Paul
Goble
Staunton, September 9 -- 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 each week
presents a selection of these other and typically neglected stories at the end
of each week. This is the 99th such compilation, and it is again a double
issue with 26 from Russia and 13 from Russia’s neighbors. Even then, it is far
from complete, but perhaps one or more of these stories will prove of broader
interest.
1.
For Putin’s Visit,
Perm Becomes Ultimate Potemkin Village.
Many cities and regions of Russia have long welcomed visits by the
countries leaders because they know that local officials will do what they can
to spruce things up, something that residents may occasionally benefit
from. But this week, when Putin came to
Perm, officials there put up huge photographs to cover entire streets,
something that ended by embarrassing the officials and provoking demonstrations
by Perm residents (livehiv.ru/novosti/novosti-sverdlovskoy-oblasti-i-ekaterinburga/vich-polozhitelnyy-podrostok-otkryl-litso.html, ura.news/news/1052303530, kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59B12FFB1DA7E, ura.news/news/1052303268, newsland.com/community/4109/content/potemkinskii-portal-dlia-putina/5985800 and https://ura.news/news/1052303544). The Potemkin
village strategy arose in tsarist times, and Putin during his Siberian tour
personally displayed another tendency of Russian and Soviet leaders that lives
on today: a propensity for gigantism.
Rather than taking real steps that might solve actual problems, Putin
called for the construction of a bridge-tunnel network linking Japan and
Sakhalin, something that would cost more than Moscow can afford and almost
certainly will never be built but may become a cash cow for the oligarchs (ng.ru/news/593389.html). Putin did get
one good piece of news: the leader of South Korea said that the Kremlin leader
as “the soul of a Siberian tiger” (themoscowtimes.com/news/south-korean-leader-says-putin-has-soul-of-a-siberian-tiger-58877).
2.
The Trump-Putin
Bromance is Definitely Over. Speaking in
Beijing, Vladimir Putin said that the US president isn’t his “bride” and that
he isn’t Trump’s “groom” (profile.ru/economics/item/119365-briks). The Russian
president also opined that the US secretary of state whom he had counted a
friend had unfortunately fallen in with “bad company” (regnum.ru/news/polit/2318585.html). Meanwhile, the Russian foreign ministry helpfully
suggested that Trump may not serve his full term (themoscowtimes.com/news/russian-foreign-ministry-spokeswoman-says-trump-might-not-sit-out-full-term-58848), and Putin himself said he was ready to reduce the
number of US diplomats in Russia by another 155 (meduza.io/news/2017/09/05/putin-rasskazal-o-vozmozhnosti-sokrascheniya-dipmissii-ssha-esche-na-155-chelovek). Looking at
the situation between the two leaders, one commentator suggested that clearly
Trump isn’t Reagan and equally clearly that Putin isn’t Andropov (gordonua.com/blogs/berezovets/putin-yavno-zaigralsya-tramp-poka-eshche-ne-reygan-no-putin-uzhe-tochno-ne-brezhnev-ili-andropov-205948.html).
3.
But One Russian
Nationalist Still Backs Trump. A Russian
nationalist now standing trial for extremism continues to back Donald Trump and
announced that he has sent the American president a contribution to be used to
fight LGBT people and Democrats. His
contribution, however, is not especially large: 14.88 rubles or just about 25
US cents (fontanka.ru/2017/09/07/064/).
4. Is Putin’s Power Vertical Shaking?
Increasingly, Russian commentators are not only looking beyond Putin but
suggesting that his system is coming apart. One insists that no power vertical
exists (echo.msk.ru/blog/echomsk/2049382-echo/),
and others say Putin has failed to institutionalize his rule in any serious way
(kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59A7F2584D242 and
snob.ru/selected/entry/128483).
Putin has reached back to the Soviet period for one new institution: he has
created a university for United Russia cadres (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59AD6367D2646).
5.
Moscow Mayor
Promotes His Own Cult of Personality.
Many news outlets had fun this week with the surfacing of a directive
requiring all Moscow news outlets to mention the name of the Moscow mayor Sergey
Sobyanin at least three times in any story about the city (meduza.io/news/2017/09/06/tri-moskvy-tri-sobyanina-zhurnalist-aleksey-kovalev-raskryl-glavnoe-pravilo-napisaniya-zametok-pro-mera-v-rayonnyh-gazetah).
6. Nearly Half of Russians Don’t Think
Courts Dispense Justice. According to a new poll, 45 percent
of Russians say that the courts in their country don’t dispense justice but
rather reflect the will of the powers that be. Many say they would like to see
judges elected to make them more responsible (https://newsland.com/community/4765/content/v-gorode-na-neve-proidet-miting-s-trebovaniem-vybornosti-sudei/5986243). There is a widespread sense that the law is
not written for those with money and power but only for those without those
things (newsland.com/community/4788/content/zakon-ne-dlia-nikh-edinaia-rossiia-agitiruet-priamo-v-moskovskikh-shkolakh/5986198). And this week, various observers suggested that one
aspect of this situation is that senior officials and business types now prefer
to get their bribes in suitcases to keep things quiet ( ura.news/news/1052303297).
7.
Mixed Signals on
Promoting Participation in Elections. Much of the discussion of the upcoming
presidential election in Russia is about how the Kremlin can produce high
turnout, given that there is no question who will win. But this week officials
sent very mixed signals about how much participation they want in other races
if not in that one. Some regions are
using raggle and rap concerts to get young people to the polls (themoscowtimes.com/news/russian-regions-lure-young-voters-with-raffles-and-rap-concerts-58887), businesses are
handing out instrucitons to workers about showing up and how to vote, including
at the Uralvagonzavod which was held up as a center of Putin support in 2012 (politsovet.ru/56475-rabochim-uvz-razdali-instrukcii-po-golosovaniyu-za-edinorossov.html), Moscow
officials were divided in how much participation they wanted, reducing coverage
in advance and even signally that low participation would ensure that the
incumbents would all win easily (meduza.io/news/2017/09/07/vedomosti-meriya-moskvy-reshila-ne-osveschat-munitsipalnye-vybory-chtoby-provesti-svoih-kandidatov
and thequestion.ru/questions/310025/pochemu-v-moskve-ne-reklamiruyut-municipalnye-vybory-10-sentyabrya),
and the central election body called for eliminating all “dead souls” on voter
lists, something it probably wouldn’t do if all it was concerned about was
boosting participation (versia.ru/pamfilova-poruchila-komissiyam-ubrat-mertvye-dushi-iz-spiskov-izbiratelej).
8.
‘Two Nations’ Emerge
in Russia – Rublovka and Glubinka. In Russia today, the rich are getting
richer and the poor poorer, prompting one commentator to suggest that there are
now “two nations” in Russia, Rublovka and Glubinka, an idea that goes back to
Friedrich Engels who took it from the title of a Benjamin Disraeli novel (publizist.ru/blogs/107559/20174/-). Among the
reports this week that give substance to this argument are the following: 60
percent of the Russian poor are now working families with children (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59AFD24D7FB0A), there are now
69 personal bankruptcies a day in Russia (obkorr.ru/news/59AFEF95A6348.html), the educational
system is now divided between the rich and poor as is medical care (takiedela.ru/2017/09/takaya-rossiya-obrazovanie/), ordinary
Russians say that inflation is 3.5 times higher than the government admits (newsland.com/community/4109/content/rossiiane-otsenili-infliatsiiu-v-35-raza-vyshe-chem-rosstat/5985571). Increasingly indebted ordinary Russians are
now forced to pay every third ruble of their incomes to serve debt (babr24.com/msk/?IDE=164791), factories are
closing in almost every sector (newsland.com/community/4765/content/vsia-sut-putinskogo-kapitalizma-rossii-v-odnoi-fotografii/5982083), and the finance
ministry says it can’t find the money needed to pay for programs in healthcare
or other public services (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59B22D4FDC2C2 and kommersant.ru/doc/3404204).
At the same time, Putin has been taking steps to protect his friends from
sanctions, forcing ordinary Russians to pay the bill (newsland.com/community/129/content/putin-perelozhil-finansovye-poteri-svoikh-druzei-oligarkhov-ot-sanktsii-na-prostykh-grazhdan/5982124).
The finance ministry has suggested, however, that officials curb some of their
expensive tastes (novayagazeta.ru/news/2017/09/07/135071-minfin-predlozhil-menshe-tratit-na-lyuksy-dlya-chinovnikov).
Two other pieces of economic news are suggestive: Russian agriculture which
Moscow has been boosted as a driver is now a brake on the country’s economic
development, experts say (ng.ru/economics/2017-09-06/1_7067_farmer.html), and one Russian
region has acknowledged that there isn’t enough money in the educational budget
to offer classes in financial literacy (ura.news/news/1052303549).
9.
Ever More Social
Problems Surface and Intensify.
Russian society faces ever more problems, many of which the regime has
brought on itself and some of which may lead to explosions at least down the
pike. The regime has imposed new rules that will allow it to seize land and
dachas from those who haven’t paid their bills, something that will alarm many (realty.mail.ru/news/39978/nekotoryh_rossijan_mogut_lishit_uchastkov_i_sadovyh_domikov/). Teachers are
increasingly complaining about being overworked and underpaid as Putin’s
“optimization” program hits them (mk.ru/social/2017/09/04/prepodavateli-vozmushheny-svoimi-zarplatami-i-nagruzkami.html).
Human trafficking is on the increase in Moscow and other Russian cities (kp.ru/daily/26726.5/3752653/). The Federation
Council wants to adopt legislation that would allow the authorities to expel
anyone whose actions they deemed “undesirable” regardless of other laws (nazaccent.ru/content/25239-v-sovfede-predlozhili-vydvoryat-migrantov-za.html). No Russian
university ranked in the top 100 in the world this year (rbc.ru/society/05/09/2017/59ae2dfe9a794753f05e3e06?from=main). Russian
scholars were cut off from access to the largest data base of scientific papers
(newsland.com/community/2409/content/rossiiskie-uchenye-lishilis-dostupa-k-krupneishei-baze-nauchnykh-publikatsii/5983455).
And a new study finds that prostitution like almost everything else in Russian
life is highly centralized with those engaged in it able to get the higher
prices if they are located near the center of Moscow or at least close to a
metro station (iq.hse.ru/news/209000077.html). There was one
piece of good news: the Aeroflot stewardesses won their cases against the
national carrier which had dismissed them because they were older than the
company wanted (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59B027730041E).
10. Putin’s Optimization Costing Russians Access to Health
Care and in Some Cases Their Lives. Putin’s cutbacks in health care delivery
systems have effectively killed primary care in many places, leaving them
without medical assistance when doctors could cure them, and meaning that ever
fewer Russians have access to healthcare at all (regnum.ru/news/cultura/2317224.html, regnum.ru/news/economy/2318197.html and newsland.com/community/5392/content/rossiiane-stali-rezhe-poseshchat-polikliniki/5985820). Because Putin
was visiting the Far East, stories about that region were numerous and reported
some true horrors: alcoholism among the population there is twice as high as
for the country as a whole and 70 percent of male deaths in that region are
related to overconsumption of alcohol (newsland.com/community/7411/content/glava-minzdrava-rasskazala-ob-urovne-alkogolizatsii-dalnego-vostoka-vdvoe-prevyshaiushchem-srednii/5985862 and newsland.com/community/5652/content/minzdrav-na-dalnem-vostoke-ot-pianstva-umiraiut-70-muzhchin/5985076).
11.
Russians
Say They’d Rather Encounter a Chechen than a Ukrainian on a Dark Night. Ekho Moskvy asked the visitors to its portal
whom they would least like to meet on a dark street, a Chechen or a
Ukrainian. Those who answered said
they’d be more afraid of a Ukrainian (dsnews.ua/society/rossiyane-bolshe-boyatsya-vstretit-nochyu-ukraintsev-chem-07092017084500). Other news from the nationalities front: the
North Caucasus is at the bottom of foreign language instruction (kavkazr.com/a/inostranniy-severniy-kavkaz/28694969.html). That region
is also ceasing to be a reliably KPRF “belt” (capost.media/news/politicheskiyblog/severnyy-kavkaz-lishaetsya-krasnogo-poyasa-/). Ninety
percent of the ethnic Russians who were in the Russian Far East in 1989 have
left since that time, eliminating hopes to restore a Ukrainian Green Wedge
there (afterempire.info/2017/09/08/zeleni-klin/). The newly installed head of Buryatia says he has
Tatar, Jewish, and Circassian ancestors as well as Buryat ones (nazaccent.ru/content/25286-cydenov-esli-tatarina-poteret-vylezet-buryat.html). The situation for ethnic groups in Karelia is so
dire that some of them have now appealed to Putin (finugor.ru/news/grigorev-situaciya-v-respublike-kareliya-blizka-k-nacionalnoy-katastrofe). Leaders of
the All-Tatar Social Center (VTOTs) have appealed to Kazan to defend it against
being closed down by Moscow (idelreal.org/a/28718013.html).
12.
Declared Followers
of Little Faith an Increasing Political Problem. People who say
they identify with one or another religion but are not really believers in any
serious way are an increasing problem because they are the most easily
mobilized by radicals for political goals in Russia and other post-Soviet
states (ng.ru/ng_religii/2017-08-16/12_426_world.html). Moscow officials are now promoting the
restoration of property not only to the Russian Orthodox Church but to the
Roman Catholics as well (sobkorr.ru/news/59AFB3A436160.html) prompting Old
Believers to step up their campaign for similar treatment (ruvera.ru/articles/borba_za_imushestvo). Natalya
Poklonskaya’s Mathilda campaign based on radical Orthodoxy has been criticized
as a threat to Putin’s regime (ru.krymr.com/a/28721573.html), the compilation
of a list of the 100 most well-known ethnic Russian Muslims has been condemned
as a witch hung (neofitam.net/?p=308). And the Muslims
of the Middle Volga have finally opened the Bulgar Islamic Academy which they
suggest will be the leading center of Islamic thought in Russia (interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=68067).
13.
Chinese
Billionaire Says Russian Far East Should Be Renamed ‘Pacific Region.’ A Chinese
billionaire has suggested that calling the easternmost part of Russia the
Russian Far East is out of date because it suggests that Russia is centered in
Europe not Asia and that Moscow should move promptly to rename it “the Pacific
Region.” However much logic he has on his side, this suggestion will
simultaneously terrify and outrage many Russians (lenta.ru/news/2017/09/07/dv/). Most analysts
suggested that Putin’s visit to the region will do little or nothing to solve its
underlying problems (nazaccent.ru/content/25276-putin-predlozhil-davat-dalnevostochnyj-gektar-sootechestvennikam.html, polit.ru/article/2017/09/08/fareast/ and svpressa.ru/economy/article/180990/). Meanwhile, it
was announced that almost a third of all the housing in Russia could be fixed
up for what the center is spending on renovations in Moscow alone (newsland.com/community/4788/content/ioshkin-krot-podschital-kak-moskva-zhiruet-za-schet-rossiian/5985427). Other
regionalist news this week: a Kuban activist was punished for promoting
separatism in a Russian region (afterempire.info/2017/09/07/polyudova/), and Perm and
Krasnodar tried to keep and gain respectively the status of “millionaire”
cities, a term introduced in Soviet times that still affects budgetary
allocations and not just bragging rights (regnum.ru/news/economy/2318686.html and ura.news/articles/1036272100).
14.
Russia has Its
Very Own Columbine Incident. A shooting incident at a school near Moscow has been
called Russia’s Columbine, a reference to the murderous rampage in an American
school in Colorado several years ago (spektr.press/eho-kolumbiny-podrostok-ustroil-strelbu-v-podmoskovnoj-shkole-vsya-istoriya-korotko/). Such
violence, and other outbreaks across the country, has put Russians on edge and
made them less confident of their personal security (ura.news/news/1052303495 and regnum.ru/news/accidents/2317257.html).
It has led to the publication of special guides on how those in such
circumstances should behave (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/09/06/73729-kak-vesti-sebya-uchenikam-studentam-i-prepodavatelyam-vo-vremya-teraktov-i-napadeniy-v-uchebnyh-zavedeniyah) and to warnings that fear of attacks can become a
source of instability on its own (ng.ru/editorial/2017-09-06/2_7067_red.html).
15.
49 Percent of
Russians Want an End to Syrian Campaign.
According to a new poll, 49 percent of Russians want Russia to end its
military operation in Syria; only 30 percent favor continuing the Kremlin’s
approach (graniru.org/Politics/Russia/m.263792.html).
This shift in public attitudes away from Putin reflects both the difficulties
Russians are experiencing in their own lives, difficulties the regime says it
can’t address because of the costs of security operations and the rise in the
number of casualties from the conflict (newsland.com/community/politic/content/obrechennaia-siriiskaia-avantiura-putina/5985900 and obkorr.ru/news/59AFE95A4BBD6.html). Even the defense ministry is feeling the
pinch of budget shortages: Soviet-era tanks are being modernized rather than
replaces (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59B1936A5292B),
and reformers are proposing cutting defense spending to modernize the economy (newsland.com/community/88/content/kudrin-predlozhil-putinu-sokratit-raskhody-na-silovikov-dlia-rosta-ekonomiki/5983856). Putin’s
foreign policy on the cheap is increasingly backfiring or at least being
exposed. Russian Germans are ever more alienated, polls show (gordonua.com/blogs/eydman/russkoyazychnye-v-germanii-vzbuntovalis-protiv-kremlevskoy-manipulyacii-205961.html), and the US has exposed Russian penetration and
disordering of various public functions abroad (themoscowtimes.com/news/facebook-blocks-470-fake-accounts-linked-to-russian-troll-factory-58874,
rbc.ru/politics/06/09/2017/59afeafe9a7947426ee76310?from=newsfeed
and newizv.ru/news/politics/07-09-2017/rossiyu-obvinili-v-rassylke-politicheskoy-reklamy-v-facebook-pered-vyborami-v-ssha).
16.
Kadyrov
Demonstration in Grozny Far Smaller than Initially Claimed. Ramzan Kadyrov’s demonstration against Myanmar’s
war against Muslims there attracted only about 100,000 people and not the
million that many reported at the time (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/309098/). That helps to explain both Kadyrov’s own
greater deference to Moscow afterwards (onkavkaz.com/novosti/3038-kadyrov-my-prodolzhim-stroit-buduschee-v-sostave-mnogonacionalnoi-i-mnogokonfessionalnoi-rossii.html)
and Moscow’s decision not to allow another Muslim demonstration in front of the
Myanmar embassy tehre (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59B0429994774). There were demonstrations on various issues
across Russia this week, but the most interesting development was that some of
them took up issues other than the ones that had originally animated the
protesters, suggesting that there is greater willingness to make alliances
against the regime (nazaccent.ru/content/25209-v-tatarstane-proshel-piket-za-zaklyuchenie.html and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/308954/).
17.
Education Ministry
Wants to Exclude Foreign Words from School Curriculum. Russia’s
educational minister says she wants all foreign words to be excluded from the
curriculum of schools in her country, a demand that many critics are now
questioning (philologist.livejournal.com/9578110.html
and newsland.com/community/6784/content/prozhivut-li-shkolnye-uchebniki-bez-inostrannykh-slov/5986302). But her call reflects an increasingly
repressive environment across the board: St. Petersburg now wants to find ways
to fill up all squares where protests might otherwise occur (echo.msk.ru/blog/echomsk/2051432-echo/),
Putin began this year of ecology by declaring an environmental group a foreign
agent (thebarentsobserver.com/en/2017/09/putins-year-ecology-aetas-declared-foreign-agents),
postal workers are being celebrated for identify extremist materials in the
mails (sobkorr.ru/news/59AD1683D0869.html),
a Petersburg dissident has been confined in a psychiatric hospital (ixtc.org/2017/09/v-peterburge-aktivista-otpravili-iz-politsii-v-psihiatricheskuyu-bolnitsu/),
Kuban pupils have been forced to report each day about what is on First Channel
news to ensure that they watch it rather than getting their information online
(snob.ru/selected/entry/128715),
the Kultura channel has stopped carrying Euronews (echo.msk.ru/news/2049282-echo.html),
and the Russian government has imposed new restrictions on Russians who want to
purchase planes or ships manufactured abroad (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59B242383C106).
18.
Moscow Says It
Can’t Afford to Bury Lenin. The Russian
government has offered many excuses for not closing the mausoleum on Red Square
and burying the founder of the Soviet state, but now, it has come up with a new
one: Moscow can’t afford to bury Lenin because of budgetary shortfalls (regnum.ru/news/society/2319158.html).
The conflict over the Mathilda film continues to heat up: one theater has been
firebombed (ura.news/articles/1036272060),
Poklonskaya charging that the film was paid for corruptly (znak.com/2017-09-05/poklonskaya_matilda_finansirovalas_po_somnitelnym_shemam_vozmozhna_korrupciya), some Russians suggesting that Moscow should keep
Crimea but send Poklonskaya back (forum-msk.org/material/kompromat/13667941.html),
and one governor now coming out in support of her and her call for a ban on the
film (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2017/09/06/pervyj_russkij_gubernator_protiv_matildy/).
Other clashes on the monument front: a monument to the founder of the Soviet
cheka has gone up with others now in prospect (https://7x7-journal.ru/item/98242
and agonia-ru.com/archives/11132),
a third of Russians saying they want memorials to Stalin (belsat.eu/ru/programs/bolee-treti-rossiyan-vyskazyvayutsya-za-neobhodimost-ustanovki-pamyatnika-stalinu/), a fight between supporters of the murdered
opposition figure Boris Nemtsov and Moscow city over whether there can be any
memorial to him of even the smallest kind (vestnikcivitas.ru/news/4100 and newsland.com/community/4489/content/memorialnaia-doska-nemtsovu-ustanovlena-nezakonno-moskovskie-vlasti-eio-demontiruiut/5986391), a new conflict in Chelyabinsk over a monument to
the anti-Bolshevik Czech Legion (regnum.ru/news/polit/2317076.html)
and an older one in Yekaterinburg over the construction of a cathedral there
has intensified (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59AD0DCFD41C6
and ura.news/news/1052303435), a
conflict over a new monument in Moscow to Kabards (nazaccent.ru/content/25258-v-moskve-otkryli-pamyatnuyu-dosku-na.html)
and one over the savior of Baikal in the Far East (babr24.com/baik/?IDE=164701) and
a new conflict in Moscow over memorials to churchmen and tsarist officials
killed by Bolsheviks (newsland.com/community/4765/content/v-moskve-pochtili-pamiat-kaznennykh-bolshevikami-sviashchennikov-i-tsarskikh-chinovnikov/5984866).
Indeed, there are now reports that entire cities are divided more over monuments
than anything else (afterempire.info/2017/09/07/2vyatkas/).
19. WADA Official Denies
Moscow Reports It is Dropping Its Doping Charges Against Russians. The Kremlin
put out stories this week that the World Anti-Doping Agency plans to drop its
charges against Moscow and thus allow Russia out of the doghouse, but the
author of the report that has so outraged the Russian authorities denies that
is the case (regnum.ru/news/sport/2317237.html,
kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59AE8F815008B).
In response, some Russian writers have suggested that WADA wants Russian blood and will do anything
it has to in order to get it (newsland.com/community/7268/content/wada-snialo-obvineniia-protiv-rossii-no-po-prezhnemu-khochet-nashei-krovi/5982416 and https://newsland.com/community/5652/content/eto-khuzhe-chem-my-mogli-podumat/5981850).
Meanwhile, construction projects for the World Cup 2018 continued to be behind
schedule and overbudget with Russians asking how the money might better be used
for social needs (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59AFD939B0028,
momenty.org/city/i176753/, znak.com/2017-09-06/v_stavropole_40_byudzhetnyh_millionov_na_chm_2018_ushli_chastnomu_licu, newsland.com/community/7268/content/piterskii-pozor-pered-chm-2018-russkoe-chudo-trebuet-eshche-400-mln-i-eto-ne-predel/5986157 and politsovet.ru/56486-vlasti-ekaterinburga-otkazalis-ot-rasstekleniya-balkonov-k-chempionatu-mira-po-futbolu.html). Meanwhile,
Russian athletes were banned from the 2018 Paraolympics (snob.ru/selected/entry/128725)
and from another competition as well (newsland.com/community/7245/content/zapret-sbornoi-rossii-po-tiazheloi-atletike-uchastvovat-v-chm-2017/5985032).
20.
Northern Sea Route
now ‘Completely Ice Free.’ The Northern Sea Route that Russia hopes will link
Europe and Asia has become “completely ice free” in this summer season as a
result of global warming; and traffic along it has jumped with nearly 100 ships
now in transit (thebarentsobserver.com/en/2017/09/northern-sea-route-completely-ice-free-and-shipping-thrives).
21.
Medvedev Fires
Russia’s Top Weatherman. Because
unexpected weather embarrassed the prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev has fired
Russia’s top weatherman, the latest case of shooting the messenger in Russia (spektr.press/news/2017/09/06/medvedev-uvolil-glavu-rosgidrometa/).
22.
Majority of
Russians Say They Regret Collapse of USSR. The share of Russians who say
they regret the disintegration of the Soviet Union has now passed 50 percent, a
reflection of Vladimir Putin’s oft-repeated suggestion that that event was “the
greatest geopolitical disaster” of the 20th century (newsland.com/community/129/content/bolshinstvo-grazhdan-rf-sozhaleiut-o-raspade-sssr/5984929).
23.
Ever More Russians
Seeking Patents of Nobility from the House of Romanov. When you have just about everything else, you
can now apply to get a patent of nobility from the House of Romanov. That is
what numerous wealthy and powerful Russians are now doing (newizv.ru/news/society/04-09-2017/status-bez-privilegiy-kogo-i-za-chto-prinimayut-vo-dvoryanstvo-30b48ce1-7463-47c8-b7fe-b3a59d891e5b).
Such patents don’t give their bearers any particular rights; but in the minds
of some, they do confer real status.
24.
‘Where are the
Cossacks with Their Whips?’ Russians Ask after Muslim Demo in Moscow. Some Russians apparently would like to go
back to one of the more ugly features of the Russian Imperial past. After
Muslims demonstrated in front of the Myanmar Embassy, some Russians were heard
to ask “where are the Cossacks with their nagaikas” when you need them? (newsland.com/community/6399/content/gde-kazaki-s-nagaikami-runet-vzbeshen-aktsiei-musulman-v-tsentre-moskvy/5981394).
25.
Russia Gets
Another Road to Nowhere – This Time in Udmurtia. Russian road
construction plans often lead to the building of roads that don’t actually
connect anything but instead simply end in the middle of nowhere. Yet another
one of these roads, this time in the Middle Volga republic of Udmurtia, has drawn
attention and sparked criticism this week (fedpress.ru/article/1850373).
26.
Sakhalin Officials
Give Blind Activist a TV. Bad staff
work or simple incompetence has led to a decision by officials in Sakhalin to
award a television set to a blind activist there, an action that has sparked
comment across the country (znak.com/2017-09-06/na_sahaline_chinovniki_podarili_slepomu_aktivistu_televizor).
And 13 more from countries in
Russia’s neighborhood:
1. Kyiv Paper Describes Putin’s ‘Peacekeeping’ Initiative
as ‘War-Keeping.’ The Kyiv Post says that Putin’s proposal for
“peacekeepers” in the Donbass should be described as “warkeeping” (kyivpost.com/opinion/warkeeping). The author of
these lines has always felt that Moscow does believe in “piece-keeping,” a
different spelling with a different meaning altogether. This week, Ukrainian
officials identified “more than 75” Russian military units in the region,
undercutting Kremlin claims that there aren’t any there (newsland.com/community/ukraine/content/na-donbasse-identifitsirovali-svyshe-75-voennykh-podrazdelenii-rf/5981069).
2.
Kyiv
Police Launch Effort to Block Illegal Trade in Guns. The Ukrainian government, facing the bleeding
back into Kyiv-controlled territory of guns being used in the war with Russia,
has begun a massive program to block such trafficking (gordonua.com/news/society/nacpoliciya-nachala-vseukrainskuyu-operaciyu-po-protivodeystviyu-nezakonnomu-oborotu-oruzhiya-206080.html).
3. Kerch Bridge’s Problems and Price Keep Rising. The Kerch bridge
between the Russian Federation and Russian-occupied Crimea faces new problems,
including the collapse of part of it into the water (infoaccent.net/chast-kerchenskogo-mosta-ukhodit-pod-vodu-raboty-ostanovleny/?_utl_t=fb), a rising price
tag that will mean if it is ever completed, it will have cost three times as
much as the current longest bridge in the world (https://newsland.com/community/4765/content/tsena-kerchenskogo-mosta-v-tri-raza-prevysila-tsenu-samogo-dlinnogo-mosta-v-mire-smi/5983174).
4. ‘You Have No
Rights,’ Occupiers Tell Crimean Tatar Woman. Russian occupation forces have told a Crimean
Tatar woman that she has no rights when it comes to dealing with them (khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1504536072). That statement at least appears less
hypocritical than many the occupiers make who continue to repress people on the
Ukrainian peninsula. The latest
development: school children there are now forced to participate in five-minute
glorification of Russia programs (qha.com.ua/ru/obschestvo/okkupanti-vvodyat-v-shkolah-pyatiminutki-proslavleniya-rossii/177933/).
5. Belarus
Authorities Drop References to Moscow as Third Rome in School Textbooks.
The Belarusian government has issued new textbooks which have eliminated any
reference to Kievan Rus as the point of origin of Russian statehood and to the
notion of Moscow as the Third Rome (newsland.com/community/5206/content/iz-belorusskikh-uchebnikov-istorii-ubrali-kievskuiu-rus-i-moskvu-tretii-rim/5986574). This week, the Belarusian media also played
up the history of the ten years when Minsk was Mensk (charter97.org/ru/news/2017/9/6/262037/) and the 503rd
anniversary of a Belarusian defeat of Muscovite forces (insk was mensk for
about ten year (freeingria.org/2017/09/v-minske-otmetyat-503-letie-pobedy-nad-moskoviej/). But the
Belarusian authorities refused despite requests to open the Soviet KGB archives
there to investigators (charter97.org/ru/news/2017/9/4/261849/).
6. Lukashenka
Losing His Political Base. Belarusian demographers report that over the last 20
years, almost all the regions of the country except the city of Minsk have seen
a decline in population (belsat.eu/ru/news/za-poslednie-20-let-prakticheski-vo-vseh-rajonah-belarusi-umenshilos-naselenie/). That matters because those regions have been
the most significant bastions of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s support and the
cities, and especially Minsk, have been where the opposition is strongest.
7. Vilnius Calls
for a ‘Military Shengen’ System. The Lithuanian
government has proposed establishing a Shengen-like arrangement for military
personnel in Europe so as to allow them to move quickly from one place to
another to counter threats (rus.delfi.lv/news/daily/abroad/litva-predlagaet-es-sozdat-voennyj-shengen.d?id=49221309).
8.
Moldovan
Army Says It Answers to the Government, Not the President.
The Moldovan armed forces, pointing out that their country is a parliamentary
republic, say that they take their orders from the government, which is
pro-European, rather than from the president, who is pro-Moscow (ng.ru/cis/2017-09-08/6_7069_moldavia.html).
9.
Georgians Suspect
Moscow May have Set Forest Fires in Their Country. Georgians fear
that Moscow may have come up with another form of “hybrid” attack. Many of them think that Moscow or its agents
are responsible for setting ablaze parts of their country and forcing the
government to focus on that rather than on anything else (ng.ru/cis/2017-09-06/5_7067_fire.html).
10.
Kazakhstan’s
Muslim Leaders Ban ‘Salafite Sex.’
Kazakhstan’s Muslim Spiritual Directorate (MSD) says that none of the
faithful should engage in what it calls “Salafite sex,” the kind of sexual
activity that some Salafis call for that deprives women of satisfaction (newtimes.kz/proisshestviya/item/58076-smk-predlozhil-zapretit-salafitskij-seks-v-kazakhstane).
11.
Kazakhstan
Cuts State Share in Economy and Passes Russia in Per Capita Consumption.
While Russia is seeing the state sector of the economy grow at the expense of
the private one, Kazakhstan is undergoing exactly the reverse process (newsland.com/community/6437/content/pochemu-v-rossii-dolia-gosudarstvennogo-biznesa-rastiot-a-v-kazakhstane-sokrashchaetsia/5985951). That is one of the reasons, experts say, why
Kazakhstan now outranks Russia in consumption per capita (https://newsland.com/community/4788/content/rf-teper-ne-samaia-blagopoluchnaia-strana-v-sng/5983862).
12.
Tajik Officials
Banned from Disagreeing with Regime Policy in Public. A new code that
has been imposed on government officials in Dushanbe bans any employee of the
state from expressing dissent about government policies (fergananews.com/news/26840).
13.
CIS Leaders,
Except Those of Russia and Kyrgyzstan, Use Western Aircraft Rather than Russian
Ones.
A survey finds that the leaders of CIS countries, except for the presidents of
Russia and Kyrgyzstan, have chosen to use Boeings and Airbuses rather than
Russian products, itself an indication of one of the ways these states have
reoriented themselves since 1991 (new.ia-centr.ru/publications/na-chem-letayut-prezidenty-stran-sng/).
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