Paul
Goble
Staunton, January 28 -- 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 118th 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 has Problems
with Orthodox Ritual and Russian History.
Vladimir Putin likes to present himself as a committed Orthodox
Christian and Russian patriot, but he doesn’t know how to cross himself
correctly in the Orthodox fashion, something often true of KGB-Inturist guides
to churches in Soviet times (afterempire.info/2018/01/22/rights/), and he gets the
route of Lomonosov’s travels wrong in a public statement (newsru.com/russia/27jan2018/putinsays.html). During a visit
to Kazan, the Kremlin leader calls for the revival of Islamic education in
Russia so mullahs and imams won’t have to seek training abroad (themoscowtimes.com/news/putin-calls-for-revival-of-islamic-education-in-russia-60276). As the elections approach, some commentators
are going back to Putin’s promises in 2012 and showing that he hasn’t met them
or even further to the 1990s to counter his claims that he has pulled Russia up
from that disastrous decade (politforums.net/economics/1440023245.html). Meanwhile, stories are circulating that
Putin’s father was involved in Soviet units that suppressed the Warsaw uprising
(arman71.livejournal.com/70459.html). And more than one commentator has explained
Moscow’s decision to ban “The Death of Stalin” as a reflection of the fact that
it saw itself reflected in that mirror (belrussia.ru/page-id-9858.html).
2.
Little Real
Enthusiasm for Putin’s Re-Election. Russians who aren’t being paid or
compelled by their superiors to support Putin’s re-election show little
enthusiasm for it, although that reality is lost behind the much ballyhooed state-financed
and orchestrated efforts (znak.com/2018-01-26/shkolniki_krasnodara_bez_entuziazma_speli_pesnyu_pro_putina_dyadya_vova_my_s_toboy, politikus.ru/v-rossii/103946-v-podderzhku-uchastiya-putina-v-prezidentskih-vyborah-sobrano-bolee-16-mln-podpisey-grazhdan.html
and forum-msk.org/material/news/14269207.html).
Besides all of Putin’s failures in the past, a major reason for this lack of
enthusiasm is that many expect Putin to introduce a variety of harsh, even
draconian measures immediately after he is formally installed in office once
again (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A66E9FA2BEAD). Meanwhile, the
Russian government continued to do everything it could to disrupt the efforts
of Aleksey Navalny’s supporters from pushing his agenda even though the regime
has blocked his candidacy (sobkorr.ru/news/5A68469DA7E97.html, theins.ru/news/89033, novayagazeta.ru/articles/2018/01/26/75282-navstrechu-28-yanvarya, svoboda.org/a/29000164.html and graniru.org/Politics/Russia/activism/m.267171.html). Kseniya Sobchak
after getting the needed 100,000 signatures on her petitions, made a series of
policy pronouncements including calling for the legalization of marijuana, the
denunciation of Stalin, and an end to the persecution of Navalny (ura.news/news/1052320778, themoscowtimes.com/news/russian-presidential-candidate-sobchak-calls-to-legalize-marijuana-60247, ruposters.ru/news/24-01-2018/sobchak-mesto-stalina and https://echo.msk.ru/blog/sobchak/2136312-echo/). Pavel Grudinin,
the KPRF candidate, says one shouldn’t laugh at Stalin just as one shouldn’t
laugh at Jesus Christ (newsru.com/cinema/25jan2018/grudinin.html).
Meanwhile, he faces harassment and
legal challenges (svpressa.ru/politic/article/191345/ and
ura.news/news/1052321489). Support for a
boycott of the March 18 vote is growing, with an entire Siberian town electing
not to vote (tatarsk.gorsite.ru/news/gorod/zhiteli-tatarska-napisali-otkrytoe-pismo-prezident/). Officials are retaliating by various get out
the vote measures including printing “vote on March 18” on grocery receipts in
some places (sakhalin.info/news/145679). Activists say officials now view all protests
as election related even if they aren’t (ng.ru/kartblansh/2018-01-22/3_7155_kartblansh.html). Ever more
Russians are worried about “dead souls” on voter lists and about the confusion
of a race in whicih nationalists rum as communists and communists as
monarchists (afterempire.info/2018/01/27/dead-souls/, https://www.znak.com/2018-01-24/v_regionah_rossii_nachali_vydavat_predvybornye_raznaryadki_po_yavke
and idelreal.org/a/28993723.html).
3. State Apparatus Said Paralyzed by Struggle for Moral
Values, Something It Does to Make a Show of Activity. That is the
judgment of one commentator (https://echo.msk.ru/blog/partofair/2134682-echo/). Meanwhile, ever
more former siloviki say that despite everything, there won’t be a palace coup
(rusmonitor.com/byvshijj-general-fsb-aleksejj-kondaurov-dvorcovogo-perevorota-ne-budet.html).
The elite continues to work hard to protect itself and transform its ranks into
tsarist-style social strata, something some expect will be formalized within
ten to fifteen years (newsland.com/community/4765/content/chinovniku-vypisali-shtraf-v-100-tysiach-za-ubiistvo/6175302, gorod-812.ru/pochemu-chinovniki-stali-bolshe-obnimatsya-drug-s-drugom/, iarex.ru/articles/55321.html, dsnews.ua/world/treterimskiy-nartsissizm-pochemu-rossiya-zastryala-v-feodalizme-19012018220000 and newsland.com/community/4765/content/v-rossii-uzhe-15-let-uzakoneny-sosloviia/6179329).
Communication with the population is breaking down, some experts say (thinktanks.by/publication/2018/01/22/katerina-bornukova-vlastnym-institutam-nuzhno-nauchitsya-kommunitsirovat-s-grazhdanami.html). In other developments of the political
system, Putin proposes new punishments for judges (politsovet.ru/57817-putin-predlozhil-novoe-nakazanie-dlya-sudey.html), commentators
suggest Russia doesn’t need either a president or political parties (echo.msk.ru/blog/planperemen/2134374-echo/ and ng.ru/editorial/2018-01-25/2_7158_red.html), Yeltsin’s son
becomes a restaurant operator (ura.news/news/1052320774), politruks are
introduced into United Russia (politsovet.ru/57826-v-edinoy-rossii-poyavitsya-politruk.html), and official
figures show Russia is spending far more on the Presidential Administration
than most regional budgets consist of (afterempire.info/2018/01/25/budgets/).
4.
Izborsky
Club Member Says Trump is Uniting with Jewish Capitalists Against Russia. US
policy in the next year will be ever more anti-Russian, an Izborsky Club member
says; because Donald Trump is strengthening his hand at home by “uniting with
Jewish capitalists (kp.ru/daily/26784.7/3817658/). As US increases
sanctions, Yeltsin oligarchs seek to separate themselves from Putin ones (dsnews.ua/politics/ssha-rasshirili-sanktsii-protiv-rossii-v-spisok-popali-desyatki-26012018180700 and ng.ru/economics/2018-01-21/100_oligarhi.html). Meanwhile, a
Moscow man takes the cold war seriously and throws snowballs at the US embassy
in Moscow (themoscowtimes.com/news/moscow-man-takes-cold-war-new-heights-snowball-attack-us-embassy-60268).
Outspoken Duma deputy Natalya Poklonskaya invites Trump to visit Crimea (znak.com/2018-01-27/poklonskaya_priglasila_trampa_v_krym). Meanwhile,
Russian media have had a field day with the US State Department’s announcement
that during any US government shutdown, its twitter feed will not be updated (enta.ru/news/2018/01/21/pobirushki/ and twitter.com/USApoRusski/status/954745440007872512).
5. Despite Putin’s Claims. All Macro Economic News is Bad. The growth in the Russian economy Putin has
been talking about not only is only half what he had predicted but is within
the margin of error of none at all (www.rbc.ru/newspaper/2018/01/24/5a6733379a794702c1da99de). Industrial
production set a record for decline (ru-mir.net/2018/01/24/rossiyskaya-promyishlennost-postavila-rekord-po-samounichtozheniyu/), Russia’s
foreign debt rose to 529 billion US dollars (.interfax.ru/business/596215), the rate of
capital flight doubled from last year to this (rusnation.org/sfk/1801/1801-27.shtml), corporate
defaults set a record as well (ng.ru/economics/2018-01-23/4_7156_defolts.html), and domestic
debt rose 18 percent in 2017 (graniru.org/Economy/m.267082.html). Some analysts
suggested that these numbers show that
the policy of the Russian Central Bank
is hurting the country more than any Western sanctions could (dailystorm.ru/politika-centralnogo-banka-rossii-vrednee-chem-novye-sankcii-ssha). Meanwhile,
experts say that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev won’t allow Russia to leave the
WTO (iarex.ru/news/55297.html), while others call
on Moscow to become a full member of OPEC (ng.ru/economics/2018-01-22/4_7155_opek.html). And in its
search for revenue, the Russian government is now talking about imposing “a
death tax,” aka, an inheritance tax (vgoroden.ru/novosti/v-rossii-mogut-vvesti-nalog-na-smert-id284561).
6. Russians’ Incomes Fall for Fourth Year in a Row, as
Prices and Bankruptcies Rise.
For the fourth year in a row – since the Crimean Anschluss in fact – the
real incomes of Russians have fallen throwing the average Russian standard of
living back nine years (mbk.media/news/realnye-doxody-rossiyan-snizilis-chetvertyj-god-podryad/, finanz.ru/novosti/lichnyye-finansy/uroven-zhizni-v-rossii-otbrosilo-na-9-let-v-proshloe-1013996865 and gazeta.ru/business/2018/01/25/11625727.shtml). Meanwhile,
bankruptcies and prices for consumer goods and food are going up (fedpress.ru/article/1941119, rbc.ru/newspaper/2018/01/22/5a6232af9a794792e035753b and forum-msk.org/material/news/14252600.html). Ever more
workers are not being paid what they earn (politsovet.ru/57827-zadolzhennost-po-zarplate-v-sverdlovskoy-oblasti-vyrosla-pochti-v-sem-raz.html), but perhaps
Russians can be pleased that the number of Russian dollar billionaires has gone
up by 11 percent in the past year (nashgorod.ru/news/news104838.html). Not all
Russians are happy about that or about the propensity of these people to buy
citizenship in Malta and other countries (znak.com/2018-01-24/deputat_kommunist_zhestko_raskritikoval_rossiyskih_bogachey_beguchih_na_maltu), and theya re certainly not pleased that Duma
members now get a pension 16 times
larger than do ordinary Russians (zen.yandex.ru/media/id/5a425d0b86516548edce29ed/pensiia-deputata-v-rossii--220-tysiach-pensiia-obychnogo-cheloveka--v-16-raz-menshe-5a60bc32a815f1a8d15fe591). Ordinary
Russians are taking extraordinary measures to make ends meet: One Urals teacher, for example, now has a second job as
a stripper (chel.mk.ru/articles/2018/01/20/uralskiy-uchitel-fizkultury-stal-striptizerom.html).
Some in Russia now say the 1990s were a paradise compared to now and they
complain that owners are using bankruptcy to avoid paying workers more now than
in the past (business-gazeta.ru/article/370429 and mbk.media/region/kak-zhivut-rabochie/).
One way to deal with economic problems is to lie; another is to change terms:
Moscow officials now say that oligarchs are not oligarchs but “socially
responsible businessmen” (regions.ru/news/2615697/ and
forum-msk.org/material/news/14264955.html).
7.
Moscow Refuses to
View Three School Attacks in One Week as Sign of System Failure. Murderous attacks on three schools in
Russia’s regions have failed to convince the regime that it has to do more than
engage in propaganda and cosmetic change, commentators say, to the outrage of
parents (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A6492FBD5428). Some school
officials are introducing guards but ever more people are blaming Putin for the
problem (ura.news/news/1052321443, newsru.com/russia/20jan2018/buryatiaschools.html and sputnikipogrom.com/news/81297/putins-children/). Experts say
that Columbine cults are displacing suicide pacts among Russian young people (newizv.ru/news/society/21-01-2018/gruppy-razvrata-vmesto-grupp-smerti-chem-razvlekayutsya-v-seti-uralskie-shkolniki-0ce6a009-1991-4df5-988c-eceb2fe7dd10), but many
outside the regions of the attacks don’t know much because Moscow television
has provided scant details (meduza.io/feature/2018/01/21/zhizn-vsegda-prosche-esli-ponimaesh-kak-i-chto-proishodit). Meanwhile, in
other signs of social collapse, the police have been caught engaging in crime
rather than fighting it (themoscowtimes.com/news/moscow-cops-release-armed-men-for-cash-moments-before-robbery-60250 and sobkorr.ru/news/5A68620D25CEF.html), an intense
debate has broken out over whether living together should be legally treated as
marriage (babr24.com/msk/?IDE=169873, politsovet.ru/57794-senator-predlozhil-priravnyat-sozhitelstvo-k-zakonnomu-braku.html and echo.msk.ru/news/2133674-echo.html), a scandal
occurred when officials appeared to recognize a gay marriage conducted abroad,
then backed down and punished those who registered it (echo.msk.ru/news/2136682-echo.html, newsland.com/community/5625/content/v-rossii-vpervye-priznali-odnopolyi-brak-mezhdu-muzhchinami/6181533 and ura.news/news/1052321581), single fatherhood
an increasingly widespread phenomenon with 600,000 single fathers now counted
by officials (snob.ru/selected/entry/133559), people are
dying because the authorities don’t clear the streets or fix them (politsovet.ru/57807-iz-za-nechischenyh-dorog-na-urale-pogiblo-18-chelovek.html and newizv.ru/comment/petr-shkumatov/23-01-2018/dorog-net-no-vy-derzhites), and the number
of Russians studying abroad has gone up 400 percent over the last 20 years (russian.eurasianet.org/node/65129). In other
developments on the social front, vodka sales have actually increased slightly
instead of the decline some officials have claimed (http://polit.ru/news/2018/01/23/vodka/ and ng.ru/economics/2018-01-24/100_vodkaattac.html), a
village cut off from the world issues a cry of despair about lack of health
care and basic services (mirnov.ru/obshchestvo/naja-sfera/starushki-horonjat-drug-druga-v-koryte.html), anger is
growing about a government plan to require drivers take a test whenever their
drivers licenses must be renewed (iz.ru/699689/evgeniia-priemskaia/borba-za-prava),
some in the Duma are pushing for the creation of a morality police on the
Iranian model (ej.ru/?a=note&id=32057, beregrus.ru/?p=10702, meduza.io/news/2018/01/24/deputat-elena-drapeko-predlozhila-sozdat-sovet-po-nravstvennosti and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A69B941E1815), widespread age
discrimination in the workforce is reported in Russia (meduza.io/feature/2018/01/22/da-oni-knopochku-ne-mogut-nazhat), the first issue
of a newspaper devoted to patronage appears in Moscow (takiedela.ru/news/2018/01/22/gazeta-patronazh/), the lack of
substantive knowledge among recent graduates worries employers and government (chaskor.ru/article/sovremennye_vypuskniki_vuzov_42958), and an
anti-rating of Russian universities which have given the most degrees on the
basis of plagiarized dissertations appears (chaskor.ru/news/antirejting_po_chislu_falshivyh_dissertatsij_vozglavil_mpgu_42948).
8.
More than Half of
Rusisa’s Doctors Say Health Care Access has Fallen Under Putin. Some 57 percent
of doctors say access to medical care has declined under Putin (demoscope.ru/weekly/2018/0755/opros01.php) while many
Russians complain about work ethics of doctors (newsland.com/community/8225/content/sotsiolog-o-massovoi-khalatnosti-rossiiskikh-vrachei/6177235), rising prices
for cancer medications are leading to more deaths from the disease among
Russians (og.ru/society/2018/01/22/94082), prices for other medicines are also going up (newsland.com/community/4765/content/v-rossii-rezko-podorozhaiut-lekarstva/6180048),
hospitals are sending terminally ill people home to improve their statistics (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A6B3A7C73A3B), but,
in a rare example of good news, new rules may allow invalids to get and retain
that classification more easily than in the past (rosmintrud.ru/social/invalid-defence/407).
9. Moscow Backs More Day Care So Mothers Can Work. The Russian
government wants to open more childcare centers so that mothers can return to
the workplace as soon as possible given labor shortages caused by demographic
decline (polit.ru/article/2018/01/24/babies/). Moreover, even though birthrates have fallen
in Muslim areas, they remain much higher in the North Caucasus and parts of the
Middle Volga than in majority Russian areas, even as mortality rates in the latter
areas stand at levels higher than in most African countries (svpressa.ru/blogs/article/191387/). Russia now ranks 93rd in the world
in terms of life expectancy (bfm.ru/news/373662),
and ever more Russian couples are choosing not to have any children at all (sovross.ru/news/37667). Meanwhile, ever more adopted children are
dying at increasing rates (newsru.com/russia/22jan2018/deti2.html), and surveys
show that the best and the brightest are fleeing Russia or would like to (newsland.com/community/1039/content/iz-rossii-vse-bolshe-begut-obrazovannye-grazhdane/6178616 and topwar.ru/134543-rossiyane-begut-iz-rossii-15-grazhdan-sidyat-na-chemodanah-15-millionov-uedut-v-blizhayshie-gody.html).
10.
Russian
Authorities Fine French Environmentalists Looking Into Radiation Leak. The Russian
authorities have levied heavy fines on a group of French environmentalists who
were seeking to track down the source of the radiation leak that spread into
Western Europe at the end of 2017 (freeural.org/v-ozerske-oshtrafovali-francuzov-iskavshih-istochnik-vybrosa-rutenija/). Russian
environmentalists feel they are losing on all fronts: They’ve declared the
battle for Baikal to have been lost (regnum.ru/news/polit/2371091.html), they have
launched a petition to save the famous lake from the Chinese (babr24.com/baik/?IDE=169830 ), and they say
that the FSB is behind recent attacks on the ecological movement in the North
Caucasus (hsvobodaradio.livejournal.com/3342094.html).
11. Did Ivan the Terrible Think He was a Russian? Maybe
Not.
Some scholars think that Ivan the Terrible, one of Russia’s national heroes,
may not have viewed himself as a Russian (russian7.ru/post/schital-li-ivan-groznyy-sebya-russkim/). Vladimir Putin
makes his 16th visit to Kazan and goes to the hospital to meet with
former Tatarstan President Mintimir Shaymiyev (business-gazeta.ru/article/370559
and idelreal.org/a/shaimiev-nahoditsa-v-bolnitse/28997906.html).
One upside of Putin’s visit: a Russian scholar in Kazan apologises for calling
Tatar culture backward (idelreal.org/a/28991735.html). But a Bashkir commentator says that Putin
remains committed to doing away with the non-Russian republics (idelreal.org/a/28978419.html). Cossacks in various cities commemorated the
anniversary of the Soviet de-Cossackization decree (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/315729/ and sputnikipogrom.com/calendar/all/81411/24-january-1919-2/). North Caucasian
aspects from several republics cooperate in campaign to demand restoration of
direct elections in their republics (onkavkaz.com/novosti/3763-aktivisty-iz-adygei-dagestana-ingushetii-kchr-kbr-i-rso-vystupjat-na-forume-za-prjamye-vybory.html). Observers say
that the Koreans of Russia are divided according to their origin, north and
south, with the two generally keeping apart (nazaccent.ru/content/26454-raspisnye-veera-i-morkovcha.html). Circassians from abroad who have not been able
to return as immigrants to their homeland are at least now coming as tourists (onkavkaz.com/news/2081-millionnuyu-cherkesskuyu-diasporu-ne-moguschuyu-pereselitsja-na-kavkaz-otpravjat-v-tur-po-zemlj.html). Buryatia has opened an expanded
representation in Ulan Bator and has offered Mongolia 55,000 hectares of land
for agricultural exploitation (infpol.ru/news/asia/139472-glava-buryatii-rasskazal-o-novom-statuse-predstaviteley-respubliki-v-mongolii/ and ca-news.org/print:1427309/). And an appeals
court has reaffirmed the conviction of a Nenets who killed a Gazprom manager
while defending a holy lake in the Russian north (nazaccent.ru/content/26429-sud-ostavil-bez-izmenenij-prigovor-ubivshemu.html).
12. Tatarstan Warns Against Extremism on
Language Issue. In yet another indication that Tatar
anger about Putin’s efforts to marginalize non-Russian languages, Kazan has
warned against any extremism on the issue, apparently fearing that things could
get out of hand (idelreal.org/a/ildus-nafikov-tatarstan-tatarskiy/28985228.html).
Meanwhile, Tatars are pushing for the development of new textbooks on local
studies and the Tatar language (nazaccent.ru/content/26425-v-tatarstane-razrabotayut-novye-uchebniki-po.html).
In Kabardino-Balkaria, scholars are demanding the continuing of the obligatory
study of the national languages there (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/315415/);
and in Karelia, activists are demanding that ballots for the presidential
election be translated into Karel and Wepsy (nazaccent.ru/content/26435-karelskomu-ciku-predlozhili-napechatat-byulleteni-na.html).
13.
Is
Putin Fusing Communism and Christianity?
Some Russians believe that the emerging Putin doctrine is based on a fusion of
communism and Christianity, and most ordinary Russians welcome his deference to
the two ideas (ng.ru/ng_religii/2018-01-17/9_435_valaam.html
and portal-credo.ru/site/?act=comment&id=2211). Some Orthodox experts are concerned about
theology becoming a new Marxism-Leninism (regnum.ru/news/society/2371226.html),
although a spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate says that in Russia today,
“theology is as important as psychology or philosophy” (realtribune.ru/news/people/629).
The Russian church is helping the state in another way by calling on women to
marry early and have children rather than waste time acquiring educations (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2018/01/24/prednaznachenie_zhenwiny_semya/). Over the last eight years, the Patriarchate has
opened 62 new churches in Moscow alone (interfax-.ru/?act=news&div=69118). But Orthodox radicals insist that is not nearly
enough (kommersant.ru/doc/3523225?from=author_strana).
On the Muslim front, an Ufa mufti declared that Putin is “the spiritual leader
of the Muslims of Russia” (onkavkaz.com/news/2083-video-putin-snova-v-mecheti-muftii-v-ufe-i-kazani-poschitali-prezidenta-duhovnym-vozhdem-musulm.html), and one Muslim leader said there may be as many as
37 million Muslims in Russia today, a figure that if true would put them at 26
percent of the total (ansar.ru/society/v-moskve-katastroficheski-ne-hvataet-mechetej).
But Muslims are facing problems: many parishes can’t support imams (business-gazeta.ru/news/370595?utm_source=top24-news), and the share of Russians with negative attitudes
toward the Muslim community has gone up again (interfax-.ru/?act=news&div=69096).
On the Jewish front, the Jewish establishment worked hard to prevent what could
have been an explosive situation when a Moscow professor refused to allow a
student with a yarmulke to take a test from getting out of hand. The professor
ultimately backed down (nazaccent.ru/content/26427-rossijskij-evrejskij-kongress-ne-schitaet-incident.html,
interfax-.ru/?act=news&div=69108, nazaccent.ru/content/26414-professor-mgu-vygnal-studenta-iz-auditorii.html
and sova-center.ru/racism-xenophobia/news/racism-nationalism/2018/01/d38682/). But at the same time, a Russian Orthodox
nationalist site said that Russia’s Jews need to convert (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2018/01/24/spasenie_vozmozhno/).
And on the Protestant front, many Protestant groups say they are suffering as a result of the Yarovaya laws (politsovet.ru/57775-zakon-yarovoy-udaril-po-protestantam-intervyu-s-istorikom-religiy-elenoy-glavackoy.html).
14.
Even Pro-Putin
People Say Kremlin Doesn’t Have a Clue about Regions. A supporter of Vladimir Putin says the
Kremlin “doesn’t have a clue” about the regions, and another commentator
suggests that it believes that as far as the federal subjects outside of Moscow
are concerned, one size fits all as far as policies are concerned (ura.news/articles/1036273620 and
ura.news/news/1052321131).
People in the regions say Moscow is bankrupting their regimes by its unfunded
liabilities (afterempire.info/2018/01/26/bankrot/).
Simon Kordonsky points out that governors used to be members of the elite but
now are only senior bureaucrats, without the ability to defend their federal
rights (business-gazeta.ru/article/368884
and afterempire.info/2018/01/24/shaimiev/). One thing that is weakening the regions is that no
federal cable television channel has any of the regional television stations on
its list (newizv.ru/news/society/21-01-2018/vashe-mesto-21-oe-chto-zhdet-alnoe-televidenie-rossii).
Nonetheless, some regional news agencies, like URA.ru, have become very
successful (ura.news/articles/1036273678). Yet another factor pulling Kaliningrad away from
Moscow is that 60 percent of the gastarbeiters there are from Lithuania (regnum.ru/news/economy/2372161.html). Regionalists and federalists are under attack in
many places, but they are adopting clever advertising programs, including
special t-shirts, to push their agendas in ways Moscow finds difficult to stop
(freeingria.org/2018/01/novyj-ingermanlandskij-brend-nienchanz/).
15. St. Petersburg Democratic Activists Symbolically Bury ‘Future
of Russia.’
Carrying a casket labeled “The Future of Russia,” democratic activists in the northern
capital symbolically buried the future of their country (og.ru/society/2018/01/22/94063). Demonstrations and protests spread and featured
increasingly direct attacks on Putin, some of them quite unrestrained (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A65ABD118A89,
.sibreal.org/a/28976718.html, politsovet.ru/57846-protivniki-snosa-telebashni-otpravyat-pismo-putinu.html, politsovet.ru/57843-veteran-bomzh-provedet-piket-u-shtaba-putina-v-ekaterinburge.html, agonia-ru.com/archives/16825 and
.kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A65ABD118A89). Conservatives say liberals are trying to
discredit and force the removal of the Russian education minister (ura.news/articles/1036273645).
The military cadets who protested with a lewd dance won’t be allowed to march
in Red Square on May 9 (newizv.ru/news/society/25-01-2018/no-satisfaction-v-parade-na-krasnoy-ploschadi-9-maya-ne-poydut-kursanty-akademii-mchs) despite or perhaps because of the support they have
received from other protesting groups (lenta.ru/news/2018/01/21/materi/,
ura.news/articles/1036273633,
ura.news/news/1052320798,
mbk.media/suzhet/kak-podderzhivayut-kursantov/,
momenty.org/city/i180851/, and regnum.ru/news/society/2372123.html). Other groups copied their techniques to protest
about other things (themoscowtimes.com/news/russian-women-undress-in-support-of-raped-murder-victim-60283 and versia.ru/rolik-so-striptizom-sprovociroval-volnu-uvolnenij-v-orenburgskom-minlesxoze).
Other protests in the last week involved deceived debtors and people who feel
they are being ruined by companies that are allowed to steal them blind and
then declare bankrupt and gain state protection (politsovet.ru/57792-ekaterinburgskie-dolschiki-poprosili-putina-pozvonit-im.html, echo.msk.ru/blog/rizhkov/2135018-echo/
and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A65A1B4AF8F4).
Activists collected money for political prisoners (novayagazeta.ru/news/2018/01/27/139005-v-moskve-na-vechere-v-podderzhku-politzekov-sobrali-100-tysyach-rubley), and Russian military veterans began to organize to
defend their rights (ura.news/articles/1036273674 and nvo.ng.ru/realty/2018-01-19/1_980_protection.html).
And a new analysis suggested the truckers’ strike failed last fall largely
because the economy has collapsed and there were 40 percent fewer paid miles available
for truckers (znak.com/2018-01-25/ekonomicheskiy_spad_i_izmeneniya_rynka_do_40_dalnoboychikov_ostalis_bez_zakazov).
16. Human Rights Situation
in Russia Deteriorating Sharply, HRW Says. Human Rights
Watch says the situation in the Russian Federation is deteriorating sharply on
every measure (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A64AB4A7B30F and kavpolit.com/articles/memorial_kak_obuza_na_kavkaze-37198/). Meanwhile, a
study concluded that the Russian security services have killed more than 70
scholars over the last dozen years (skeptimist.livejournal.com/2275824.html). Other news from the repression front includes: a
man convicted of a crime was sentenced to work in a Russian Orthodox church (politsovet.ru/57796-uralca-v-kachestve-nakazaniya-otpravili-rabotat-v-hram.html), a Russian
court liquidates the Navalny foundation (snob.ru/selected/entry/133523), the government bans any talk about the police on
Messenger (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A65B12E041BC), the editor of BlogSochi has been arrested for two
months (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/315426/), officials in the North Caucasus have tightened the
screws in expectation of protests (kavkazr.com/a/v-ozhidanii-protestov/28991837.html), the film “Death of Stalin” loses its license to be
shown in Russia (kommersant.ru/doc/3527849), beatings have become more common in places of
temporary detention (mbk.media/suzhet/v-moskovskix-sudax-stali-bolshe/), a car belonging
to Memorial was firebombed in Chechnya (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A66EFC8EB35E), the last Bolotnoye hostage was freed (snob.ru/selected/entry/133533), Duma deputy wants to ban any coverage of use of
force by the authorities (politsovet.ru/57832-mizulina-predlozhila-zakryvat-socseti-za-informaciyu-o-nasilii.html), Moscow site blocked after reporting on FSB chief’s
secret real estate operations (themoscowtimes.com/news/russian-site-blocked-after-report-on-fsb-chiefs-alleged-secret-real-estate-60264), the culture ministry banned the movie “Paddington”
(apn.ru/index.php?newsid=36997), Russian
penal officials now have an eighth type of punishment (sobkorr.ru/news/5A684C60DDAED.html), Russians can now be found guilty of a crime for
failing to defend against a terrorist act (politsovet.ru/57839-v-rossii-vvedut-nakazanie-za-plohuyu-zaschitu-ot-teraktov.html), and Russian
officials are learning that “banned in Moscow” is the new “banned in Boston,” a
guarantee everyone will want to read or watch something (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A683C6D5F21E).
17.
Telephone Bomb
Threats Continue Across Russia. Telephone bomb threats continue to empty
public buildings in major Russian cities (nakanune.ru/news/2018/01/22/22495706/
and politsovet.ru/57818-v-moskve-i-ekaterinburge-evakuiruyut-sotrudnikov-yandeksa.html https://ura.news/news/1052320961).
Few Russians believe Moscow’s claims that highway deaths have declined (babr24.com/msk/?IDE=169914), but
many in Siberia believe that Moscow is selling off Siberia to China forits own
profit (newphoenix.ru/clubs/48_russkii-mir-les-valjat-dengi-letjat-ili-.html). And many think that flying on domestically
produced aircraft is a mistake (zloy-odessit.livejournal.com/2295102.html#cutid1).
18.
At Putin’s Order,
Russian Soldiers Now Swear to Serve Russia, Not Russian Federation. Even though
soldiers in the post-Soviet Russian army have declared their allegiance to the
Russian Federation and even though the Russian Constitution makes Russia and
Russian Federation equivalent terms, Vladimir Putin has ordered that from now
on, Russian soldiers will swear their allegiance to Russia rather than to the Russian
Federation (afterempire.info/2018/01/23/no-federation/).
Russian teachers are now being told that they train students in foreign languages
not to learn about other countries but to tell other countries about Russia (diak-kuraev.livejournal.com/1910395.html).
The Kremlin says it won’t check on reports that North Korea is exporting coal
via Russia in order to avoid sanctions (kommersant.ru/doc/3532741?vk and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A6AD8F86F1B5).
Russia’s space program is collapsing despite Putin’s claims (profile.ru/economics/item/124221-kosmicheskie-bankroty, newsland.com/community/5325/content/sozdatel-protonov-priznal-katastroficheskoe-polozhenie/6176410
and babr24.com/msk/?IDE=170008). But Russia did pick up one strategic
ally: the South Ossetian army has now been absorbed into the Russian one (newsland.com/community/8211/content/v-sostav-rossii-voshiol-novyi-region/6182621). The Russian navy has just lost two more
submarines which have been decommissioned (pravda.ru/politics/military/19-01-2018/1366607-podlodka-0/),
and some analysts say the sanctions regime and the economic crisis may
effectively end the Russian deep water navy for some time to come (charter97.org/ru/news/2018/1/22/276810/,
occhidellaguerra.it/la-scure-delle-sanzioni-si-abbatte-sulla-marina-russa-slittano-le-commesse-e-si-cancellano-programmi/,
and versia.ru/konflikt-mezhdu-rossijskimi-aviacionnymi-vlastyami-vyshel-na-ocherednoj-vitok). Russia’s arrest of an elderly man for spying has
sparked controversy in Scandinavia (thebarentsobserver.com/en/life-and-public/2018/01/kirkenes-pleads-release-spy-accused-frode-berg). Meanwhile, Putin says the Russian defense ministry
must produce more civilian products over the next decade (forum-msk.org/material/news/14265200.html), even as he calls for a major expansion in defense
spending over the next decade newsland.com/community/4109/content/putin-soobshchil-o-priniatii-novoi-gosprogrammy-vooruzheniia-do-2027-goda/6179931). China is taking advantage of Russia’s weakness by
expanding in the Arctic and in Russian border regions in the Far East (regnum.ru/news/polit/2372967.html, stoletie.ru/lenta/kitaj_nameren_sozdat_v_arktike_polarnyj_sholkovyj_put_598.htm, vz.ru/economy/2018/1/26/905387.html https://www.kp.ru/daily/26786/3820922/,
and ng.ru/kartblansh/2018-01-24/3_7157_kartblansh.html).
And to add insult to injury, a new computer game has appeared about the failure
of Putin’s government to save the crew of the Kursk submarine (newizv.ru/news/society/22-01-2018/triumf-idiotov-gibel-podvodnoy-lodki-kursk-stanet-kompyuternoy-igroy).
19.
Names Changing
Faster than Statues. Many activists are succeeding in changing
toponyms far more quickly than they are in having the statues of those they
despise taken down (rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=79960,
politsovet.ru/57820-kazaki-provedut-piket-za-pereimenovanie-sverdlovskoy-oblasti.html
and ura.news/news/1052321100).
But there was a great deal of movement on the monument front: Birobidzhan erected
a monument to the Holocaust victims (nazaccent.ru/content/26448-v-birobidzhane-pochtili-pamyat-zhertv-holokosta.html), a monument to those who died in the 1996 terrorist
attack was vandalized (kavpolit.com/articles/memorial_pamjati_pogibshih_v_terakte_1996_goda_v_k-37243/),
FEOR wants a competition for the statue memorializing victims of the GULAG and
death camps (interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=69138)
even as a monument to executed “persons of Jewish nationality” goes up in the northern
capital (interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=69100), a memorial to Ataman Naumenko goes up in Moscow (newsland.com/community/4109/content/reabilitatsiia-natsistov-v-rf/6174169),
a controversy over removing a Lenin statue in Yekaterinburg intensifies (blog.newsru.com/article/22jan2018/lenin),
a monument to Russia’s eastern border featuring a bear is vandalized (newsland.com/community/4765/content/vandaly-oblomali-ushi-medveditse-so-skulpturnoi-kompozitsii-zdes-nachinaetsia-rossiia/6175893),
Tver residents say they want the hammer and sickle back on monuments in their
city (kp.ru/daily/26784/3818504/),
police show up when a Moscow theater shows “Death of Stalin”(kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A6ADEF6DAB4C),
some commentators have suggested
designating Lenin’s body a mummy (dailystorm.ru/telo-lenina-na-oficialnom-urovne-predlozhili-priznat-mumiey),
and the Yeltsin Center continues to face financial problems (newsland.com/community/5652/content/2017-god-eltsin-tsentr-sovershenno-nerentabelen/6173654).
20.
Putin’s Press
Spokesman Says Russians Mustn’t Use Word ‘Boycott’ about Sporting Events. As ever more
Russian outlets speculate about boycotts of the Olympics and the World Cup,
Putin’s spokesman says Russian media must not use the word lest that encourage
rumors or even actions (rbc.ru/politics/24/01/2018/5a6848d89a79472780485662?from=main).
Meanwhile, the Kremlin is increasingly upset by the growing number of Russian
athletes banned from international sports competitions (regions.ru/news/2615578/ and echo.msk.ru/news/2134392-echo.html).
It is outraged by the banning of the Russian flag from the Olympics and even
from fans there (regnum.ru/news//2371625.html
and dsnews.ua/world/rossiyskiy-flag-zapretili-na-olimpiade-dazhe-dlya-bolelshchikov-24012018094900), and it is furious that only 169 of the 500 Russian
athletes who qualified for the Olympiad in South Korea will be allowed to take
part in the competition (profile.ru/obsch/item/124169-169
and rbc.ru/newspaper/2018/01/26/5a69e9a09a79477273fa2785).
But despite Kremlin efforts, the Russian online media continue to report about
problems with the upcoming World Cup competition in Russia. A bridge being
built in St. Petersburg is blocking the access of local people to their homes (rosbalt.ru/piter/2018/01/22/1676154.html).
Millions of rubles are being allocated to kill homeless animals in World Cup
cities (babr24.com/?IDE=169894 and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A634D1B8C14F).
The FSB wants to suspend the operation of factories in the competition cities
but economists warn that will cost the Russian economy a great deal (kommersant.ru/doc/3527354 and fedpress.ru/expert-opinion/1942931).
Moscow is trying to shame hotels that are already engaged in price gauging for
World Cup into cutting their rates (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A66F78480BD3).
Various proposals have been made about what should be done with senior Russian
officials behind the doping scandal. Among the most popular is sending Mutko et
al to Magadan to train local people (rbc.ru/society/23/01/2018/5a66f70b9a79473459b7d9d1?from=main).
21.
Russians Retreat
into Past Because They’re Ashamed of Present and Fearful of Future, Blogger
Says.
A Russian blogger says that Russians’ focus on the past reflects their sense of
shame about where their country is now and where it is heading (storm100.livejournal.com/4516070.html). But ever more evidence is surfacing that they
have a lot to be ashamed of in the past beyond the obvioius. A story this week
reported that in the final years of Soviet power, officials encouraged Soviet
citizens to eat axle grease as food (russian7.ru/post/eda-iz-nefti-kak-sovetskikh-grazhdan-khot/).
22.
Chinese Paper Says
Marriage Between Chinese Man and Russian Woman ‘Ideal.’ A Chinese
newspaper is encouraging Chinese men to marry Russian women saying that the two
cultures fit together and that a mixed marriage in this case is “ideal” (inosmi.ru/social/20180118/241220757.html).
23.
Family Violence in
Russia Spikes After Moscow Decriminalizes It. Over the last year, there has been
a radical increase in family violence after the Duma voted, at the urging of
the Russian Orthodox Church and others, to decriminalize it (znak.com/2018-01-22/god_spustya_chem_obernulas_dekriminalizaciya_domashnih_poboev).
24.
Russian Resorts
Place Their Hopes in a New Iron Curtain.
Russian resorts are not attracting as many paying customers as they
would like, and some of their operators say that only the erection of a new
Iron Curtain can save them because it would force Russians to travel more
within the country than abroad (svpressa.ru/travel/article/191145/).
25.
Russian Court Runs
Out of Paper for Documents. A court in Nizhny Tagil has run out of paper and has
announced that it won’t provide printed decisions unless people bring in their
own paper for them to be printed on (ura.news/news/1052320932).
26.
Urals Funeral Home
Selling Previously Used Caskets as Morgue Become ‘Self Service.’ A funeral service
in Nizhny Tagil has been found to be selling previously used caskets to the
families of the newly deceased and then pocketing the money (ura.news/news/1052321088). Meanwhile,
the Russian health ministry has launched an investigation into a hospital
morgue that because of cutbacks has converted itself into a self-service
operation after 3:00 pm (ura.news/news/1052320813).
And 13 more from countries in
Russia’s neighborhood:
1. Kyiv Rejects Moscow’s Offer to Return Ukrainian
Military Equipment from Russian-Occupied Crimea. The Ukrainian government has turned down a
Moscow offer to return ships and other Ukrainian military equipment from the
occupied peninsula, clearly sensing a trap and recognizing that most of the
materiel would require enormous refitting to make it serviceable again (yaplakal.com/forum3/topic1728173.html).
2.
Moscow-Backed
DNR Declares Novorossiya ‘Successor State’ to Ukraine.
Russian forces in the Donbass have declared that the non-existent Novorossiya
is “the successor state” to Ukraine (mignews.com/news/ukraine/180717_110238_16282.html). Meanwhile,
reflecting just how repressive Russian forces in Ukraine are becoming, there
are widespread reports that even pro-Moscow groups in Crime area afraid to
speak in public lest they get in trouble (sobkorr.ru/news/5A6B3C924E702.html).
3.
Russians Leaving
Moldova as Tensions Between Chisinau and Moscow Mount. Ethnic Russians in Moldova reportedly are
leaving that country in record numbers as tensions between that country over
its relationship with Moldova and Chisinau’s plans to seek reparations from
Russia (ng.ru/cis/2018-01-26/1_7159_moldova.html and ria.ru/world/20180120/1512996980.html).
4. Moscow-Minsk Relations Hit a Rough Patch. Belarusians are increasingly concerned about
the extent to which they have lost sovereignty by agreeing to a joint visa
system (belaruspartisan.org/politic/413183/).
Alyaksandr Lukashenka says all of Belarus’ borders are inviolable and pledges
to increase defenses along all of them including the one with Russia (belaruspartisan.org/politic/413301/ and regnum.ru/news/polit/2370493.html).
At the same time, Minsk followed Moscow in banning the sale of tickets for the
film, “The Death of Stalin” (charter97.org/ru/news/2018/1/24/277118/).
5. Minsk Blocks Charter 97 Portal. The Belarusian
government has blocked the largest opposition web portal, Charter 97, sparking
outrage among the opposition, human rights activists, and some Western
governments (graniru.org/Politics/World/Europe/Belarus/m.267126.html).
6.
American
Communists View Minsk as a Mecca.
Communists from the US now view Minsk as their Mecca, frequently
visiting and praising the Belarusian government (http://www.belaruspartisan.org/life/413753/). Meanwhile, polls show that Belarus is one of
only four countries in the world whose trust in the US has increased since
Donald Trump became president (thinktanks.by/publication/2018/01/21/belarus-sredi-chetyreh-stran-kotorye-stali-gorazdo-bolshe-doveryat-ssha.html).
7.
Apartments without
Plumbing or Heating Going Up Near Minsk. In a satellite city to the Belarusian
capital, state construction organizations are building apartments having no
plumbing or heating (charter97.org/ru/news/2018/1/22/276789/).
8. 14,000 Armenians Have Given Up Citizenship in Last
Five Years.
Yerevan says that 14,000 Armenians have given up their Armenian citizenship
over the last five years in order to take citizenship in another country (ru.armeniasputnik.am/armenia/20180110/10107028/femida-blagosklonna-chto-proiskhodit-s-armyanskim-grazhdanstvom.html).
9.
Traditionalist
Attitudes Sweeping through Central Asian Countries. Several
commentators have pointed out that reaction is on the march in Central Asian
societies (rosbalt.ru/world/2018/01/18/1675360.html, camonitor.kz/30426-na-kazahstan-nastupaet-religioznoe-mrakobesie-kak-s-nim-borotsya.html, fergananews.com/articles/9753, centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1516397280 and caa-network.org/archives/11278). Arabic names
are now the most popular names for children in Kyrgyzstan (fergananews.com/news/28024), Tajikistan is
rated the most religious country in the region and may even introduce legal
penalties against infidelity (islamsng.com/sng/news/14125 and
fergananews.com/news/28045).
At the same time, Dushanbe is cracking down on official Islamic institutions
but renaming cities to go back to traditional historical names (interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=69093
and centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1516642860).
10.
Chinese Workers
Coming to Tajikistan has Tajiks Go to Russia.
Chinese workers are coming to Tajikistan even as Tajiks leave that
country to work in the Russian Federation (centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1516979340 and fergananews.com/news/28077).
11.
Kazakhstan Wants
to Displace Russia as Air Stopover Between Europe and Asia. Astana has announced plans to encourage
European and Asian carriers to use its airports as stopovers between Europe and
Asia rather than those in Russia (fergananews.com/articles/9766).
12.
Astana Refuses to
Ban ‘Death of Stalin.’ Despite Moscow’s efforts, Kazakhstan authorities have
decided not to ban the English comedy, “The Death of Stalin” (centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1516915860).
13.
Narva Could Be
Estonia’s Next Success Story.
Estonian officials say that Narva, an overwhelmingly ethnic Russian city
on the border with the Russian Federation, could be the country’s next success
story and they hope to call attention to that by having it declared a European
capital of culture (baltictimes.com/president__narva_could_become_estonia_s_next_success_story/ and bnn-news.com/estonians-see-narva-s-potential-in-culture-push-for-eastern-border-city-to-become-european-capital-of-culture-178732).
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