Staunton, December 30 -- 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 presents a selection of 13 of these other and
typically neglected stories at the end of each week. This is the 64th
such compilation. It is only suggestive and far from complete – indeed, once
again, one could have put out such a listing every day -- but perhaps one or
more of these stories will prove of broader interest.
1.
Putin’s Busy Week. Even as Russian
propagandists say that the Kremlin leader was not involved in the Russian
doping program, something improbable on its face, Vladimir Putin had the kind
of busy week in which he acted in ways that show he is involved in almost
everything that goes on in Russia – and regrettably in other countries as well.
Asserting that no one in the world can create problems for Russia that it can’t
overcome (stoletie.ru/na_pervuiu_polosu/vladimir_putin_nikto_ne_v_sostojanii_sozdat_rossii_takije_problemy_kotoryje_ona_ne_smogla_by_preodolet_803.htm), Putin took a number of steps showing that he is quite
able to do so on his own. Among others, he signed the so-called sadist law
allowing jailors to beat prisoners with impunity (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5865473FD01FC),
he vetoed a Duma-passed measure – for the first time since 2012 – that might
have helped local governments (meduza.io/news/2016/12/30/putin-vpervye-s-2012-goda-otklonil-prinyatyy-gosdumoy-zakon),
he gave a grant for patriotic education to his biker buddies (apn.ru/index.php?newsid=35845),
he ensured that a journalist who had reported about assassination attempts
against him was fired from Moscow television (rufabula.com/news/2016/12/26/karaulov), he promised to help build a Buddhist shrine in
Moscow (moslenta.ru/news/2016/12/23/putinhram/), and he denounced the practice of using Islam and terrorism in the same sentence (islamio.ru/news/policy/prezident_slova_islam_i_terror_ne_dolzhny_upotreblyatsya_vmeste_/).
(It will be interesting to see if those in the US who so criticized President
Barack Obama for making a similar argument will say anything about the Kremlin
ruler’s declaration.) But not all the news for Putin was good. Polls showed
that Russians were paying less attention to war and more to economic problems
at home (znak.com/2016-12-28/rossiyan_stala_menshe_pugat_ugroza_voyny_i_bolshe_zabotit_problemnaya_ekonomika)
and that Russians are watching television less and turning to the Internet
more, thus reducing the impact of his chosen means of maintaining control (kommersant.ru/doc/3182864). And he can’t
have been happy that the Parisian satirical journal published a cartoon about
the crash of the Russian plane over the Black Sea with the legend that “the bad
news is that Putin wasn’t on board” (twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/814158005210124288). But Putin is looking ahead: his officials
declared that in the upcoming elections, they want 70 percent of all voters to
take part and 70 percent of those who do to vote for the Kremlin candidate (znak.com/2016-12-26/ustanovka_na_prezidentskie_vybory_dlya_regionov_yavka_70_za_kandidata_kremlya_70).
2.
Two Christmas
Requests Highlight Russia’s Economic Problems. Russian children say that their
preferred Christmas and new year’s toys are imports (regnum.ru/news/society/2223608.html),
and a village in Buryatia has asked Father Frost to bring them electricity,
something they haven’t had for the last 20 years (znak.com/2016-12-29/zhiteli_poselka_v_buryatii_prosyat_u_deda_moroza_svet_kotorogo_net_s_1996_goda). More serious economic indicators also pointed
in the wrong direction: Economists say that the Russian economy can’t easily
recover until domestic demand increases (ng.ru/economics/2016-12-29/4_6897_market.html),
more than 15 million pensioners are now working illegally (regnum.ru/news/economy/2223156.html),
teachers in the Transbaikal say they won’t go back to work in January until
they are paid at least half of their December salaries (sobkorr.ru/news/5863A9A644845.html),
nearly a quarter of all Russian regions are virtually bankrupt (znak.com/2016-12-29/eks_ministr_ekonomiki_rf_20_regionov_de_fakto_yavlyayutsya_bankrotami), one local government has run out of money to clear
snow even before the first snow falls (newsland.com/community/5652/content/v-tuapse-dengi-na-uborku-ulits-ot-snega-zakonchilis-eshche-do-togo-kak-vypal-pervyi-sneg/5613152),
unemployment went up in 81 of Russia’s regions last week (regnum.ru/news/economy/2222788.html), and Russian officials announced that they have now
destroyed 9000 tons of food Putin has banned from entering the country (newsland.com/community/7285/content/nashi-rekordy-unichtozheno-9000-tonn-edy/5615153).
3.
Social Problems Intensify. The past week brought fresh evidence that
social problems are getting worse across the board in Russia. Vertical mobility
has almost completely ceased, a new study finds (svpressa.ru/society/article/163214/),
inter-faith tensions are now so high that religious leaders are asking the
Kremlin to intervene (islamio.ru/news/policy/muftiy_gosudarstvo_dolzhno_regulirovat_mezhreligioznye_otnosheniya_v_rf/),
the Kremlin has lost effective control of some of its youth movements whose
leaders are acting increasingly independent (themoscowtimes.com/articles/a-kremlin-youth-movement-goes-rogue-52435),
the absurdity of Moscow’s anti-terrorist operations was highlighted when Moscow
launched an anti-terrorist operation against a group of striking miners (sputnikipogrom.com/news/63668/miners-terrorists/#.WF2mI1x0e-d), officials acknowledged that many working on
ethnic issues aren’t adequately prepared and promised to make them live
according to a code now being prepared (nazaccent.ru/content/22734-dlya-sluzhashih-v-sfere-nacpolitiki-razrabotayut.html),
violence within families is increasing, in some regions by as much as 16
percent this year over last (regnum.ru/news/accidents/2222324.html),
and prices for critical drugs are skyrocketing as a result of government
policies, price gouging and corruption (republic.ru/posts/77995).
Unfortunately but completely understandably, those not directly affected
by such things are not paying attention to them. One survey, for example, found
that two-thirds of Russians know nothing about the brutality taking place on a
regular basis in the country’s prisons (meduza.io/news/2016/12/30/dve-treti-rossiyan-zayavili-chto-nichego-ne-znayut-o-proishodyaschem-v-tyurmah).
And that regime-encouraged ignorance is one of the reasons that Russians are
currently more optimistic about the future than they were a year ago and trust
Putin as much as ever (profile.ru/obsch/item/114396-vtsiom
and znak.com/2016-12-29/vciom_putin_zakanchivaet_god_s_maksimalnym_urovnem_doveriya). But even
those attitudes could spell trouble ahead: one group of Russians has proposed
making the Russian national idea “to live well,” something that could lead to
demands from a population that clearly isn’t at present (sputnikipogrom.com/russia/63940/the-way-to-live/#.WGQVZFx0e-c).
4.
Monument Wars This
Week Involve Stalin and Rasputin. This week, three more major statues of
the Soviet dictator went up in Kuibyshev, Arkhangelsk, and Rostov (meduza.io/news/2016/12/21/v-rostovskoy-oblasti-postavili-pamyatnik-stalinu,
newsland.com/user/1368296567/content/uvazhat-istoriiu-uvazhat-sebia-o-lichnosti-stalina-i-gosudarstvennoi-ideologii/5614840 and echo.msk.ru/blog/varlamov_i/1898868-echo/),
thus continuing a trend that one commentator says reflects Russians’ desire a
strong hand at the top to punish the rich given that neither officials or the
courts currently do much to protect ordinary people (forum-msk.org/material/kompromat/12635424.html).
The biggest event of the week in this sector, however, involved the centenary
of the murder of another odious Russian, “the mad monk” Rasputin. His
supporters portrayed him as a holy man
whose murder led to the destruction of Russia and the tsar, but his opponents
said he was to blame for the revolutionary upsurge that overthrew Nicholas II (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2016/12/29/strelyaya_v_rasputina_zagovorwiki_strelyali_v_carya/,
ruskline.ru/news_rl/2016/11/28/pervaya_zhertva_krovavoj_revolyucii/,
and ruskline.ru/news_rl/2016/12/23/chasovennyj_stolp_v_pamyat_o_grigorii_rasputine/).
Meanwhile, one activist tried to combine what can’t be combined by putting a cross on a statue of Feliks Dzerzhinsky,
the founder of Lenin’s Cheka (ixtc.org/2016/12/v-krasnodare-za-kreschenie-dzerzhinskogo-dali-15-sutok/),
Russian officials began investigating the Yeltsin Center after Mikhalkov
denounced it (ura.ru/news/1052272519),
and the Circassians finally achieved the erection of a statue of one of their
19th century resistance leaders (nazaccent.ru/content/22776-pamyatnik-predvoditelyu-cherkesov-v-gody-kavkazskoj.html). But there was one monument, certain to be
short term, that no one seemed to have any particular problem. The city of
Toliatti has put up a New Year’s tree decorated with pictures of Putin,
Medvedev and their comrades in arms (progorodsamara.ru/news/view/189451?_utl_t=fb).
5.
Russian Officials
Concede Moscow had Massive Doping Program.
In interviews with the New York
Times, Russian officials finally conceded what they could no longer deny:
Moscow had a massive doping program to boost the chances of its athletes to win
in recent Olympics and other international competitions. But these officials
and others immediately went into damage control mode, insisting that Vladimir
Putin knew nothing about it and that Russia shouldn’t be punished for what it
has now admitted (echo.msk.ru/news/1900106-echo.html).
This effort is all about saving Russia’s position as host country for the 2018
World Cup, especially given that mounting evidence that the Russian government
at the highest levels was directly involved (charter97.org/ru/news/2016/12/29/235927/), that neither venues nor hotels are ready for the
competition or are likely to be, Dmitry Medvedev’s bold statements
notwithstanding (ng.ru/regions/2016-12-29/5_6897_stadium.html,
kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5864D0B00A4CF,
politsovet.ru/54080-sverdlovskoy-oblasti-ne-dali-deneg-na-borbu-s-vich-i-chm-po-futbolu.html
and ng.ru/economics/2016-12-27/4_6895_hotels.html),
and that FIFA is considering this and other possible sanctions against Moscow
for its past violations of anti-doping rules (gordonua.com/news/sport/infantino-fifa-primet-mery-esli-poluchit-podtverzhdeniya-upotrebleniya-dopinga-rossiyskimi-futbolistami-166516.html).
6.
Putin, Blaming
Foreigners for Irkutsk Tragedy, Raises Taxes but Won’t Ban Alcohol. Vladimir Putin
says that the death of 75 people in Irkutsk from drinking an alcohol surrogate
is a tragedy and justifies raising taxes on alcohol and restricting the sale of
alcohol and surrogates during the holidays but that there is no reason to try to
ban drinking in Russia as its problems are no worse than those in Scandinavian
countries. The Russian president also blamed foreigners for what happened in
Irkutsk, although he provided no evidence for that assertion (siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/n0832-alcohol-poisoning-in-irkutsk-is-an-outrage-says-putin-as-death-toll-hits-75/).
Meanwhile, Russian officials have banned the sale of some surrogates and
restricted the sale of alcohol in Moscow during the upcoming holidays (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=585CDE8CC9D2D).
7.
The Bible is Extremist
at One End of Russia but Not at the Other. A group of Evangelical Christians
won a case in St. Petersburg against Russian customs for classifying the Bible
as extremist and refusing to allow its importation (afterempire.info/2016/12/24/lenin-customs/),
but at the other end of Russia, a court in Vladivostok declared that the Bible
is extremist an ordered more than three dozen copies to be destroyed (charter97.org/ru/news/2016/12/27/235714/).
This is just one pair of problematic Russian court cases in a year that was
filled with many (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2016/12/23/71010-glyuk-v-protsesse).
The results were mixed (echo.msk.ru/blog/apanchin/1898604-echo/), but they were overwhelmingly in the direction of
greater repression (rufabula.com/news/2016/12/26/partisans).
8.
Top 100
Russophobes are Overwhelmingly Russian. The latest listing of “the top 100
Russophobes in the world,” according to one assessment, is overwhelmingly
dominated not by Ukrainians or Americans but by Russian citizens, an indication
that many Russians call Russophobes anyone who disagrees with them on almost
anything and that it will take decades if not longer for Russians to reach the
kind of accord on basics that might allow a civil society to emerge there (tsargrad.tv/article/2016/12/25/top-100-rusofobov-2016
and ng.ru/politics/2016-12-26/3_6894_kartblanche.html).
9.
Two Out of Three
Russians Think Restoring USSR is Impossible. A new poll shows that two-thirds
of Russians think that there is no possibility of restoring the USSR, even
though the share expressing regret about 1991 has gone up the fraction
believing it was inevitable has declined (regnum.ru/news/polit/2221181.html, burckina-new.livejournal.com/385933.html and newsland.com/community/129/content/plokhie-novosti-dlia-nenavistnikov-sssr/5615021).
Those attitudes exist despite the drumbeat of commentaries suggesting that the
USSR is coming back. One recent one on the nationalist Rex news agency portal,
for example, declared that “there is no alternative to the restoration of the
USSR in the future” (iarex.ru/articles/53442.html).
10.
Studying Foreign
Languages or Religions Other than Russian Orthodoxy Said Harmful. Duma deputies
continue to promote some of the most obscurantist views imaginable, declaring
this week among other things that studying foreign languages in Russian schools
is “harmful to Russian national traditions” and backing a crackdown not only on
non-Orthodox faiths but also on religious experts who have protested (ej.ru/?a=note&id=30555, facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1535891370070456&set=a.1387205161605745.1073741828.100009488229953&type=3&theater,
and politsovet.ru/54092-v-sverdlovskoy-oblasti-utroyat-massovye-proverki-evangelistov.html).
11.
Bigamy Said a
Solution to Russia’s Demographic Problems. A Russian commentator has
suggested that “the best way” for Moscow to solve Russia’s demographic problems
is to permit bigamy and thus boost birthrates (newsland.com/community/5862/content/dvoezhionstvo-luchshii-vybor-dlia-rossii/5614537).
A more serious proposal to address Russia’s demographic disaster comes from the
labor minister who points out that Moscow must address super high mortality
rates among adult males, something it has failed to do in the past and is
unlikely to do anytime soon because of the enormous costs involved and because
of the inevitable opposition to measures like restricting alcohol consumption (regnum.ru/news/society/2223155.html).
12.
Moscow Court
Declares Maidan a Coup; Ukrainians Say 1917 Revolutions Illegal. A Moscow court
has ruled that the Maidan revolution of dignity in 2014 was “a coup d’etat” and
thus illegitimate, a decision with no legal force but that Russian nationalists
have welcomed (meduza.io/news/2016/12/27/moskovskiy-sud-priznal-sobytiya-2014-goda-na-ukraine-gosperevorotom).
13.
Putin has Russia
in So Many Wars Now that Muscovites Aren’t Sure Whom They’re Fighting. A survey of
Russians in the streets of Moscow by Radio Liberty journalists found that
Russians are far from sure just whom they are fighting now (svoboda.org/a/28193343.html).
And six more from countries near the
Russian Federation:
1.
Turkey to Help
Gagauz against Moldovan Government, thus Aiding Moscow. Now that
relations between Moscow and Ankara have warmed again, the Turkish government
has announced that it plans to do more to help the Christian Turkic Gagauz
nation promote itself against Chisinau, a move that will end by helping Moscow
by bringing more pressure against the Moldovan authorities (ng.ru/cis/2016-12-23/1_6893_erdogan.html).
2. Saakashvili Wants to Rename Russia ‘Novorossiya.’ Mikhail
Saakashvili, the former Georgian president who most recently headed Odessa,
says that Russia should be renamed “Novorossiya” to highlight its differences
from the various forms of Russia that existed in the past (gordonua.com/news/politics/saakashvili-predlozhil-pereimenovat-rossiyu-v-novorossiyu-165774.html).
3.
Ukrainian
Shops Now Offer Chocolate Donald Trump Christmas Figure. Under the slogan, “Make Christmas Great
Again,” stores in Ukraine are offering chocolate Father Frosts with the face of
incoming US President Donald Trump (uatoday.tv/entertainment/chocolate-festive-donald-trump-now-selling-in-ukrainian-shops-854723.html). Given Kyiv’s hostility to the
Russian-originated Father Frost and its support for the “European” Santa Claus,
those who buy and eat this figure may be making a different kind of political
statement. Meanwhile, in neighboring Belarus, the government has banned all
private Father Frosts. Only those employed by the state will be allowed to work
at all (charter97.org/ru/news/2016/12/27/235706/).
4.
Ukrainian Villages
Make Money by Selling Lenin Statues They’re Taking Down. A Russian outlet
has pointed out that some Ukrainian villages have decided that the best way to
fill their depleted budgets is to sell the statues of Lenin and other Soviet
figures they have been compelled to take down as part of Kyiv’s
de-communization effort (http://finobzor.ru/show-28725-dekommunizaciya-obnischavshie-sela-vystavlyayut-na-prodazhu-pamyatniki-leninu.html).
5.
Moscow Can’t Get
Bids for Rest of Kerch Bridge Construction.
Moscow has set the amount it is willing to pay for the completion of its
bridge to Russian-occupied Crimea so low that no Russian firm is prepared to
put in a bid, officials say (republic.ru/posts/77916). But that is hardly the only problem with the
bridge: Moscow, it has been discovered, has not made any arrangements to build
the railroad infrastructure at either end of the bridge that would be necessary
to make it economically useful (polit.ru/article/2016/12/26/bridge/).
6.
Russians in Latvia
Complain Moscow is Helping Them Less than Warsaw Does Poles There. The Polish government really provides
assistance to ethnic Poles in Latvia and other countries in the region, local
ethnic Russians say, while Moscow does little to help them (stoletie.ru/rossiya_i_mir/kogda_russkije_zavidujut_polakam_401.htm). This is just
part of a larger problem that “Nezavisimaya gazeta” has surveyed: for all of
Putin’s talk, the Russian bureaucracy simply isn’t prepared to do much for his
“Russian world” beyond the borders of the Russian Federation (ng.ru/politics/2016-12-26/1_6894_passport.html).
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