Residents of Overwhelmingly Ethnic Russian Nenets AD Drink 17 Times More Alcohol Per Capita than Do Residents of Muslim Republics of North Caucasus, ‘To Be Precise’ Portal Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 7 – Adults in the overwhelmingly ethnic Russian Nenets AD in the north drink seventeen times as much alcohol as do their coevals in the overwhelmingly Muslim republics of the North Caucasus, 0.7 liters of pure alcohol per week in the case of the first and less than two liters a year in the case of the latter, the To Be Precise portal says.

              What is still worse, the portal continues, is that between 2019 and 2024, the among of alcohol Nenets AD adults drank rose from 16 liters to 35 liters, a pattern shared by other regions in the north despite declines in alcohol use over that period in major cities (tochno.st/materials/v-kakix-rossiiskix-regionax-bolse-vsego-piut-i-umiraiut-ot-alkogolia).

              Non-Russians in the north are affected by the high level of consumption of alcohol by their ethnic Russian neighbors and by the shortage of medical facilities, something that leads them to “self-medicate” with alcohol because they cannot get the treatment they need in hospitals or clinics.

              In major cities, alcohol consumption in Russia is falling as young people take more pains about their health, the To Be Precise portal says; but alcohol consumption in the north is disastrous, far above the nine liters a year of pure alcohol that international experts identify as the level at which such consumption harms health and even genetics.

              Consequently, while one should celebrate the progress Russia has made in the large cities as a result of generational change rather than any bans, one can only be horrified about how much worse things are and are becoming in the northern regions of the country for both ethnic Russians and non-Russians alike. 

Businesses and Intellectuals Promoting Re-Germanization of Kaliningrad, Dmitriyev Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 6 – One can only welcome Kremlin aide Vladimir Medynsky’s article on “The Russian City of Kaliningrad” and its lashing out against the toponomical assault on all things Russian there (svpressa.ru/society/article/522671/), although one needs to question his sincerity given his liberal pro-Western past, Andrey Dmitriyev says.

            But Medynsky’s article should not lead anyone to ignore the combined efforts of businessmen and intellectuals in promoting the re-Germanization of what is today a Russian region, even though the reasons that each group is doing so are different, the editor of the APN North West portal says (svpressa.ru/society/article/522671/).

            Businessmen see the Germanization of street and store names as a way to make money because such things will attract more tourists than Russian names less familiar to Europeans; and intellectuals hope that this will root not just Kaliningrad but Russia as a whole in Europe, something they have never given up on, Dmitriyev says.

            Both must be fought, he continues; and that is important so that the people in Kaliningrad will view the restoration of German influence and the possibility of some “fourth Baltic republic” just as negatively as Russians in the Far East would view the emergence of some Japanese or Chinese-backed statelet within what is now Russian territory.

            What is most noteworthy and even disturbing about Dmitriyev’s comments is not his attack on members of the Russian intelligentsia but rather his criticism of Russian businessmen who, in pursuit of profit, are helping the intelligentsia achieve its goals and harming Russia, something seldom mentioned in the past.

Decline in Approval Rating of Putin Reflects Problems that Must Be Addressed but Does Not Mean His Rule is Unstable Let Alone Under Threat, Yezhov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 5 – Dmitry Yezhov, a political scientist at Moscow’s Finance University, says that the recent decline in public approval of Vladimir Putin is a natural consequence of mounting problems in Russia that must be addressed but does not mean that his rule has become unstable.

            In an interview given to Svobodnaya Pressa, the scholar argues that Putin’s rating, while lower than it was, is still extremely high compared to those of the leaders of other major countries. Indeed, he says, they would be envious of anything approaching the poll numbers the Kremllin leader has (svpressa.ru/politic/article/522472/).

            Support for a national leader is always in motion, going up when things are going well and going down when they move in the opposite direction.  Today, in Russia, Yezhov says, Russians are troubled by inflation, gasoline shortages and problems with the internet. And “part of society is tired” of the war in Ukraine.

            Indeed, these various factors reenforce one another, he continues; and in other countries, such a combination could be expected to drive the approval ratings of the leadership down far more than it has been the case in the Russian Federation. Obviously, there are problems that need to be addressed; but this is no political crisis, he concludes.

            Those who jump from the small declines in approval ratings Putin has experienced to the conclusion that his rule and even the Russian government as a whole are entering into a period of self-destruction are deluding themselves. Looking at what is happening to leaders elsewhere with far less support should be enough to convince everyone otherwise.

Suggestion that Russianization a Lesser Threat to Kazakh than Arabization Provokes Sjharp Discussion on Language and Identity in Kazakhstan

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 6 – A Kazakh blogger’s post on TikTok suggesting that Russianization is a lesser threat to Kazakh language and identity than is Arabization and “the desire of part of society to imitate someone else’s culture” rather than to develop its own has provoked a sharp discussion involving thousands of people, according to the Altyn Orda portal.

            Traditionally, defenders of Kazakh have attacked the continuing influence of Russian in their country, but the blogger in his video post says that “the problem is not in Russification but in imitation” given “the desire of a part of society to adopt elements of Arab culture” rather than developing their own (altyn-orda.kz/glavnaya-ugroza-kazahskomu-yazyku-ne-russkij-a-arabizatsiya-virusnyj-rolik-vyzval-spory-v-kaznete/).

            Many Kazakhs are so interested in reducing the influence of Russian that they are quite happy to import words from other languages such as Arabic;” But that is a mistake because it distracts attention from the need to develop the Kazakh language and hence Kazakh identity as independent phenomena.

            Some of his critics suggest that the blogger is engaged in a covert defense of Russian  which they insist still must be fought because of its dominance in Soviet times, something that is now fading, while others welcome the import of Arabic words and expressions because they cement Kazakh society more closely to the Muslim world.   

Putin Spokesman’s Statement that the Special Military Operation in Ukraine is Now a War Indicates Ukrainian President Now a Target, Russian Expert Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 6 – As the Putin’s expanded invasion of Ukraine has continued into its fifth year, the Kremlin leader and his government until now have refused to call it a war; but now Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, says that “what began as a special military operation” has transmogrified into “a full-fledged war.”

            “If earlier the target was the demilitarization of Kyiv,” Peskov says, “Russia is now actualliy fighting with the unified military potential of NATO countries” and can expand its attacks to include both them and the political leadership in Ukraine (mk.ru/politics/2026/07/06/prishla-ochered-zelenskogo-izmenenie-statusa-svo-delaet-prosrochennogo-legalnoy-celyu.html).

            In its report on how Russian military experts evaluate this shift in language, Moskovsky Komsomolets says that “unlike a special military operation where strikes are directed mainly at military infrastructure … [now in a war] the highest political and military leadership of the hostile state automatically becomes a legitimate target.”

            According to “military conventions,” the paper continues, “the liquidation of the commanders of enemy forces and the heads of state who are directly giving order to strike at the territory of the Russian Federation are a combat task,” something all involved need to take note of.

              Moskovsky Komsomolets cites the words of Moscow military expert that “Peskov’s statement is a signal to Kyiv and its patrons,” but he adds that the spokesman’s words “are addressed not so much to Washington or Brussels as to the Kyiv regime” and especially its leader.

              Because that is so, “this is a clear warning,” Dandykin says, and argues that the Ukrainian president “should think about his personal security because his ‘untouchable’ status is automatically annulled when a state of war comes into existence.  Dandykin says that this is of course “an escalation” but one Moscow has been forced to take.

Fuel Shortage First Soviet-Style Deficit in Post-Soviet Russia, ‘Agents’ Portal Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 3 – Since the end of the Soviet Union, Russia has faced a variety of deficits; but “never in post-Soviet history has this led to a situation in which the entire country has faced what is has in the last two weeks,” the Agents portal says, the return of a deficit in Soviet form “with coupons, hours’ long queues, privileges for elites, and attacks on dealers.”

            Consequently, this crisis reminds Russians not only of what they overcame when the USSR disappeared but also of what the Putin regime with its war in Ukraine has brought back (agents.media/toplivnyj-krizis-vernul-v-rossiyu-defitsit-v-tom-vide-kak-on-byl-v-sssr-s-ocheredyami-talonami-spetspajkami-i-presledovaniem-perekupshhikov/).

            Those two factors alone make the current crisis more serious and likely more consequential than any Russians have suffered since the last days of the Soviet Union; and because of that, the current deficits in fuel are likely to have political consequences however much the Putin regime tries to defend itself against. 

North Caucasus Republics Divide on Abortion, with One Showing Decline and Three Increases in 2025

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 3 – Moscow is celebrating a decline in the number of abortions between 2024 and 2025, the result of a government campaign to cause women to have more children, but new statistics about the situation in the country as a whole show that in some places the number of abortions actually rose while in others it increased significantly.

            This diversity in outcomes is especially clear in the case of the republics of the North Caucasus, a region which is often treated as far more homogenous in terms of demographic development than it is (nemoskva.net/2026/07/03/minzdrav-chislo-abortov-v-rossii-snizilos-na-5-v-2025-godu/ and fortanga.org/2026/07/ingushetiya-i-respubliki-severnogo-kavkaza-lidiruyut-po-rostu-chisla-abortov-v-rf-minzdrav/).

            There, one republic, Karachayevo-Cherkessia, showed the largest decline in the number of abortions between 2024 and 2025 with the total falling 49.6 percent, while three others, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Dagestan were among those showing the largest increases in this metric.

            In North Ossetia, in contrast, the number of abortions increased by 14.6 percent; in Ingushetia, by nine percent; in Kabardino-Balkaria by five percent; and in Dagestan, by 2.0 percent.

            The decline in KChR likely reflects outright falsification of the data given that republic’s history of changing its reporting in order to make it appear more in line with what Moscow wants. The increases in the other, on the other hand, almost certainly reflects the increases in the number of women in prime childbearing cohorts, given higher birthrates there earlier.