Many Smaller Russian Cities not to Speak of Rural Areas Now ‘Dental Deserts’ and Residents are Forced to Engage in ‘Dental Tourism,’ Experts Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 8 – Vladimir Putin’s healthcare “optimization” program combined with the increasing gap between what medical personal can earn in Moscow as against the rest of the country are forcing rural residents and even those in smaller Russian cities to engage in “dental tourism” to get the care they need, Mikhail Bolgov says.

            Moscow meanwhile is celebrating the growth of the dental care sector, the orthopedic dentist says, but its figures reflect the fact that earnings for dentists in the capital have dramatically outpaced the decline in the number of dentists in places beyond the ring road (ng.ru/kartblansh/2026-10-08/3_9599_kb.html).

            The total number of dentists in the Russian Federation fell by 3400 between 2023 and 2024, the most recent statistics available, with the number of dentists per 10,000 population falling from 2.21 to 5.6. What is especially worrisome is that these declines have mostly occurred in government facilities outside of Moscow rather than in the private sector.

            Bolgov reports that the Dental Association of Russia now points to three key “triggers” of this decline: the rapid collapse in the number of budget places for dentists in universities, the absence of the development of private clinics in small towns and rural areas, and “the large-scale exodus of young specialists to the commercial sector of megacities.

            The rising costs of equipment needed for advanced dental care is also pricing such services out of the reach of people in rural areas and smaller cities; and the combination of the all these factors mean that the availability of dental care outside of Moscow will continue to decline and that plans to force new dental school graduates to serve there won’t stop that.

            Instead, Bolgov says, that effort will simply reduce the number of new dentists still further and make the current problem even worse in the future.

Muslims in Krasnodar Kray Caught between Not Having Mosques and Being Punished for Praying in Their Homes

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 9 – Krasnodar Kray, commonly referred to as the Kuban, adjoins the North Caucasus and is increasingly the home of Muslims coming from there. Most of the latter are Muslims, and they suffer because there are few mosques in the kray and any who pray collectively at home are often charged and punished for “illegal missionary” work.

            Because the population of the North Caucasus republics continues to grow and the shortage of land thus is becoming ever more a problem, many North Caucasians are moving out, not just to major cities like Moscow where their presence is frequently noted but to neighboring and at least in recent times predominantly ethnic Russian areas.

            While the share of Muslims in Krasnodar Kray is still in the single digits, it is increasing extremely fast for two reasons not reflected in such official statistics. On the one hand, population and land pressures in the North Caucasus are driving more Muslims to move to a neighboring region whose climate and agriculture is much like their own.

            And on the other, those counted as ethnic Russians in Krasnodar not only are declining in number because of birthrates far lower than death rates but also because they are divided between those with Ukrainian backgrounds or even are now officially recognized by the regional authorities as Cossacks (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/03/tradition-of-ukrainian-and-cossack.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/06/kyiv-must-devote-more-attention-to.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/08/moscow-must-fight-to-prevent-ethnic.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2018/11/despite-moscow-krasnodar-kray-has.html).

            The regional authorities have tried to keep Islam from growing and for their kray being as welcoming to people from the North Caucasus as it has been in the past, and now, the Kavkaz-Uzel news agency reports, ever more Muslims there are being harassed for practicing their faith (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/427330).

            There are very few mosques in Krasodar Kray except in the Adygey Republic which is entirely surrounded by that Russain federal subject. As a result, Muslims there must travel enormous distances to attend prayers in an officially registered mosque. Few can afford to do so, and so they are now increasingly as in Soviet times praying in groups at home.

            That shouldn’t be a problem, but Russian officials have made it one by declaring that those who pray in groups at home are engaging in illegal missionary activity, arresting them, and even bringing charges that result in time behind bars. Not surprisingly, as the news agency reports, Muslims there are angry and are now trying to make their voice heard. 

Tajikistan’s Military Continues to Follow Soviet Model and Suffers from Dedovshchina and Regional Divisions as a Result

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 10 – Two problems that Soviet military suffered from, the mistreatment  those drafted later by those drafted earlier known as “dedovshchina” and conflicts between draftees from various regions of the USSR continue in many post-Soviet states but perhaps nowhere more dramatically than in Tajikistan.

            Dushanbe still conducts a twice-a-year draft, thus creating the divisions between those who  are nearing the end of their service and those just taken in, and concentrates those from one area in some places so conflicts between them and others are an everyday feature of life in the Tajikistan army.

            Russia has made some progress against dedovshchina because it now drafts men throughout the year, thus limiting the possibility that groups defined by length of service and thus privileges will form; although it has not managed to reduce clashes between men from different regions, especially if these regions correspond to ethnic groups.

            The Current Time television channel, a joint project of RFE/RL and the Voice of America, has produced a 3,000-word article on the state of these problems in Tajikistan, a country on the border with Afghanistan that faces challenges from there as well as ethnic and regional challenges from within its border (currenttime.tv/a/33870497.html).

            It is thus important in its own right for considering the security situation in Tajikistan; but it is perhaps even more important for the attention it calls to similar problems in the many other post-Soviet states which have not succeeded, even more than 30 years on, in escaping from the problems of the Soviet template.

Ethnically-Based Criminal Groups Increasingly Active in Russia but Crimes by Foreign Nationals Down Overall, Investigative Committee Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 8 – Crimes committed by gangs consisting of ethnic minorities have risen 13 percent in the Russian Federation this year over last, while crimes by foreign nationals overall have fallen by 39 percent over the same period, the Russian government’s Investigative Committee says.

            This paradox (sledcom.ru/news/item/2130215/ and nazaccent.ru/content/46034-v-rossii-vyroslo-chislo-prestuplenij-sovershennyh-etnicheskimi-gruppirovkami/) is easily explained: the number of migrants is down given that they are subject to more repression, while those who do organize in gangs increasingly arm themselves and commit crimes.

            And that pattern suggests that Russian siloviki are likely to employ ever more violent and repressive means to try to control, an approach that will drive the divide between immigrants and most Russians even deeper and make if more difficult for Moscow to attract and hold migrant workers.

            Because many ethnic Russians do not clearly distinguish between immigrants and some indigenous non-Russian groups, such a response will also likely deepen divides between Russians and the Moscow state, on the one hand, and indigenous non-Russians and their republics, on the other.

Shift to Single-Chamber Parliament and to Exclusive Party List Voting Weakening Links between Astana and Kazakhstan’s Regions, Barayeva Telegram Channel Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 8 – The shift to a single-chamber parliament in Kazakhstan and the exclusive use of party list voting to fill it is seriously weakening links between the central government in Astana and Kazakhstan’s far-flung regions, according to an analysis published by the Barayeva telegram channel.

            People in the regions no longer have representation in an upper house based on regions or identify with a specific candidate given shift from single-member districts to party list voting (eadaily.com/ru/news/2026/10/08/kazahstanskiy-kurultay-ne-sposoben-obespechit-svyaz-regionov-s-vlastyami-baraeva).

            That may nationalize politics in Kazakhstan as the country’s leadership clearly intends, but it will mean that the regions will view the capital as something different and distant especially as all of them retain senate-type government structures and use single-member district voting.

            In the event of a crisis, the Barayeva telegram channel suggests, that could lead to a situation that might threaten national integration and thus even the territorial integrity of the country, especially given differences in the ethnic composition of the regions and in their economies.

            Should that prove to be the case, what is now being celebrated as a step forward by many analysts and media outlets may prove to be something else entirely.

Use of House Arrest Spreads in Russia, Saving State Costs of Incarceration but Harming More than Just Those Kept in It, ‘Takiye Dela’ Portal Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 6 – House arrest in the Russian Federation is increasingly used to save the state the cost of placing criminals in jails and prison camps and also to allow the courts to limit the actions of members of more privileged groups to a less severe form of punishment, the Takiye dela portal says.

            House arrest arose informally in Russia in the 19^th century. It was formally declared a permitted form of sentence by the Soviets but not used by them. But since the end of the USSR, the Russian state has used it ever more frequently, saving itself money and allowing the privileged to avoid being put behind bars, the portal says (takiedela.ru/notes/domashniy-arest/).

            Many Russians, Takiye dela says, view it as not a sentence at all; but lawyers and human rights activists say that those who are confined to their residences and forced to wear warning bracelets suffer as do the members of their families who continue to live with them. Consequently, the increase in its use is another way the state is saving money for other purposes.

            Formally but not always in practice, house arrest “cannot be a sentence.” Instead, the criminal code says it is “exclusively” a way to ensure that someone will not disappear while his or her case is being investigated. The law establishes that two days in home detention count as one when the total sentence is set, a sign that the powers view it as a softer form of punishment.

Members of Groups Referred to as ‘Small Peoples’ or ‘Nationalities’ Don’t Like These Terms, ‘Komi Daily’ Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 8 – Many human communities on the territory of today’s Russian Federtion are called “small peoples” or “nationalities,” but those who ae members of such groups don’t like these terms because in the first case this term is dismissive and in the second suggests that they haven’t developed enough to be a nation, in contrast to the Russians, Komi Daily says.

            Moreover, the independent émigré outlet of the Komi people says that many are also unhappy to be lumped in one group as “the non-Russian peoples,” not just because it makes the Russians “the point of reference” but also because it is typically used dismissively (komidaily.com/2026/10/08/kak-korrektno-govoritt-pro-korennye-narody/).

            “There is no perfect term, “ the Komi Daily portal acknowledges but suggests that “indigenous peoples” and “ethnic minorities” are more neutral and thus better.  And the use of words like these matters because otherwise much coverage of such groups manifests a kind of exoticism, a tendency to focus only on what makes them different from Russians.

            That is not only offensive, the portal continues, but dangerous because it suggests that to become a real nation, they have to give something up and because it ignores that in many cases Russians are doing many of the same things as the indigenous peoples but under different names, including broader categories like polygamy and clans.

            And related to this is another terminological danger. Many Russians and even some indigenous peoples use words like “mastering” or “discovery” to talk about the history and development of the regions in which the latter live and always have. It would be far better, the portal says, to use “the broader term ‘colonization.’”