Russia ‘On Brink of Social Explosion’ Because of Kremlin Policies over the Last 25 Years, KPRF Duma Deputy from Buryatia Warns

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 12 – Vyacheslav Markhayev, a KPRF Duma deputy from Buryatia, says that Moscow’s failed policies over the last 25 years, precisely how long Vladimir Putin has been in power, have left Russia in a situation where the danger of a social explosion is increasingly likely unless changes are made.

            The deputy’s sharp words  (t.me/markhaev_official/2651reposted at echofm.online/documents/deputat-gosdumy-ot-buryatii-vyacheslav-marhaev-strana-nahoditsya-na-grani-soczialnogo-vzryva) have attracted widespread attention and even support.

            (For examples, see  nemoskva.net/2026/06/12/deputat-gosdumy-marhaev-potreboval-publichnyj-plan-zaversheniya-vojny/, novayagazeta.eu/articles/2026/06/12/deputat-gosdumy-raskritikoval-politiku-vlastei-sravnil-ikh-s-vneshnimi-vragami-i-zaiavil-chto-rossii-nuzhen-publichnyi-plan-zaversheniia-voiny-news and ru.themoscowtimes.com/2026/06/12/deputat-dumi-otkprf-zayavil-obugroze-sotsialnogo-vzriva-ineobhodimosti-plana-zaversheniya-svo-a198035.)

            Markhayev begins his attack by pointing to the “relentless attacks by Ukrainian forces on our cities” and the Kremlin’s failure to call off the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum as it had earlier called off the May 9 Victory Day parade, a sign that those in power simply want to “project the illusion of prosperity” when there is “a lack of genuine achievements” – except for “the personal enrichment of the elite.”

“In recent years, numerous development programs and strategies have been drafted for every sector of the Russian economy., Markhayev continues; “but virtually none have been implemented; they remain merely on paper or in declarations made from international podiums. Instead we continue to face new bans, restrictions, and burdens.”

For example, he says, “utility rates have surged by 366% over the past 25 years …  pensioner who receives 22,000 rubles a month is thus forced to spend 12,000 on utilities alone. Infrastructure inherited from the USSR is crumbling while funds are diverted yachts, palaces, and overseas assets.”

While most Russians are suffering, Markhayev says, “the pockets of government officials and the inner circle of the elite remain full. According to 2026 Forbes data, the number of Russian billionaires hit a record high of 155, with a combined net worth of nearly $700 billion—a figure one and a half times the size of the federal budget.”

Moreover, “Embezzlement running into the billions, the arrest of officials at all levels, and the seizure of assets worth a trillion rubles annually—this is the reality. This trajectory is largely a legacy of the 1990s, when the country endured the wholesale plundering of state property.”

“What would a foreign enemy do if it conquered Russia?” Markhayev asks thetorically. “It would appropriate resources, loot industry, hike up utility rates, and build itself mansions. Yet no invasion occurred; the authorities accomplished this themselves—more effectively than any aggressor.”

In fact, the deputy continues, “not a single successful reform has been implemented in 35 years, while oligarchs continue to multiply and amass wealth—even now, in the fifth year of ‘the Special Military Operation,’” in which Russia is “losing the most active and reproductive segments of its people due to incompetent leadership.”

And he warns in conclusion that “If this situation persists, a social explosion and chaos become increasingly likely. The West will inevitably exploit this to finish off the remnants of Russian statehood. The same team has led the political system for a quarter of a century, yet appears to have largely lost touch with the people's needs.”

“Present-day Russia has existed for half as long as the Soviet Union did, yet the only ones who can boast of progress are the oligarchs and their inner circle—less than 5% of the population … The time for illusions has passed. The country is on the verge of a social explosion, and the entire responsibility for this will rest with the entrenched leadership.”

Another Symbolic Date Passes: Putin’s War in Ukraine Now Longer than Russia’s in World War I which Triggered Revolution

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 11 – In January, Putin’s expanded war in Ukraine passed the length of Russia’s participation in World War II, a conflict Russians refer to as the Great Patriotic War. Now, it has exceeded the length of Russia’s involvement in World War I, a conflict that triggered the revolutions of 1917.

            That makes this week’s anniversary far more symbolic if far more troubling than the more frequent comparison with World War II. At the end of that conflict, the USSR was a victor and in possession of half of Europe; but at the end of the earlier one, it was losing to the Central Powers and mired in revolution and civil war.

            Not surprisingly, the Putin regime isn’t interested in having anyone draw comparisons between today’s conflict with Ukraine and Russia’s defeat in World War I, especially on the question of revolution. But even pro-Kremlin commentators have not been able to avoid the temptation to suggest parallels even if they suggest the ultimate outcome will be different.

            For one of the more thoughtful examples of articles on this subject, see in particular Dmitry Seleznyov’s reflection on how the current war in Ukraine is both similar to and different from World War II and thus why its outcome is likely to be very different as well at apn-spb.ru/opinions/article39781.htm.

Resistance to Moscow’s Plan to Eliminate Local Municipalities Taking Political Form

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 10 – The Kremlin’s plan to eliminate municipal governments both to save money and increase central control has angered many, especially on the periphery of the Russian Federation where such local governments are most important; and there are signs that this anger is now sparking ever more political form.

            Two occurred this week, the first in the restive Komi Republic in the Russian North (semnasem.org/news/2026/06/09/kommunisty-iniciirovali-referendum-o-sohranenii-selsovetov-v-komi) and the second in the even more troubled Khabarovsk Kray in the far east (semnasem.org/news/2026/06/09/deputaty-uvolili-glavu-habarovskogo-sela-otkazavshegosya-unichtozhat-selsovety-za-nego-vstupilos-okolo-300-zhitelej).

            In Komi, the local branch of the KPRF submitted an application to the regional parliament to allow aa referendum that would reverse the May 28 decision of that body abolishing these local governments, a move the parliament may block but one that will stir up the republic’s population as the Russian Federation heads into the Duma elections this fall.

            Meanwhile, in the Khabarovsk village of Knyze-Volkonskoye, the local council voted eight to one to dismiss the head of  the government body there after he refused to disband the municipality as Moscow has demanded. Some 300 local people had petitioned the council not to dismiss him and not to disband their government; but at its closed meeting, the deputies did both.

            While those moves were a loss to the local population, this situation highlights just how angry many people in places where municipal governments are being disbanded at the Kremlin’s order and suggests that at least some of these people will be less inclined to support pro-Moscow candidates of United Russia now than they had been in the past. 

Crimean Tatar Partisan Movement Now Operating Inside Russian Federation

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 10 – The anti-Moscow Crimean Tatar partisan movement ATESH which arose  after Putin began his Ukraine in 2022 is motivated by the fear that the Russian occupation will lead to the end of the Crimean Tatar nation. To prevent that, its leaders says, ATESH is not only operating in Crimea but in various regions of the Russian Federation.

            Given the efforts of the Russian siloviki to destroy this group, information about its membership and specific actions is almost impossible to independently confirm; but Irina Khalip, a Novaya Gazeta journalist, has assembled what is known on the basis of talks with participants and experts (novayagazeta.eu/articles/2026/06/10/komanda-ogon).

            Crimean resistance to the Russian occupation began in 2014 and then expanded after 2022, she says. In September of that year, she writes, “the ATESH movement was finally organized” as a separate body, dominated and led by Crimean Tatars but also including ethnic Ukrainians and ethnic Russians on that Ukrainian peninsula.

            Until recently, most of its actions, including destruction of occupation forces and infrastructure supporting them and the distribution of leaflets calling on others to resist, took place almost exclusively in Crimea and in occupied areas of Ukraine, now, its leaders say, they are increasingly active inside the Russian Federation itself.

            ATESH has been criticized for some of its actions, including attacks on Russian military hospitals; but its supporters say that in times like the present, it has little choice but to take actions that have a chance to be effective in hurting the occupiers, mindful, in the words of one activist, that “if we don’t resist, we can simply disappear.”

            “Ukrainians as a nation will not disappear,” he says, even if they are forced to give up the Donbas and Crimea; “but over us hangs the serious threat of disappearance, and therefore the activity of ATESH is very important for us … because it is something our own, Crimean Tatar.”

Both Directly and Indirectly, Putin’s War in Ukraine Means Ever More Russians are Breathing Unhealthy Air

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 1 1 – Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian defense sites have sparked fires that have increased the number of Russians who are forced to breathe unhealthy air, but the war has boosted that number in other ways not only by delaying clean up projects but also by boosting production at defense plants, among the dirtiest Russian industries.

            That is the conclusion of the Kedr portal (kedr.media/research/atmosfera-voennogo-vremeni/) which helps to explain why more than half of Russians now live in places with unhealthy air (nemoskva.net/2026/06/12/rospotrebnadzor-samye-gryaznye-regiony-rossii-ehkologiya-voda/).

            The war is hardly the most serious cause for most of this problem. Russian industry has long been allowed to contaminate the air with relative impunity, and Russians tragically have long been accustomed to dirty air and dirty water and the serious impact these have on their  health.

            But Putin’s war in Ukraine has made the situation worse in three ways. First, and most obvious, Ukrainian drone attacks have sparked fires which have contaminated air and water in an increasing number of places, a development that has attracted enormous attention in Russia despite the Putin regime’s efforts to restrict coverage.

            Second, since the start of Putin’s expanded war in Ukraine, the Russian government has delayed the implementation of its 2019 environmental law first from 2024 to 2026 and now to 2030, arguing that the new situation the country finds itself in makes it impossible for Moscow to keep the schedule it announced earlier.

            And third, to support the war, Russia has ramped up production at defense industries which include some of the most environmentally harmful centers of production in the Russian economy. As a result, even though there has been some progress in reducing contamination elsewhere, the total number of people affected by unhealthy air has skyrocketed.

            In this investigation, Kedr did not talk about the impact of this on healthcare costs and lost production as a result of illness; but it is certainly large and will take a long time, enormous spending, and a real commitment to reduce atmospheric contamination. Otherwise, ever more Russians and those living in neighboring countries as well will continue to suffer.

Leading Opposition Figures in Kabardino-Balkaria Denounce Call to Strip from Republic’s Constitution Guarantees of Its Territorial Integrity

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 10 – Ten leading opposition figures in Kabardino-Balkaria have called on the republic parliament to reject a call by the republic procuracy to take out of the republic constitution all references to the right of the republic and its people to guarantee the territorial integrity of Kabardino-Balkaria.

            On June 2, the republic procuracy called on the parliament to remove from the republic constitution five provisions which specified that the republic and its people are guaranteed the right to the territorial integrity of their republic (semnasem.org/news/2026/06/11/pravozashitniki-prizvali-ne-udalyat-iz-konstitucii-kabardino-balkarii-punkt-o-territorialnoj-celostnosti).

            The parliament agreed to take up this appeal, and that sparked ten leading opposition and public figures in the republic to warn that agreeing to the procurator’s demand to bring the republic into correspondence with the Russian basic law could backfire and threaten the country as a whole (zapravakbr.ru/kollektivnoe-zayavlenie-k-glave-i-deputatam-kbr-protiv-trebovaniya-prokuratury/).

            According to the declaration of the ten, “The decision adopted by the Parliament is deeply flawed and poses a danger to the future of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic as a constituent entity of the Russian Federation. We insist on preserving the constitutional guarantees of the republic’s statehood and territorial integrity.”

            It continues: “While the President of the Russian Federation ensures the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation as a unified federal state, this does not preclude constituent entities from enshrining guarantees of their territorial integrity—as an integral part of the unified state—within their own constitutions.”

And therefore, the authors say, “Removing the provisions establishing the principle of territorial integrity from the Constitution of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic is the most destructive aspect of the proposed amendments. If the provision regarding the inviolability of the republic's territory is eliminated, the federal center would gain the legal authority to alter the republic's borders unilaterally.”

“Such a turn of events could lead to the following consequences:the transfer of territories—inhabited for centuries by Kabardians, Balkars, and other peoples—to neighboring constituent entities of the Russian Federation;  the abolition or redrawing of historically established national districts under the guise of ‘the interests of the Federation;’ and the loss of the republic's final constitutional safeguard against arbitrary changes to its territorial structure at the discretion of the federal center.”

The authors of the appeal say that “we cannot allow the Basic Law of Kabardino-Balkaria to remain silent on the issue of the inviolability of the republic's territory. This is not a matter of legal technicality, but a question of the republic's very existence as a national-territorial community.”

Moreover, they write, “The intention to remove the aforementioned provisions from the Constitution of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) is not an isolated event but part of a systematic effort by the federal center aimed at dismantling the special status of the republics within the Russian Federation—a strategy observed over the past 25 years.”

In support of their argument that this is just the latest and perhaps the penultimate step of Moscow’s campaign since Putin came to power to destroy federalism in Russia and the republics and other federal subjects who make it up, they offer the following chronology:

2001 – The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation invalidated provisions of the Federal Treaty that enshrined the sovereignty of the republics. Consequently, the Declarations of State Sovereignty adopted in the 1990s effectively lost their legal force;

From 2005 onwards – Heads of the republics ceased to be elected by direct popular vote. The people ceased to be the actual source of power, even though this remains proclaimed in the constitutions of both the Russian Federation and the KBR. Thus, the republics were deprived of the right to political self-expression within their own constituent entities of the Federation;

2018 – Abolition of the mandatory study of national languages ​​in schools, dealing a blow to the cultural foundations of statehood, despite the fact that the Russian Constitution grants the state languages ​​of the republics equal status with Russian within those republics;

2020 – Constitutional reform aimed at establishing a "unified system of public authority," which effectively subordinated regional bodies to federal structures;

2021–2022 – A ban on using the title "President" for the heads of the republics, eliminating a political symbol of statehood;

2023 – Constitutional courts—a key institution of statehood—were finally abolished in all the republics;

And now – the republic's parliament has accepted a protest from the KBR prosecutor regarding the removal of key provisions concerning statehood and territorial integrity from the republic's Constitution.

In short, the declaration of the ten argues that “the 1992 contractual model of the federal structure—is being systematically dismantled. We urge that this process be halted while there is still time.” And its authors urge that the deputies remember that “their primary duty is to take decision that don’t infringe on the interests of their native republic.”

Russian Laws Against Animal Cruelty are Tough but Seldom Enforced by the Authorities or Followed by the Population, ‘Kedr’ Portal Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 10 – Russian law allows for punishing those found guilty of cruelty to animals to be sentenced to up to five years behind bars, but these provisions of the criminal code are seldom enforced by the authorities and do little to limit often sadistic treatment of dogs, cats and other animals by the Russian population, the Kedr Media portal says.

            The most recent statistics released by the Russain Supreme Court show that in 2024, only 14 of the 199 Russians charged with animal cruelty were sentenced to any jail time, 21 received suspended sentences, and the remaining 164 were fined or ordered to perform community service of one kind or another (kedr.media/stories/zhivoder-obyknovennyj/).

            These figures dramatically understate just how much cruelty Russians inflict on animals. According to the government itself, 25 of the country’s federal subjects don’t release any information at all regarding animal cruelty and in them, Kedr says, the police often refuse to register cases even when someone reports what is going on.

            Animal rights activists say that the problem is widespread, although given the lack of statistics, they aren’t in a position to say whether the situation in the Russian Federation is significantly worse than in other countries. But psychologists warn that the tolerance by the authorities and the population for such cruelty has a far broader social impact.

            Those who live in families where cruelty to animals is viewed as normal and something the state should not intervene to prevent often normalize cruelty as such and then treat other family members, friends and relatives, and other people more generally in the same way, making the society far more cruel not just to dogs and cats but to people as well.

            Consequently, these psychologists say, Russians and others have a compelling interest not just in eliminating cruelty to animals because of the suffering it inflicts on beings often incapable of defending themselves but also because it contributes to attacks by those who tolerate or even encourage it on people, something most but tragically far from all oppose.