Paul
Goble
Staunton, August 20 – Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin says that the
idea of moving the capital of Russia east of the Urals is just “brilliant.” But
instead of spending trillions to move officials 8,000 kilometers from 110
million Russians, those who back the idea should recall that bureaucrats have
been exiled there before and at much lower cost.
Sobyanin’s reaction to the idea (see
windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2017/08/krupnov-proposes-shifting-capital-to.html)has
attracted widespread attention (ura.news/news/1052301195,
republic.ru/posts/85924 and gazeta.ru/politics/news/2017/08/19/n_10456502.shtml).
It has even prompted Novyye izvestiya to publish the entire document Yury Krupnov prepared
for Vladimir Putin on how to “de-Muscovize” Russia and why doing so is
essential if Russia is to keep control of the territory within its current
borders (newizv.ru/news/politics/20-08-2017/spasti-moskvu-i-rossiyu-chto-predpolagaet-doktrina-razmoskvichivaniya).
While Putin is unlikely to accept and act
on the idea, Krupnov’s words are certain to provoke discussions among many in
Russia beyond the ring road who feel
that Moscow has sucked up too much of Russia’s resources and left too few for
all the rest, thus contributing to anti-Moscow sentiments which are never far
below the surface outside the current capital.
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