Paul
Goble
Staunton, October 14-- 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 104th 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.
Putin Will Live to
130, Markov Says.
Many people are talking about Putin entering old age now that he has turned 65,
but Moscow commentator Sergey Markov says that is a mistake. According to him,
Putin will live to 130, allowing him to serve as Russian president for many
more terms even if with Medvedev-like intervals (philologist.livejournal.com/9701482.html). Meanwhile, more
than half of Russians say they wouldn’t know whom to vote for if Putin doesn’t
run for re-election as many are petitioning him to do (rbc.ru/politics/10/10/2017/59dc6c299a7947981e59cba9?from=main and newsru.com/russia/09oct2017/please.html). But at least
one analyst says that Putin’s real support among voters is no more than 25
percent (ng.ru/politics/2017-10-10/1_7091_sulakshin.html). There is
another indication that his appeal may be ebbing: pictures of Putin are now
being offered at a deep discount, at least in Kazan (facebook.com/Idel.Realii/posts/549129012085598). However that
may be, Russians seem to be competing with each other to come up with an
epithet for the Kremlin leader. Among the ideas offered this week: “lord of the
superpower of chaos” (ria.ru/analytics/20171013/1506755293.html), a new Brezhnev
(charter97.org/ru/news/2017/10/8/265297/), someone who
could be caricatured as a bear (ria.ru/analytics/20171010/1506525626.html), and a warning
that he is on the way to becoming a new Stalin (ng.ru/ideas/2017-10-05/5_7088_.html).
2.
Putin’s Russia
Exporting Kleptocratic Norms to West.
Ilya Zaslavsky says that among the most important “exports” of Putin’s
Russia are “kleptocratic norms,” something that may be even more significant
than hacking or compromising foreigners by bribery or other means (hudson.org/research/13875-how-non-state-actors-export-kleptocratic-norms-to-the-west). As far as the
US is concerned, a Moscow commentator has suggested that Donald Trump has gone
from being a successful businessman to being “a political loser” (regnum.ru/news/polit/2333841.html). A major reason for that conclusion appears to
be that Russians believe that Trump’s positive statements on Russia
notwithstanding, the US is “killing Russia with a thousand cuts” (andreistp.livejournal.com/9623543.html). Other developments on the US-Russia
relationship this week include white supremacists chanting “Russia is our
fried” at a demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia (thedailybeast.com/richard-spencer-and-white-supremacists-return-to-charlottesville-chanting-you-will-not-replace-us), a media firestorm in Moscow over the handling of flags
over closed Russian facilities in the United States (themoscowtimes.com/news/russia-protests-flag-removal-at-seized-san-francisco-consulate-59245),
an annulment by Moscow of its accord with the US on adoptions followed by a
statement that Moscow expects the US to continue to live up to the agreement’s
provisions (avmalgin.livejournal.com/7276477.html),
and intense interest in the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal, with some Russians
insisting that such things could never happen in Russia (themoscowtimes.com/news/miss-russia-thanks-putin-for-lack-of-sexual-harassment-in-russia-59269)
and others welcoming it because it will make it more difficult for Hollywood to
support Democrats in American elections (vz.ru/politics/2017/10/12/890730.html).
3.
Krasnoyarsk
Governor Found Out about His Request to Retire from Media. The former
governor of Krasnoyarsk said he “experienced shock” when he found out that he
was retiring at his own request (znak.com/2017-10-12/eks_glava_krasnoyarskogo_kraya_ispytal_shok_uznav_ob_otstavke_po_sobstvennomu_zhelaniyu), just one of the
reasons that has sparked discussion about why the governors were changed and
for what purposes (kavkazr.com/a/perestanut-li-naznachat-glav-kavkazskih-respublik/28789832.html, rosbalt.ru/blogs/2017/10/10/1652101.html, polit.ru/article/2017/10/12/governors/, kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/310642/ and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/310635/), with many
concluding that the biggest reason for the replacements was to give the Kremlin
the appearance of being actively involved in domestic affairs (newsland.com/user/4297926940/content/vidimost-deiatelnosti-vlasti-ili-obman-i-ochkovtiratelstvo/6028552). Stories suggesting that potential governors
had to jump seven meters into water to test their meddle only added to
skepticism (echo.msk.ru/blog/day_video/2070590-echo/). The parallels
with the Soviet past were also underscored by a discussion between a former
Soviet dissident and a Russian one who concluded they had many similar
experiences (ru.rfi.fr/rossiya/20171006-mariya-alekhina-i-viktor-fainberg-dva-pokoleniya-protesta). New studies also concluded that despite the hopes of some
and the fears of other, the younger generation in Russia is increasingly
apolitical (ttolk.ru/2017/10/09/российское-поколение-z-аполитичное-и-п/ and newizv.ru/article/general/10-10-2017/poboytes-bloga-chto-takoe-pokolenie-z-v-rossii). Another analyst
said that Russians should recognize that their deputies are much richer than
even they appear (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/10/11/74155-milliony-s-pritsepami), the result
among other things of massive budgetary falsification and diversion (forum-msk.org/material/economic/13798513.html and rbc.ru/economics/06/10/2017/59d77b129a7947b9badc25bc). The Duma does plan to inform the Russian
people better about the laws it adopts by creating three new information
services to explain what new legislation means (politsovet.ru/56808-gosduma-sozdast-tri-proekta-dlya-obyasneniya-neponyatnyh-zakonov.html and vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2017/10/08/737006-gosduma-zakoni-sotsialnih-setyah).
4.
Russia’s Foreign
Debt, Capital Flight Accelerating. Russia has increased its foreign
borrowing at a record pace compared to the last four years (newsland.com/community/8211/content/rossiia-uvelichivaet-vneshnii-dolg-s-rekordnoi-za-4-goda-skorostiu/6034277), as officials
report that capital flight has doubled since the beginning of 2017 (newsland.com/community/4765/content/ottok-kapitala-iz-rossii-s-nachala-goda-uvelichilsia-vdvoe/6030726). Despite much
talk about import substitution and modernization, only 18 percent of Russian
firms have plans to go digital iin the next five years (iq.hse.ru/digital/). The Russian middle class is
increasingly uncertain about its prospects (ng.ru/economics/2017-10-09/4_7091_future.html), income
inequality continues to increase with no end in sight (newizv.ru/article/general/03-10-2017/pochemu-uroven-neravenstva-v-rossii-naivysshiy-v-mire), more factories
are using bankruptcy protection to avoid paying their workers (forum-msk.org/material/news/13796219.html). And the number
of Russian children living in poverty has doubled over the last five years (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59DCACAD4B8C5).
5.
Economic Crisis Driving School Children to Seek Work, Their
Parents to Look for Food in Forests.
As Russia’s economic crisis deepens for the population if not for the Putin
elite, ever more schoolchildren are seeking to find after school jobs to help
make ends meet (newsland.com/community/6399/content/krizis-pognal-shkolnikov-na-rabotu/6034351), while ever more
of their parents are searching for what food they can in forests near their
homes (ng.ru/omics/2017-10-12/4_7093_forest.html). Russians cut
their spending by 1.3 percent in September, twice the rate they reduced it in
August (rbc.ru/omics/10/10/2017/59dc97959a7947b3ff76dd50?from=main). And a new
survey found that Russians say they need far more each month to live adequately
than they are now receiving with the gap varying widely from region to region (rbc.ru/society/13/10/2017/59e082e39a794764e33c4b99?from=main). To try to
maintain their standard of living, Russians are doing what their governments
are: borrowing more and more, with the greatest increases in personal debt now
found in the poorest regions (vpressa.ru/omy/article/183307/ and themoscowtimes.com/articles/russian-consumers-are-hooked-on-credit-59220). As a result,
personal bankruptcies have doubled in the last year (z.ru/655130/anastasiia-alekseevskikh/sudy-predpochitaiut-bankrotit-rossiian). And recognizing that the Russian market is contracting,
ever more foreign retailers are pulling out (rusmonitor.com/inostrannye-ritejjlery-bojjkotiruyut-rf-prichina-obnishhanie-naseleniya.html).
6.
Russian
Educational System Failing to Produce People Prepared for Future. The rector of the Moscow Higher School of
Economics says that the Russian educational system is failing to produce people
adequately prepared for the future (indicator.ru/article/2017/10/09/kuzminov-rektor-vshe-o-kompetenciyah-budushego/). Two other
school problems this week: educational authorities in some regions are forcing
special needs children to exercise in the basement so that they “won’t frighten”
the others (takiedela.ru/news/2017/10/06/sekcia/), and the
education minister says she has found 700 additional schools without indoor
plumbing, bringing the current reported number to 3400 (philologist.livejournal.com/9699392.html).
7.
Most Russians Are
Second Class Citizens and Think That’s The Way It has to Be. One of Russia’s
biggest problems is that the many residents who are treated as second class
citizens think that is appropriate, some observers suggest (svoboda.org/a/28759817.html). Another is that
Russians have almost no understanding of what property is about (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59DC7C00293E1). Some Russians
have gone to bat to protect animals, overriding a governor who banned feeding
homeless animals but not yet blocking a new Duma measure that would require
them to register and pay fees for their pets (newizv.ru/news/society/11-10-2017/zapretit-miloserdie-v-murmanske-chinovnikam-ne-udalos, fedpress.ru/expert-opinion/1870648, politsovet.ru/56814-rossiyan-zastavyat-registrirovat-domashnih-zhivotnyh.html and newizv.ru/news/society/06-10-2017/shtrafy-za-miloserdie-kormit-ili-net-bezdomnyh-zhivotnyh). On the transportation front, the government
says it will build a total of only 1500 kilometers of new federal highways by
2020 (regnum.ru/news/economy/2332699.html), Russian rail has hiked prices for many routes pricing
them beyond the means of many Russians (newizv.ru/news/economy/10-10-2017/rzhd-uvelichit-pribyl-v-40-raz-blagodarya-povysheniyu-tarifov). In other social
news, officials say that nearly a third of all Russians in prison were
convicted of drug-related crimes (demoscope.ru/weekly/2017/0741/rossia01.php#27), the Sakha
Republic wants to reintroduce Soviet-style sobering up stations because half of
all crimes there are alcohol-related (regnum.ru/news/society/2331652.html), and despite
reports about a record harvest, experts say that Russia is lagging behind in
the development of advanced types of seed and biotechnology and so will suffer
more losses in the future (newsland.com/community/129/content/my-idem-k-krakhu-v-rossii-ne-poluchaetsia-sobrat-rekordnyi-urozhai-iz-za-nekhvatki-selkhoztekhniki/6026743 and egnum.ru/news/economy/2334149.html).
8.
Putin’s Health
Optimization Program Killing Hundreds of Russians Outside of Moscow, Doctors
Say.
Doctors say that significant cutbacks in health care delivery systems outside
of Moscow has already resulted in hundreds of deaths and will claim even more
unless something is done (lenta.ru/articles/2017/10/12/doktor/). Thousands of
Russian women aren’t getting mammograms and thus many are dying of breast
cancer (lenta.ru/articles/2017/10/13/nofear/), and pupils are
dying in physical education classes because there are no health care facilities
nearby (rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/59db55b99a7947e5cb547e58). Putin’s
cost-cutting measures are not the only cause, however. Forty percent of Russian
adults are skeptical about vaccines and many don’t have their children immunized
(demoscope.ru/weekly/2017/0741/rossia01.php#18), air quality is
bad in many places (politsovet.ru/56864-mchs-prosit-uralcev-porezhe-vyhodit-na-ulicu.html), and in St.
Petersburg, the ground is even more heavily contaminated and dangerous to
health than water or air (gorod-812.ru/samoe-opasnoe-v-peterburge-eto-pochva/). Moreover, to
save money, the government is reducing the amount of iodized salt on the
market, thus opening the way to more thyroid-related diseased (versia.ru/s-prilavkov-rossijskix-magazinov-ischeznet-povarennaya-sol).
9.
One Moscow
Marriage in Four is Now Ethnically Mixed. Statistics show that Muscovites
are increasingly intermarrying across ethnic lines, a trend that some will see
as promoting stability in an ever more multi-ethnic and poly-confessional city
but that others will view as a threat to Russian national identity (nazaccent.ru/content/25607-mezhnacionalnye-braki-moskvichej-obsudyat-v-moskve.html).
The commitment of the new head of Daghestan to ignore ethnicity in appointing
people to positions is one of the reasons he is likely to fail there and even
more a reason why his approach could destabilize the situation in many
multi-national republics (idelreal.org/a/etnicheskaya-konfiguratsiya-vlastnoy-elity-bashkortstana/28742322.html,
nazaccent.ru/content/25602-vrio-glavy-dagestana-poobeshal-otkazatsya-ot.html
and carnegie.ru/commentary/73340).
There was a lot of Circassian news this
week: the Circassian Cultural Center in Moscow burned (kavkazr.com/a/28784344.html),
regional officials sought to suppress Circassian commemorations of history but
faced resistance from the population (kavkazr.com/a/zapret-na-pamyat-sverkhu/28789592.html
and onkavkaz.com/novosti/3254-cherkesy-kabardino-balkarii-pomjanuli-pavshih-v-semimesjachnoi-voine.html),
and a leading Circassian activist said he was ending his hunger strike because
he had achieved his goal of attracting attention to the travails of the
Circassians (ekhokavkaza.com/a/28783093.html). The situation of the peoples of the North
also became more tense with another criminal case involving a member of an
indigenous nationality accused of killing Russian oil field workers (lenta.ru/articles/2017/10/07/olenevod/)
and a new bureaucratic and political fight broke out over who will control the
registries of northern peoples that will in turn determine who gets special
subsidies and who doesn’t (nazaccent.ru/content/25661-korennye-narody-severa-pozhalovalis-putinu-na.html
and nazaccent.ru/content/25657-dlya-severnyh-zhitelej-razrabotayut-novye-socialnye.html).
10.
Putin’s New
Secularism Isn’t, Lunkin Says. Roman Lunkin of the Slavic Center for
Law and Justice says that Vladimir Putin’s much ballyhooed talk about Russia
remaining a secular state is just that, talk, and that in fact, the role of
Russian Orthodoxy in government affairs has made a mockery of the
Constitution’s declaration (sclj.ru/news/detail.php?SECTION_ID=484&ELEMENT_ID=7690).
11.
On Language Issue, Shaymiyev Warns Putin that Tatarstan is a
State.
Mintimir Shaymiyev, the former president of Tatarstan, warned Vladimir
Putin that Tatarstan is a state and that the Kremlin leader should approach
language issues, properly the affair of such a state, with much greater care
than he has shown so far (regnum.ru/news/society/2331880.html).
Meanwhile, Moscow appears to have dug in on the language issue with officials
now calling for a language section to be added to the country’s nationality
policy program (idelreal.org/a/28784218.html),
protesters against the Russian first language policy arrested (delreal.org/a/28780933.html),
and decisions being taken by regional officials because Moscow has not yet been
able to articulate a coherent policy (nakanune.ru/news/2017/10/9/22485332/
and business-gazeta.ru/article/359736).
One commentator has suggested that Putin has achieved something remarkable:
both sides on the language fight in Russia feel that their rights have been
violated (nazaccent.ru/content/25541-yazykovoj-vopros-so-vseh-ego-treh.html).
12.
Putin has
Completed Destruction of Russian Federalism, Shelin Says. Vladimir Putin
has achieved one of his goals by destroying Russian federalism, Rosbalt
commentator Sergey Shelin says (rosbalt.ru/blogs/2017/10/10/1652101.html). In fact, however, the fight goes on. One Karelian portal
says that news from that republic increasingly sounds like combat reports from
an occupied territory (mustoi.ru/eto-ne-svodki-s-okkupirovannoj-territorii/?_utl_t=fb),
and the Russian procuracy has found that 94,000 laws in the regions and
republics still are not in correspondence with federal ones as they are
required to be (takiedela.ru/news/2017/10/11/nezakonnye-zakony/).
But attacks on regionalism continue (rustelegraph.ru/news/2017-10-09/Dozhd-snyal-lzhivyi-syuzhet-pro-dvizhenie-ingermanlandtcev-i-udalil-ego-posle-kritiki-76823/
and nazaccent.ru/content/25605-den-ingrii-pod-sankt-peterburgom-otmetyat-ingermanlandskoj.html).
Moscow’s population continues to expand, by 50,000 in the first seven months of
the year, while many cities not just villages are now being abandoned (demoscope.ru/weekly/2017/0741/rossia01.php#1
and dom.lenta.ru/articles/2017/10/07/silenthillstyle/).
And experts warn that beyond the ring road, there are many areas of poverty and
demographic collapse which are larger than European countries (stoletie.ru/obschestvo/vyberemsa_li_iz_demograficheskoj_jamy_762.htm).
One group of regions has complained about the micromanagement they are
subjected to from Moscow by demanding that the country at least have “alcohol
federalism,” where regions would decide how much people can drink (business-gazeta.ru/article/360542).
13.
Protests Spread
Across Russia -- and Moscow Risks Restarting Anti-Plato Truckers Strike. Russians this week organized demonstrations
against high gas prices, non-payment of wages, back pay, official malfeasance,
and fishing rights (ura.news/news/1052308143,
newsland.com/community/4765/content/miting-rabotnikov-dalspetsstroia-im-ne-platiat-zarplatu-no-zastavliaiut-rabotat/6034293,
kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/310808/,
asiarussia.ru/news/17942/ and regnum.ru/news/society/2331667.html). But the Russian government has now set the
stage for a re-start of the large long-haul truckers strike it faced earlier as
Moscow has announced that it wants to quadruple fines for those who don’t pay
the Plato fees (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59D7B395F2601).
14.
As in Stalin’s
Time, Moscow Wants to Punish 12-Year-Olds as Adults. A group of Duma
deputies has called for lowering the age at which children can be punished for
crimes as adults to 12, the same year it was in Stalin’s time (agonia-ru.com/archives/12071).
Russian officials also want to limit or even shut down Radio Liberty’s
activities in Russia (meduza.io/news/2017/10/09/minyust-rossii-prigrozil-ogranichit-rabotu-radio-svoboda-i-kanala-nastoyaschee-vremya).
More information has come out about Moscow’s moves against all things Navalny,
with his supporters losing their jobs or positions in universities and facing violence
and the planting of evidence (regnum.ru/news/polit/2331701.html,
sobkorr.ru/news/59DB252EC7CE6.html,
afterempire.info/2017/10/07/marsovo7oct/,
philologist.livejournal.com/9700766.html
and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59DB623876948).
In other repressive moves, officials want each kiosk owner to be given a list
of extremist materials (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59DB31BEA2144),
the Central Bank wants to limit websites offering crypto-currencies (echo.msk.ru/news/2070836-echo.html),
and Russia continues to help CIS countreis arrest and deport dissidents back to
their homelands (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/10/11/74152-bezvizovyy-rezhim). Unfortunately, a new poll shows that half of Russians
favor placing severe limits on Internet social networks (politsovet.ru/56831-polovina-rossiyan-vystupaet-za-ogranichenie-socsetey.html).
15.
One Place Bomb
Threats Haven’t Emptied – Lenin’s Mausoleum. Telephone terrorism continues
across the Russian Federation, but there is one place where despite bomb
threats, officials have not chosen to evacuate even once: Lenin’s mausoleum on
Red Square (newsland.com/community/4765/content/mavzolei-lenina-otkazalsia-ot-evakuatsii/6030246).
Other developments affecting Russia’s domestic security: One commentator notes
that progress in Putin’s Russia means that the FSB now does openly what the KGB
used to do secretly (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59DC658DC4312).
In addition, there are ever more reports of violence in various parts of the country,
including organized violence over large numbers of people (newsland.com/community/5652/content/v-primore-pianye-vooruzhennye-liudi-polmesiatsa-derzhali-poselok-v-blokade/6029443,
spektr.press/news/2017/10/09/v-moskve-zaderzhali-muzhchinu-za-broshennuyu-v-zdanie-fsb-butylku-s-kraskoj/,
tvrain.ru/news/v_moskve-447052/,
regnum.ru/news/accidents/2333840.html,
politsovet.ru/56849-v-ekaterinburge-zaderzhali-cheloveka-s-ruzhem.html, kp.ru/daily/26743.4/3770942/
and nation-news.ru/region/spb/312158-belorusa-s-granatoi-zaderzhali-sotrudniki-policii-v-metro-peterburga).
In some places, police are resigning in large numbers because they feel they
have lost control of the situation and aren’t getting the support they need (/kznlive.ru/glavnoe/sto-politseyskih-nizhnekamska-v-odin-deny-napisali-zayavleniya-ob-uvolynenii/). The Russian media is reporting that in recent
dedovshchina cases, military courts are punishing soldiers but not officers (newsland.com/community/5652/content/za-dedovshchinu-i-ubiistvo-syna-osudili-10-soldat-iz-rukovodstva-nikogo/6033741), although a Chechen commander was removed from a
Russian Guard unit when it was discovered that he was withholding the pay of the
soldiers under his command and pocketing it for himself (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/310924/).
But perhaps the most worrisome development was a combination of two reports: the
government says it is being forced to cut more social spending to finance the
ministry, but the finance ministry has refused to raise the pay of soldiers and
officers (rbc.ru/economics/06/10/2017/59d7b3469a7947df4ead56f6?from=main
and newsland.com/community/7016/content/minfin-ne-povysit-zarplaty-voennosluzhashchim/6033001).
16. Girkin Says Russia Suffered 100 Combat Deaths in Syria
in Last Two Weeks.
The former Donbass leader say that Russian forces in Syria have lost at least
100 men in combat over the last two weeks (charter97.org/ru/news/2017/10/11/265604/), a report that has reignited discussions about whether
Moscow really cares about those who fight for it or not (apostrophe.ua/article/society/accidents/2017-10-05/patriotyi-rossii-kotoryie-voevali-na-donbasse-uje-nenavidyat-putina/14811,
babr24.com/msk/?IDE=165889 and graniru.org/opinion/milshtein/m.264448.html). One commentator has pointed out that Putin is
using his portrait of a highly threatening outside world to restore the USSR
not just territorially but functionally, turning it into military camp with 3.3
percent of GDP now going to the armed forces (newsland.com/community/4109/content/armiia-rossii-prevrashchaetsia-v-imperskie-vooruzhionnye-sily/6030110,
ruskline.ru/news_rl/2017/10/10/evrazijskaya_duga_nestabilnosti/
and znak.com/2017-10-07/pravitelstvo_potratit_na_voennye_rashody_3_trln_rubley_radi_nih_urezhut_socialku).
In other foreign security developments, Russian officials are calling for for a
new law on dual citizenship for CIS countries (apn.ru/index.php?newsid=36723).
Moscow says it won’t establish a second base in Kyrgyzstan (fergananews.com/news/26999) and for the first time in five years cuts its foreign aid program
(themoscowtimes.com/news/russia-cuts-foreign-aid-for-the-first-time-since-2012-59218).
Problems are mounting at Russia’s cosmodrome both with equipment and with
workers who are striking for unpaid wages (newsland.com/community/8223/content/rossiiskie-tiazhelye-rakety-perestali-letat/6030520
and znak.com/2017-10-13/na_kosmodrome_vostochnyy_shest_stroiteley_obyavili_golodovku).
17. Moscow, Pyongyang Cozy Up. A Russian Duma
delegation consisting of representatives from all parliamentary parties
travelled to Pyongyang (versia.ru/v-severnuyu-koreyu-otpravyatsya-predstaviteli-vsex-frakcij-gd), and partially as a reward, the North Koreans have
announced that they recognize Crimea as legitimately part of Russia (centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1507810440).
18.
A Million Russians
in 50 Cities March Against Mathilda, Russian Orthodox Activists Say. A million Russians marched against Mathilda the
same weekend of the Navalny protests, a figure that independent experts say is
an exaggeration (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2017/10/09/millionam_grazhdan_nashej_strany_plyunuli_v_dushu/
and http://www.sova-center.ru/religion/news/authorities/feelings/2017/10/d38021/).
Patriarch Kirill gave them implicit backing by denouncing the film as a falsification
(politsovet.ru/56865-patriarh-kirill-nazval-matildu-falshivkoy.html). Some people are even pushing for the canonization
of Natalya Poklonskaya, the leader of the anti-Mathilda actions, but the
hierarchy has rejected that idea (znak.com/2017-10-09/v_rpc_nazvali_neumnymi_lyudmi_avtorov_peticii_o_kanonizacii_poklonskoy).
One MGIMO analyst argued that the film was all about “delegitimizing the Crimean
consensus” (pnp.ru/politics/deligitimaciya-krymskogo-konsensusa.html).
Russia’s central television channels announced they will not carry advertising
about the film (echo.msk.ru/news/2072822-echo.html).
Meanwhile, pro-Nicholas II billboards are going up in Yekaterinburg. They had
earlier appeared in Moscow (rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=79166
and politsovet.ru/56820-v-obschestvennom-transporte-ekaterinburga-budut-krutit-citaty-nikolaya-ii.html).
19.
Monuments Wars
Continue Elsewhere Unabated.
There is a controversy over the renaming of Tutuyev to restore its
tsarist name (https://regnum.ru/news/society/2333328.html).
SERB activists again pulled down the memorial sign to Boris Nemtsov (ekhokavkaza.com/a/28786278.html).
A Donbass heroes statue has gone up in Rostov (echo.msk.ru/news/2070840-echo.html).
Conflicts over Soviet statues have expanded in Ryazan and Novosibirsk (regnum.ru/news/polit/2331721.html
and newsland.com/community/4765/content/biustu-stalina-podobrali-tri-ploshchadki-v-novosibirske/6033933).
And the first over whether to build a cathedral on the waters in Yekaterinburg
continue unabated (politsovet.ru/56827-gorduma-ekaterinburga-otkazalas-vystupit-protiv-hrama-na-vode.html).
Meanwhile, in what may be a diversion, Russian officials have approved the
erection of a Shakespeare monument in the center of Moscow but only at the end
of 2019 (regnum.ru/news/cultura/2333358.html).
20.
US Olympic
Committee Head Calls on IOC to Take Action Now on Russian Doping. The head of the
US Olympic Committee has asked the IOC to take action against Russian doping in
an apparent effort to put pressure on that body before next year’s Olympiad (graniru.org/Society/s/m.264753.html).
In an apparent response, the IOC says it will test any and all Russians who do
take part in those games (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59DBAEB04C5FC). Problems continue with the construction of
venues for the 2018 World Cup still scheduled for Russia (regnum.ru/news//2332284.html).
Russian football fans remain among the most violent in the world, according to
observers, and include many who are openly racist (lenta.ru/news/2017/10/07/extreme/
and lenta.ru/articles/2017/10/05/nazirusfoot/). St. Petersburg officials are
worrying about how to keep visitors to the competition occupied between matches
(regnum.ru/news//2333877.html).
Officials in the Northern capital are also resisting demands that they tear
down yet another building to prepare for the World Cup (regnum.ru/news/polit/2332723.html). Meanwhile, Poland
announced that it will not simplify border crossing for the World Cup period (dsnews.ua/world/polsha-ne-stanet-vozobnovlyat-prigranichnoe-dvizhenie-s-13102017105300).
21.
Moscow’s New Ruble
Bills Cause Problems. Not only does one of the new Russian bills
show occupied Sevastopol, something that has outraged many Ukrainians, but
another shows Sakhalin as a peninsula rather than the island it is, something
that has led to often bitter jokes on Russian social networks (ru.krymr.com/a/28791290.html, novayagazeta.ru/news/2017/10/12/136081-bank-rossii-vypustil-kupyury-po-200-i-2000-rubley,
regnum.ru/news/society/2333863.html
and qha.com.ua/ru/ekonomika/v-rossii-vipustili-novuyu-banknotu-s-okkupirovannim-sevastopolem/180327/).
22.
Russian Textbooks
Often Neglect to Show Kaliningrad, Crimea and Kuriles. Russian commentators are complaining that
many school textbooks fail to provide accurate maps, dropping Kaliningrad,
Crimea or the Kuriles because they are not directly connected with Russia
proper. That only encourages young Russians to ignore them, some say (https://regnum.ru/news/polit/2333409.html).
23.
Sergey Markov Says
Moscow Doesn’t Produce Anti-Ukrainian Propaganda. In the most
sweeping lie of the week, Sergey Markov, a former Duma deputy and Moscow
commentator, says that the Russian government has not ever and does not now
produce any anti-Ukrainian propaganda whatever anyone says (echo.msk.ru/programs/personalno/2070988-echo/).
24.
‘Oil Apocalypse’
Spreads Across Russian Far North.
Ever more oil leaks are destroying the land and water of Russia’s Far
North and thus making it impossible for many of the indigenous peoples there to
survive or even to continue to live where they have been since time immemorial
(semnasem.ru/usinsk_eng/).
25.
‘Muscovization of
Russia’ Said Leading to ‘Greatest Geopolitical Catastrophe of 21st
Century.’
Many blame Lenin’s creation of the union
republics for setting the stage for the disintegration of the USSR; now some
analysts are suggesting that the hypercentralization of institutions and power
in Moscow will have the same effect on the Russian Federation (politikus.ru/articles/print:page,1,100157-doktrina-razmoskvichivaniya.html).
26.
Russia’s Claim to
Be USSR’s Legal Successor Set the Stage for Putin’s Actions. The Russian government’s claim from the very
beginning to be the legal successor to the Soviet regime, a claim that was
accepted by most governments around the world, has the unintended consequence
of setting the stage for Vladimir Putin’s revanchist policies, according to one
Moscow commentator (forum-msk.org/material/politic/13801687.html).
And 13 others from
countries in Russia’s neighborhood:
1.
Ukraine, Georgia
Recommit to Eventually Joining NATO. The presidents of Ukraine and Belarus
both said this week that they remain committed to having their countries become
members of the Western alliance (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/310993/ and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59E1BDD544037).
2.
Trade Among CIS
Countries Down Sharply, Reducing Organization’s Importance. Trade between members of the CIS has fallen
sharply as a result of the economic crisis, a trend that not only reduces the
importance of the CIS but also makes the region as an entity less important to
most of its members (zloy-odessit.livejournal.com/2222765.html and caa-network.org/archives/10434).
3.
GUAM Plans to Set
Up Its Own Free Trade Zone. GUAM, the organization that unites Georgia, Ukraine,
Azerbaijan and Moldova, having just marked its 20th anniversary, has
committed itself to organizing a free trade area among its members, something
Moscow very much opposes (ng.ru/cis/2017-10-10/7_7091_guam.html and agenda.ge/news/88404/eng).
4.
Kyiv’s Language
Law Goes into Force.
A Ukrainian law requiring that television stations broadcast at least 75
percent of their programs in the national language and that restricts the use
of minority languages, including Russian, in schools and other institutions has
gone into effect, sparking complaints from Moscow which imposes even more
draconian rules on languages in the Russian Federation and from Europeans who
appear not to understand the difference between multi-culturalism that arises
on its own and language policies needed to overcome imperial occupation (qha.com.ua/ru/obschestvo/v-ukraine-vstupili-v-silu-yazikovie-kvoti-na-tv/180407/).
5.
Russian Security Agencies Said Increasing Recruitment of
Ukrainians. The Ukrainian security service says
that Russian operatives have radically increased their recruitment of
Ukrainians in recent months, thus threatening the security of the country (gordonua.com/news/war/fakty-verbovki-ukraincev-rossiyskimi-specsluzhbami-stanovyatsya-massovymi-sbu-211242.html).
6.
Crimean
Occupiers Keeping Russians from Russia from Becoming Officials There.
The occupation authorities in Ukraine’s Crimea not only are working hard to
maintain their control of the situation by excluding Russians from the Russian
Federation from key government positions (fedpress.ru/expert-opinion/1874087)but have stepped
up their repression of ethnic and religious minorities there, this week
attacking the use of Gideon Bibles (turantoday.com/2017/10/crimea-russian-occupants-tatars-fsb.html and ru.krymr.com/a/28784161.html). Other related
developments include the emergence of Kherson Oblast as a de facto Crimean
Tatar autonomy within Ukraine (versia.ru/xersonskaya-oblast-ukrainy-stanet-krymsko-tatarskoj-avtonomiej) and a decision
by Volkswagen to ban the sale of its car in the Russian occupied Ukrainian
peninsula (snob.ru/selected/entry/129997).
7.
Ukrainian Deputy Says Kyiv Ready to Help Sakha Separate from
Russia. A Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada deputy
says Ukraine will help the Republic of Sakha achieve independence from Russia,
a statement that has drawn fire from both Moscow and Yakutsk (riafan.ru/982317-v-yakutii-otvetili-deputatu-rady-na-predlozhenie-pomoch-otdelitsya-ot-rossii and svpressa.ru/politic/news/182529/).
8. Belarus Ranks Only
13th Among Recipients of Russian Aid … According to new data,
Belarus ranks only 13th in the receipt of Russian assistance,
despite being part of the union state and Moscow’s closest ally on my issues (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/10/13/belarus-na-13-m-meste-po-obemu-poluchennoy-finansovoy-pomoschi-iz-rossii.html).
9. … But Despite
That, Minsk Ranks First in Providing Russia with Sanctioned Products. Belarus is nonetheless proving to be the
largest channel for goods Russia cannot purchase directly (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/10/12/belarus-zanyala-pervoe-mesto-v-reytinge-postavschikov-sanktsionnyh-produktov-v-rossiyu.html).
10.
Belarusians
Trust the EU More than the Eurasian Economic Union.
Polls show that whatever the Lukashenka may be doing, Belarusians trust the
European Union more than the Moscow-dominated Eurasian Economic Union (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/10/11/belorusy-bolshe-doveryayut-evrosoyuzu-nezheli-oon-i-eaes.html).
11.
Latvia’s Harmony Party Ends Cooperation with Russia’s United
Russia.
Latvia’s Harmony Party which promotes inter-ethnic concord has ended a
cooperation agreement it had with Russia’s ruling United Russia Party (spektr.press/news/2017/10/09/latvijskaya-partiya-soglasie-prekratilo-sotrudnichestvo-s-edinoj-rossiej/).
12.
Moscow Supplies 90
Percent of South Ossetian State Budget. The Russian authorities provide 90
percent of the state budget of the unrecognized breakaway South Ossetian
government (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/310844/).
13.
Kazakhstan Confronts ‘Specter of Separatism.’ Astana, facing what
some officials there view as “the specter of separatism,” has imposed new rules
to regulate movement of people from one region to another and blocked Russia
Today broadcasts inside Kazakhstan (amonitor.kz/29312-prizrak-separatizma-ugrozhaet-li-kto-to-celostnosti-kazahstana.html, ratel.kz/kaz/v_kazahstane_opredeljat_kvoty_dlja_pereselenija_vnutri_strany and http://www.fergananews.com/news/26988).
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