120326, znak.com/2017-12-10/avtomobilistov_snova_zovut_na_vserossiyskiy__protiv_podorozhaniya_benzina, kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/313598/,
openrussia.org/notes/717349/,
regnum.ru/news/polit/2358248.html,
newsland.com/community/politic/content/valerii-rashkin-obmanutye-dolshchiki-priniali-reshenie-ne-golosovat-za-putina/6124006,
openrussia.org/media/717322/
and ura.news/news/1052316701. Meanwhile,
to promote interest in the history of Soviet repressions, the Memorial
organization has made the GULAG into a card game (voboda.org/a/28904731.html);
and in an unusual turn, some used attendance at the Nureyev ballet to press for
freedom for Kirill Serebrennnikov (sobkorr.ru/news/5A2CF02AB9FDA.html).
16.
Russia Becoming ‘a
Closed Camp.’ Given
increasing repression, commentators say, Russia is losing the last vestiges of
democratic institutions and becoming “a closed camp” (ehorussia.com/new/node/15339). That is
especially the case in the Internet where ever more sites are blocked even as
many activists promote workarounds (lenta.ru/news/2017/12/14/rkn_youtube/,
agonia-ru.com/archives/14381,
ruskline.ru/news_rl/2017/12/11/sajt_fontanka_stal_ruporom_amerikanskoj_sekty/,
cho.msk.ru/news/2109094-echo.html
and openrussia.org/notes/717233/).
The flight of Russians persecuted by the authorities to Ukraine, the Baltic
countries, Europe and the US is well known; but conditions are now so dire that
some Russians in the Urals are fleeing to China lest they be incarcerated in Russia
(momenty.org/city/i179787/).
The Duma has passed a new law dramatically increasing criminal penalties for
anyone who recruits for terrorist activity (graniru.org/Politics/Russia/Parliament/Duma/m.266287.html).
And both the young Russian who said positive things about German POWs and his
teachers have been subject to intense persecution (rbc.ru/society/12/12/2017/5a2f94159a794731351c84fa?from=main
and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A2F9760C747A).
17.
Anonymous Bomb
Threats Continue Forcing More Evacuations. Ever more telephone bomb threats
appear to be coming in, forcing Russians to evacuate more facilities in more
places, with officials seeking to blame someone, anyone, from outside the country
for these outrages (politsovet.ru/57473-mvd-rossiyu-minirovali-po-telefonu-iz-sirii.html
and znak.com/2017-12-15/bolee_130_chelovek_evakuirovali_iz_otelya_v_moskve_iz_za_lozhnogo_zvonka_o_minirovanii). In an
indication of a more serious threat, the FSB and Interior Ministry announced they
had arrested illegal arms traders in 14 different federal subjects (regnum.ru/news/society/2358129.html)
and had arrested more than 1,000 terrorists plotting real actions during the
upcoming elections (regnum.ru/news/polit/2356152.html
and echo.msk.ru/news/2109194-echo.html).
Islamist radicals are increasingly organized in Russian prisons and recruiting
new followers in many of them (kavkazr.com/a/pravila-tyuremnykh-jamaatov-gorazdo-bolee-gumanny/28904775.html
and nakanune.ru/news/2017/12/08/22491962/).
The Russian government took another step to tighten control over immigrant
workers declaring that they could be certified only in government clinics (nazaccent.ru/content/26145-minzdrav-zapretit-chastnym-klinikam-vydavat-migrantam.html).
In Daghestan, people are complaining about the installation of military and
security officers as representatives of Makachkala in that republics’ regions (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/313842/).
One reason that may be happening is that large number of Daghestanis are
returning home after fighting for ISIS (chernovik.net/content/lenta-novostey/batalon-rossiyskih-voennyh-iz-sirii-pribyl-v-mahachkalu).
And some in Moscow are complaining that 23 years after Russia invaded Chechnya,
the central government has done almost nothing for the ethnic Russian victims
of the conflict (apn.ru/index.php?newsid=36922).
18.
Putin Says No One
Should Use Terrorists for Their Own Ends. After Putin made this declaration (islamrf.ru/news/russia/rusnews/43066/),
Russian officials launched a major media campaign to suggest that the US was
doing just that (meduza.io/news/2017/12/16/rossiya-obvinila-ssha-v-podgotovke-v-sirii-novyh-formirovaniy-iz-boevikov-ig). Putin also
suggested that Russian soldiers after their victory in Syria over ISIS could
feel themselves to “gods of war” (kp.ru/daily/26768/3801048/). Many
commentators suggested Putin was right to pull Russian forces out of Syria lest
a Vietnam syndrome set in (echo.msk.ru/programs/personalno/2108728-echo/), but in
fact he left about a third of Russian forces there despite proclaiming victory
(meduza.io/news/2017/12/12/rossiya-ostavit-v-sirii-tret-svoey-gruppirovki).
Moscow officials say they may begin to regulate troll factories in Russia (znak.com/2017-12-12/glava_roskomnadzora_v_rossii_mozhet_poyavitsya_regulirovanie_fabriki_trolley).
The European Union has expressed concern about the increasing Russian military
presence in Kaliningrad and Russian-occupied Crimea (vz.ru/news/2017/12/10/898876.html).
LDPR head Vladimir Zhirinovsky says Moscow should have done with Ukraine and
force NATO out of the Baltic countries (newsland.com/community/8211/content/zhirinovskii-prizval-pokonchit-s-ukrainoi-i-zastavit-vyiti-iz-nato-strany-baltii/6115125 and baltnews.ee/in_russia/20171209/1016456734.html).
Faced with ever more failures in its space program, Deputy Prime Minister
Dmitry Rogozin has called for introducing personal criminal liability for any
failures in the sector (og.ru/economics/2017/12/13/93383). And a
scholar has traced an unusual event: when Moscow tried and failed to annex a
neighboring country, in this case, Eastern Turkestan or Xinjiang (centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1513145220).
19.
Monuments War
Continues, Becomes More Ideological. Both supporters and opponents of
monuments and toponym changes are now more inclined to invoke ideologies rather
than practical arguments, one commentator suggests (sibreal.org/a/28883813.html). The fight over renaming Sverdlovsk oblast is
heating up with the fight now centered on whether a referendum will be required
and when it might occur (politsovet.ru/57490-zaksobranie-ne-budet-pereimenovyvat-sverdlovskuyu-oblast-bez-referenduma.html and politsovet.ru/57483-vsemirnyy-russkiy-narodnyy-sobor-predlozhil-pereimenovat-sverdlovskuyu-oblast-bez-referenduma.html). Some
historians are outraged by the exhibit My Russia being promoted by Bishop Tikhon
Shevkun (freeingria.org/2017/12/istoriki-dolzhny-prizvat-obshhestvo-k-bojkotu-proekta-rossiya-moya-istoriya/),
and others are upset that the Hermitage did not mark the October revolution
centenary in any significant way (themoscowtimes.com/news/hermitage-museum-nearly-didnt-mark-russian-revolution-centenary-59943).
The Tatarstan government has come out in opposition to a Russian call to
memorialize a defeat of the Mongols (kommersant.ru/doc/3495564).
The Duma has opened a can of worms by allowing people to use the Russian coat
of arms without official approval (fedpress.ru/news/77/society/1914523).
The eternal flame in Yekaterinburg was extinguished briefly by trash (politsovet.ru/57460-vechnyy-ogon-v-ekaterinburge-pogas-iz-za-musora.html).
And a memorial plaque in honor of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has been erected in
Moscow (newsland.com/community/4109/content/v-moskve-otkryli-memorialnuiu-dosku-solzhenitsynu/6118234).
20.
Mutko May have to
Take the Fall but He Wasn’t Responsible. Ever more Russian commentators are
arguing that while the sports official may have to take the fall for the doping
scandal, it could not have happened without the support of higher ups,
including Vladimir Putin (echo.msk.ru/blog/partofair/2110996-echo/
and gordonua.com/news//putin-o-reshenii-mok-my-sami-vinovaty-my-dali-povod-no-v-tom-chto-zdes-politicheskaya-podopleka-somneniy-net-222057.html).
Putin implicitly acknowledged mistakes when he said that it had been an error
to hire the man who turned out to be the whistle blower in this case, but he
continued his attacks on what he described as politicized and unjustified actions
by WADA (lenta.ru/news/2017/12/14/putin_rodchenkov/
and newsland.com/community/4765/content/vada-otvetilo-na-slova-putina-o-davlenii-i-zapugivanii/6123581).
In other sports news. FIFA confirms that it has received new compromising
information on Russian football players (newsland.com/community/4765/content/fifa-podtverdila-poluchenie-novogo-kompromata-na-rossiiskikh-futbolistov/6123408),
Moscow officials say they are sure the attack on Russia’s hosting of the World
Cup is politically motivated (newsland.com/community/5652/content/v-mid-i-sf-uvereny-chto-antirossiiskaia-kampaniia-v-e-zatronet-i-chm-2018-po-futbolu/6120869). Russian officials are concerned
that the doping scandal has hurt the image of sports among ordinary Russians (vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2017/12/11/744888-doping).
Cities and regions are fighting over who has to bear the costs for hosting
world cup cities (sobkorr.ru/news/5A2F911E568B9.html).
Russian hotels are engaged in massive price gouging for the time of the World
Cup competition (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A2F857DC147D).
FIFA has refused to sell tickets to residents of Russian-occupied Crimea (newsland.com/community/8/content/fifa-zapretila-krymchanam-pokupat-bilety-na-chm-2018/6120480).
And in an interesting detail, the plant in Latvia that produced one of the drugs
that has gotten Russian athletes in trouble for doping has now been closed by
police (ru.sputniknewslv.com/incidents/20171212/6745179/policija-latvia-zavod-metadon.html).
21. Russian Orthodox Hierarchs Visit North Korea, Pray for
Peace.
Representatives of the Vladivostok bishopric of the Russian Orthodox Church of
the Moscow Patriarchate have visited North Korea to offer their support to
Pyongyang and to pray for peace on the Korean peninsula (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2017/12/15/pravoslavnyj_phenyan_molitsya_o_mire_na_korejskom_poluostrove/ and vladivostok-eparhia.ru/news/mitropolia/?ID=22628).
22.
European Countries, Turkey Restricting
Immigration from Post-Soviet Space. In moves that eliminate one of the escape hatches for
many ethnic and religious minorities in the former Soviet space, EU countries
and Turkey have restricted immigration from countries in that region (fergananews.com/articles/9689). Turkey has gone further and expanded its
arrests of people from the North Caucasus (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/313612/).
23.
Historian Talks
about Aging Despots – with Stalin as His Example. In an analysis that some in Moscow are likely
to view as anything by historical, historian Oleg Khlevnyuk describes what
happens to political systems when their despotic rulers age and approach death
(znak.com/2017-12-11/istorik_oleg_hlevnyuk_o_tom_kak_padayut_despotichnye_rezhimy_na_primere_stalina).
24.
World War II
Japanese POW Moves to Siberia to Care for Graves of His Comrades. An aging Japanese POW has moved to Siberia in
order to care for the graves of those Japanese who died in the GULAG after 1945
(sibreal.org/a/28806455.html).
25.
Another Russian
Official Needing a Geography Lesson. A Urals communist politician in
discussing Germany suggested that the Bundestag was not the parliament of that
country but rather a city (politsovet.ru/57480-uralskaya-kommunistka-sochla-bundestag-otdelnym-gorodom.html).
26.
Catch 22 for
Ulan-Ude Residents.
The mayor of the capital of Buryatia called on residents to help clean off an
early snow fall there, but when they did, he fined them for not doing the job
the way he had wanted (newsru.com/russia/16dec2017/ulanude.html).
And 13 more from
countries in Russia’s neighborhood:
1.
Ukraine Spending
Far Less Per Capita on the Military than Russia Is. Andrey Illarionov
says that official numbers show that Ukraine is spending far less per capita on
its military than the Russian Federation is (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A2EC69F096B0). In another
Ukrainian defense item, a Russian source reports that more than half of those
called to serve in the Ukrainian military have not turned up at draft centers (antifashist.com/item/v-ukrainskie-voenkomaty-ne-yavilis-70-prizyvnikov.html).
2.
Ukraine Increases
Trade with Russia by 26 Percent over 2016. From what had been a very low
base, Ukrainian firms increased their trade with the Russian Federation by 26 percent
in 2017 over 2016 (qha.com.ua/ru/ekonomika/za-10-mes-2017-goda-ukraina-uvelichila-torgovlyu-s-agressorom-na-26/184190/).
3. Majority of Ukrainians Say They Aren’t Interested in
Politics.
According to a poll reported by the Belarusian portal Think Tanks, a majority
of Ukrainians say that politics is of little or no interest to them (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/12/15/opros-bolshinstvu-ukraintsev-politika-ne-interesna.html).
4. Is Saakashvili Working for the Russians or the Americans?
Ukrainians Aren’t Sure. The recent moves
of the former Georgian president in Ukraine have some Ukrainians asking whom is
he working for: the Americans, the Russians or just for himself? (versia.ru/mixail-saakashvili-amerikanskij-ili-rossijskij-agent).
5. More than 10,000 have Died in Donbass Following Russian
Invasion, UN Says. The United States says that more than 10,000 people
have died in the conflict in the Donbass begun by Russian intervention (newsland.com/community/1039/content/na-donbasse-za-3-goda-pogiblo-svyshe-10-tys-chelovek/6119796).
6.
Occupied Crimea Ever More Dependent on Moscow
as Basic Services Collapse. With each
passing month of the occupation, Crimea becomes more financially dependent on
Moscow (http://russian.eurasianet.org/node/65021), but despite an influx of money, many
public services such as the healthcare network have collapsed (ru.krymr.com/a/28907706.html).
7.
Moscow Court
Blocks Return of Siemens Generator Illegally Sent to Crimea. The occupation forces say and a Moscow court
agrees: we have the Siemens generators and we’re not giving them back (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A324080F11E4).
8.
Ukrainian Language
Samizdat Appears in Crimea. One indication of just how oppressive the Russian
occupation of Ukraine’s Crimea is has been the appearance of Ukrainian language
samizdat and its hand-to-hand distribution in the peninsula (ru.krymr.com/a/video/28920720.html).
9. Lukashenka Tightens Control over Belarusian Security
Forces. Alyaksandr Lukashenka has used his power to
appoint and to allocate resources to tighten his control over his last line of
defense – the security services and the military (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/12/14/arseniy-sivitskiy-lukashenko-usilivaet-svoy-lichnyy-kontrol-nad-silovym-blokom.html). In a related development, his government
has prohibited the collection of signatures against dedovshchina in the
Belarusian military (belsat.eu/ru/in-focus/sobirat-podpisi-protiv-dedovshhiny-zapreshheno/).
10.
Minsk Now Rating Impact of Disinformation on
Belarusians. The Belarusian authorities have set up a
program to monitor how affected Belarusians are by what Minsk sees as
disinformation coming in from abroad (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/12/15/v-minske-prezentovan-index-ustoychivosti-k-dezinformatsii.html). They have also taken steps to block some
of the channels they see as sources of this, including the Poland-based Belsat
TV (belaruspartisan.org/politic/409428/).
11.
Moldovan
Parliament Says Moldova’s Official Language is Romanian. Meeting a major demand of Moldovan
nationalists, the Moldovan parliament has voted to declare that the language of
the country is not Moldovan but Romanian (snob.ru/selected/entry/132331).
12.
ILO Says
Uzbekistan has Stopped Using Children to Pick Cotton. The
International Labor Organization says that Tashkent has ended its longstanding
practice of using children as well as many others to pick cotton, a major
victory for rights activists there and yet another sign that the post-Karimov
regime is very different from its predecessor (globalaffairs.ru/number/Integratciya-v-svobodu-19194).
13.
Kazakhstan has
More Mosques than Imams. According to
the latest official figures, Kazakhstan has far more mosques than it has imams,
raising questions as to who is providing religious instruction (centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1513241580). One consequence
of this is that Astana has now banned anyone under 16 from attending mosque (or
church) on his or her own (islamsng.com/kaz/news/13869). Meanwhile, in
Tajikistan, there is evidence that the Salafis are expanding their influence on
much of the population (centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1513064340).
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