Paul
Goble
Staunton, November 11 -- 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 108th 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 Stands
Taller – as a Statue – and Alienates Even His Allies with Lying. Vladimir Putin
has always been sensitive about his height, and the Russian media have gone to
great lengths to make him appear taller than he really is. Now a new statue in
Chelyabinsk, supposedly life size, makes him 10 centimeters (four inches)
taller than in reality (agonia-ru.com/archives/13014).
Another story reports that Putin’s lying has become so over the top that it is
even raising eyebrows among those who are his closest supporters (ej.ru/?a=note&id=31773).Putin
made another series of comments last week that deserve mention: He charged that
the West was collecting biological materials on Russians to create an ethnic
weapon against them, a charge that has long been part of Russian conspiracy
thinking but hasn’t been sanctioned before by a Kremlin leader (newsland.com/community/8218/content/putin-rasskazal-o-geneticheskom-kode-rossiiskogo-naroda/6065612, ruskline.ru/news_rl/2017/11/10/etnicheskaya_vojna/
and graniru.org/opinion/abarinov/m.265322.html).
Putin also thanked God for defending Russia against meteorites (lenta.ru/news/2017/11/09/meteor/).
2.
‘Trump is No
Longer Important for Moscow.’ Russian commentators are suggesting that
the US president is no longer the focus of their interest because he can’t
deliver being bound “hand and foot” by the American establishment (republic.ru/posts/87504, regnum.ru/news/polit/2344139.html, and iz.ru/668598/fedor-lukianov/tramp-kak-neizbezhnost). The Russian Duma is imposing new
sanctions on American media in response to US requirements that RT register as
a foreign agent in A,merica (gazeta.ru/politics/2017/11/09_a_10978118.shtml)
and has authorized the spending of three million rubles (50,000 US dollars) to
see how counter-sanctions have affected Russians (politsovet.ru/57128-gosduma-vydelila-3-milliona-na-izuchenie-kontrsankciy.html).
3.
The Source of
Russia’s Problems? The Americans Wrote Its Constitution. The
presidentialist Russian constitution of 1993 that Vladimir Putin has exploited
to create a dictatorship in Russia was written by Americans, as even the US
government admits, Moscow media are now pointing out (newsland.com/community/5652/content/ne-verite-chto-konstitutsiiu-rf-pisali-nam-amerikantsy-smotrite-sami/6066178).
Other developments this week concerning the Russian political system included:
a call for Putin to create a high caste of senior officials (newsland.com/community/1713/content/v-rossii-mozhet-poiavitsia-ofitsialnaia-kasta-vysokopostavlennykh-chinovnikov/6072878),
the end of the once ubiquitous postal savings books in Russian post offices (lenta.ru/news/2017/11/09/pravitelstvosberknigki/),
Moscow’s forcing of regions to freeze salaries at their level and the force
municipalities to balance their budgets in an effort to hide responsibility for
who is giving the orders (politsovet.ru/57122-obmanutye-dolschiki-kak-glavnaya-opasnost-dlya-gubernatorov.html,
idelreal.org/a/28841778.html
and regnum.ru/news/economy/2343009.html),
Putin’s call for citizens to exert more influence on organs of local power but
of course not on him (newsland.com/community/1713/content/putin-prizval-rasshirit-vliianie-grazhdan-na-rabotu-organov-vlasti/6070473),
and the best scandal of some time: the discovery of an eight million ruble
(120,000 US dollar) toilet in the house of a senior official in the Far North (lenta.ru/news/2017/11/10/super_unitaz/).
4.
Milonov Identifies
a New Russian Sin – Being Pro-American. Duma deputy Vitaly Mironov says that
Kseniya Sobchak is guilty of a sin he has newly identified – being pro-American
– and must be ostracized and defeated because of that (znak.com/2017-11-09/vitaliy_milonov_prizval_sobchak_pokayatsya_za_proamerikanskiy_greh).
Sobchak drew his fire for supporting US sanctions against Russia, proising to
allow gay parades, and denying that Russian unity exists (newsland.com/community/129/content/sobchak-podderzhala-sanktsii-ssha-protiv-rossii/6072070,
newsland.com/community/5652/content/sobchak-poobeshchala-razreshit-gei-propagandu-sredi-nesovershennoletnikh/6070064
and echo.msk.ru/blog/sobchak/2086276-echo/).
Meanwhile, some in the Russian media are having fun with the fact that the
leader of Putin’s as-yet-undeclared campaign is a dollar millionaire from the
US (politsovet.ru/57134-dvizhenie-v-podderzhku-putina-vozglavil-dollarovyy-millioner-iz-ssha.html).
Aleksey Navalny and Sobchak are now fighting over the same voters in the
regions with the former worried about losing his supporters to the latter (ura.news/articles/1036272857).
As expected, a Russian court has refused to accept even for a hearing Navalny’s
suit against Putin (novayagazeta.ru/news/2017/11/08/136819-sud-otkazalsya-prinyat-isk-navalnogo-k-putinu).
And many Russians appear to be tuning out the election as an unimportant freak
show whose outcome is already well-known to all (lenta.ru/brief/2017/11/04/show/).
To the extent they are, Moscow is not gaining another distraction it hoped for
now that the controversy over Mathilda has died down (polit.ru/article/2017/11/03/aftersobchak/).
5.
Russian Inequality
Now Same as in 1905.
Inequality among Russians in terms of wealth has now returned to the level it
was at in 1905 (kommersant.ru/doc/3462081), with class discrimination not only
widespread but increasing in many spheres across the country (publizist.ru/blogs/107999/21158/-). Other economic news this week included: Kudrin’s
prediction that tight budgets will bring on a new and deeper recession (ng.ru/editorial/2017-11-10/2_7112_red.html),
the cost of living is rising faster in the two capitals than anywhere else (forum-msk.org/material/news/13945008.html),
major Russian banks won’t operate in occupied Crimea lest they run afoul of
Western sanctions (ru.krymr.com/a/news/28844566.html),
salt prices projected to jump (https://iz.ru/668068/evgeniia-pertceva/sol-podorozhaet-na-10-k-kontcu-goda), Moscow debtors protest by blocking streets (newsland.com/community/5652/content/v-moskve-dolzhnikam-zablokiruiut-unitazy/6072330),
unemployment again increased this past week (regnum.ru/news/omy/2343028.html),
the sanctions and countersanctions which Putin predicted would help Russian
agriculture haven’t because of a lack of
investment and excessive controls (ng.ru/kartblansh/2017-11-08/3_7110_kartblansh.html),
and experts concede that Russia has now returned to the raw materials exporter
model of economic activity despite all the talk about diversification and the
risks of relying on commodities alone (newsader.com/40872-vysokotekhnologichnye-otrasli-rf-szhim/).
6.
No Voice, Little
Loyalty, More Exit.
The emigration of wealthy and educated Russians is accelerating and this flow
is now including ever more prominent people. (For a list of some of the most
notable who’ve left in the last 12 months, see snob.ru/selected/entry/131053.
Cf. newsland.com/community/4765/content/gde-dengi-tam-i-rodina-za-13-let-iz-rossii-uekhali-20-tysiach-millionerov/6070915 Other societal news of note: animal cruelty
remains widespread and largely unpunished (babr24.com/?IDE=167018), gender
inequality in Russia will be overcome in 128 years if things continue at their current rate (rus.azattyk.org/a/28841446.html),
higher education is becoming devalued in Russia with more people expected to
have a degree regardless of what they have learned (chaskor.ru/article/kult_i_inflyatsiya_vysshego_obrazovaniya_42665),
and, in an indication that things are really tough: one family in the North
Caucasus sold their child for 100,000 rubles (1400 US dollars) (http://fedpress.ru/news/07/society/1889863).
7.
Russian Doctors
Now Dying Earlier than Their Patients. An unexpected consequence of Putin’s
much-ballyhooed health optimization program is that doctors are now being
forced to work such long hours that they are in many cases dying before their
patients do (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/11/10/74508-umirayut-chtoby-spasat
and siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/after-31-hours-non-stop-delivering-babies-doctor-midwife-oksana-kivleva-collapsed-and-died/).
Many in the regions can’t get any medical care, and people in Moscow can’t get
treatment for psychological problems (osbalt.ru/russia/2017/11/10/1659880.html,
rusmonitor.com/v-regionakh-rf-rezko-sokratili-raskhody-na-socialnuyu-sferu.html and svpressa.ru/society/article/185227/).
Syphillis, hepatitis, and HIV are all increasing at rapid rates (versia.ru/rospotrebnadzor-nazval-regiony-rf-s-vysokoj-zabolevaemostyu-sifilisom,
and newsland.com/community/8225/content/strana-infitsirovannykh-v-rossii-rastiot-zabolevaemost-vich-i-gepatitom-s/6066523).
Ever more people are suffering from smog, even as Putin asks environmental
activists not to press their cases too hard (asiarussia.ru/articles/18237/ and
ura.news/articles/1036272886).
Moscow has come up with a new way to suggest Russians are getting more not less
medicine: producers are packing drugs in small containers with fewer tablets
and Rosstat is now counting the packages without taking into account the change
in the number of pills (versia.ru/rossiyane-nachali-pokupat-bolshe-lekarstv).
And while it is an anniversary that didn’t attract as much attention as the
centenary of the Bolshevik coup, another anniversary should not be ignored:
This month marks the 115th years since the introduction of the first
sobering up station in Russia (newizv.ru/news/society/07-11-2017/velikaya-russkaya-revolyutsiya-115-let-nazad-v-rossii-otkrylsya-pervyy-vytrezvitel).
8.
Central Asian
Gastarbeiters in Moscow Now Learning … English. Russian officials
have long encouraged Central Asians working in Moscow and other major cities to
learn Russian, but now some of these migrants are choosing to learn not Russian
but English (fergananews.com/articles/9630). Interior ministry officials acknowledge that
migrant workers are committing fewer crimes but still blame them for a rise in
ethnic tensions in Moscow (nazaccent.ru/content/25899-mvd-zayavilo-o-roste-mezhnacionalnoj-napryazhennosti.html and migrant.ferghana.ru/newslaw/глава-мвд-заявил-о-росте-межнациональ.html). One way some Russian cities have decided
to reduce the threat of new tensions is to ban gastarbeiters from jobs like in
fast food restaurants where they come into frequent contact with the locals (migrant.ferghana.ru/newslaw/chronicle/новосибирские-власти-решили-запрети.html). Meanwhile, Moscow historians and
propagandists are suggesting that the 1916 Central Asian revolt was really
about the genocide of ethnic Russians there (regnum.ru/news/polit/2342219.html), and Grozny continues to try to attract Russian tourists to Chechnya,
claiming that “more than 100,000” have come so far this year (kavpolit.com/articles/s_nachala_2017_goda_bolee_100_tysjach_turistov_pos-36397/).
9.
Mixed Messages in
Language Fight.
Putin’s order that no one be compelled to study any language except Russian is
sparking more controversy, mixed messages, and delays in scheduled meetings on
ethnic questions (nazaccent.ru/content/25909-yazykovuyu-situaciyu-v-respublikah-osbudyat-na.html,
nazaccent.ru/content/25888-peskov-prokommentiroval-yazykovuyu-situaciyu-v-tatarstane.html,
idelreal.org/a/28839660.html,
bashinform.ru/news/1072475-talgat-tadzhuddin-samoe-glavneyshee-sokhranit-nash-chelovecheskiy-yazyk-/
and turantoday.com/2017/11/russian-bashkort-s-protest.html). Increasingly, non-Russians are placing the
blame for this effort on Sergey Kiriyenko of the presidential administration (business-gazeta.ru/article/362697).
10.
‘Orthodox
Extremism Doesn’t Exist,’ Duma Official Says. Aleksandr Shchipkov, a advisor to
the Duma speaker. Says that “Orthodox extremism doesn’t exist,” an assertion
that flies in the face of much evidence to the contrary but corresponds to what
the Moscow Patriarchate wants to believe (interfax-.ru/?act=news&div=68576 and politsovet.ru/57156-v-rpc-nazvali-sssr-carstvom-spravedlivosti.html).
The Duma also moves forward with a bill that will allow the state to openly
finance many Russian Orthodox Church activities (rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=79367).
South Ossetia’s political leadership is pushing the church there to shift to
the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate (ekhokavkaza.com/a/28840765.html). In other religious news, a US citizen was
fined for religious activity in Primorsky kray (interfax-.ru/?act=news&div=68553),
a wave of arrests hits mosques in Daghestan (onkavkaz.com/novosti/3387-v-dagestane-vnov-massovo-zaderzhivayut-prihozhan-mechetei.html). A Rostov court
refuses to return mosques to believers (openrussia.org/notes/715886/), haj
prices are slated to rise dramatically next year (mkala.mk.ru/articles/2017/11/03/khadzh-podorozhaet-naskolko-i-pochemu.html),
and repression against Protestants increases (sclj.ru/news/detail.php?SECTION_ID=487&ELEMENT_ID=7706
and ruskline.ru/news_rl/2017/11/06/neoprotestantizm_ne_dal_rossii_ni_odnogo_vydayuwegosya_deyatelya/).
11.
Putin Says
Developing Far East a Priority – But of Other Regions Not So Much. Vladimir Putin
says that developing the Russian Far East is a priority for the 21st
century (profile.ru/economics/item/121473-dalnevostochnyj-nektar),
but his actions elsewhere suggest that other regions can’t count even on what
he is promising the Far East (freeural.org/dlja-moskvichej-ty-vinovat-lish-v-tom-chto-rodilsja-za-mkadom/). Other
regional news this week included: Tatarstan is seeking a referendum on local
elections(kommersant.ru/doc/3460682?from=four_strana),
Kaliningrad reports that Russia has abandoned more roads there over the last 70
years than it has built (newsland.com/community/4765/content/narod-i-armiia-ediny/6071043),
regional portals are now laying out their specific political programs (freeural.org/programma-uralskogo-nacionalnogo-aljansa/
and freeural.org/manifest-uralskogo-nacionalnogo-aljansa/),
regionalist movements are worried that media attention to them is leading to
arrests (freeingria.org/2017/11/zayavlenie-grazhdanskogo-dvizheniya-svobodnaya-ingriya-svobodu-politzaklyuchyonnym-mihailu-vojtenkovu-i-ilyasu-milikaevu/
and freeural.org/istochnik-prichinoj-zaderzhanija-aktivistov-svobodnoj-ingrii-stal-sjuzhet-telekanala-dozhd/),
and Russia’s airlines work against regions by keeping it cheaper to fly to
Moscow than to nearby cities (sibreal.org/a/28806750.html).
12.
Despite
Deteriorating Situation, Russians Said Not Yet Angry Enough for Political Protests.
Boris
Vishnevsky says that despite how bad things are, Russians are not yet angry
enough to demonstrate against the government (znak.com/2017-11-07/boris_vishnevskiy_vopiyuchey_socialnoy_nespravedlivosti_nedostatochno_chtoby_narod_preodolel_strah). But there were more protests this week of
various kinds: Chechen students complained about being forced to take part in
pro-government demonstrations (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/312039/),
people in debt or suffering as a result of unpaid wages protested in various
places across the country (newizv.ru/news/society/07-11-2017/bronepoezd-obmanutyh-dolschikov-priehal-v-moskvu-58cb7852-f41f-450c-bd38-8dfd7b8d6825,
znak.com/2017-11-03/smi_v_moskve_byudzhetnikov_obyazuyut_priyti_na_miting_v_den_narodnogo_edinstva_za_otguly
and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/312007/)
– although some debtors have come up with a new strategy not to pay what they
owe, claiming they are Soviet citizens not Russian ones (newsland.com/community/5652/content/dvoe-rossiian-otkazalis-vozvrashchat-kredity-pod-predlogom-grazhdanstva-sssr/6072637),
peoples of the North demonstrated against “corporation of monsters” as they
call the Russian oil and gas companies (fedpress.ru/article/1891727),
people protested against new toll roads (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/312256/),
Yekaterinburgers demonstrated against housing shortages (sobkorr.ru/news/5A017CB8997BA.html),
and Muscovites protested trash site construction (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59FDBDF492BAA).
But again there was some evidence protests work: Putin told a governor to meet
with people who were protesting (kommersant.ru/doc/3465551),
and the new head of Daghestan ordered problems on the border be solved after
truckers protested (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/312025/).
13. One Russian in 20 has Been Arrested on Drug Charges. More than seven million Russians have been arrested
for illegal drug use or sales, and those convicted on such charges fill a
significant portion of Russia’s penal institutions (narzur.ru/article/24385 and takiedela.ru/2017/11/takaya-rossiya-tyurma/). More evidence has surfaced about the
interpenetration of Russia’s criminal gangs and the security services (portal-credo.ru/site/?act=monitor&id=26214 and spektr.press/news/2017/11/09/eks-chlen-serb-rasskazal-o-sotrudnichestve-organizacii-s-sotrudnikom-centra-e-mvd/). Analysts report
that snitching is on the rise in Russia as more things become criminalized (republic.ru/posts/87569, rbc.ru/society/09/11/2017/5a0426aa9a794733c93ccbf4?from=main and kommersant.ru/doc/3459836)
with first conviction announced against someone who failed to turn in an
acquaintance (onkavkaz.com/novosti/3418-studenta-iz-dagestana-osudili-po-paketu-jarovoi-za-nedonositelstvo-na-druga-boevika.html),
authorities continue crackdown on Russian nationalists and Navalny supporters (newsland.com/community/5325/content/v-moskve-massovo-viazhut-natsionalistov-schet-na-sotni/6067593,
spektr.press/news/2017/11/03/vo-vkontakte-zablokirovali-soobschestva-partii-nacionalistov/
and novayagazeta.ru/news/2017/11/05/136730-student-rostovskogo-kolledzha-rasskazal-ob-ugroze-otchisleniya-iz-za-stikera-s-navalnym),
Russian prosecutors use new tactic against groups they don’t approve of –
keeping cases open so they can add charges and conduct more searches (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59FC648558142),and
the Russian government has announced
plans for a single registry of “bad parents” (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A05626CDBBC1).
14.
Russian Guard
Focusing on Security Choke Points. The Russian Guard this week focused on
the small area in which almost all Russian gas pipelines flow through. Any
attack on them could, the Guard said, leave Russia without gas for itself let
alone for export (newsru.com/russia/10nov2017/yugrattack.html,
znak.com/2017-11-10/rosgvardiya_predupredila_neftegazovye_kompanii_ob_ugrozah_teraktov , .znak.com/2017-11-10/fsb_predotvratila_krupnyy_terakt_v_habarovskom_krae_naydena_bomba and ura.news/news/1052312028). Other
Russian security services reported finding terrorist cells at construction
sites and large amount of explosives in the North Caucasus (islamsng.com/rus/news/13669,
politikus.ru/v-rossii/101230-centr-e-predotvratil-terakt-v-sankt-peterburge.html
and onkavkaz.com/novosti/3398-moschnost-bomby-srabotavshei-na-postu-dps-v-ingushetii-sostavila-10-kg-trotila.html).
Police in Kaliningrad said they had disarmed an anti-tank mine at the airport
there (meduza.io/news/2017/11/10/v-aeroportu-kaliningrada-obezvredili-protivotankovuyu-minu),
Yekterinburg police dealt with an armed firefight (politsovet.ru/57138-policiya-nazvala-prichinu-strelby-v-ekaterinburge.html),
an SVR building burned in Moscow (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A0319D961982)
as did a United Russia Party building (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A01BF0BECF70),
evacuations continued across the country in response to bomb threats (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A01A728A6560,
regnum.ru/news/accidents/2342261.html
and fedpress.ru/news/52/incidents/1889848),
activists said anyone can get alternative service if he knows the rules (takiedela.ru/2017/11/ubezhdennye/),
and radioactivity from an unknown source in the Russian Federation was tracked heading
toward Europe (lenta.ru/news/2017/11/10/radioactivity/).
15.
Russian Military
in Worse Shape than Moscow has Admitted. The modernization of the Russian
military is far behind what the Kremlin had claimed, new defense ministry reports
find (ng.ru/kartblansh/2017-11-10/3_7112_kartblansh.html
and regnum.ru/news/polit/2342587.html).
The high command nonetheless said that new pay raises for soldiers will keep
the military happy (http://www.rbc.ru/newspaper/2017/11/09/5a03247c9a7947764baedec5
and newsland.com/community/5862/content/pochemu-voennosluzhashchim-i-voennym-pensioneram-ne-khvataet-deneg-na-povyshenie/6067794).
In other foreign security news, a deadly explosion rocked a Russian base in the
Transbaikal (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A0587C7137DD),
activists want the foreign ministry to publish pay details on diplomats as UN
requires (newsland.com/community/5862/content/mitrokhina-bespokoiat-dokhody-mida/6073535),
Moscow increases its reserve to pay judgments against it by European Human
Rights Court (sobkorr.ru/news/5A0172DE99210.html),
Russia has fallen behind China and India for second place in space race (newsland.com/community/4765/content/rossiia-otstaet-v-kosmose-uzhe-ot-kitaia-da-i-indiia-dogoniaet/6065964), and Putin
calls for creating “international association of friends of Crimea” (newsland.com/community/8218/content/putin-podderzhal-ideiu-sozdaniia-mezhdunarodnoi-assotsiatsii-druzei-kryma/6067952).
16.
Mathilda Director
Challenged to a Duel.
In what may be one of the last acts of the Mathilda controversy, the film’s
director has been challenged to a duel by one of its critics. Despite that the
film continues to attract audiences across the Russian Federation and without
the violence at theaters many had expected (newsland.com/community/5652/content/rezhissera-matildy-vyzvali-na-duel-iz-za-chesti-nikolaia-ii/6073783).
17.
No Rest for the
Wicked – in This Case, for Lenin. Despite calls by the Moscow Patriarchate
to stop talking about burying the founder of the Soviet state for five to ten
years (interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=68569),
controversy continues with monarchists and others pressing their case against
leaving his body in the mausoleum (newsland.com/community/4765/content/monarkhisty-obediniaiutsia-v-moshchnuiu-silu-i-trebuiut-snosa-mavzoleia/6073685),
and other opponents of Lenin attacking his still numerous statues (newsland.com/community/4765/content/v-peterburge-vandaly-oblili-krasnoi-kraskoi-pamiatnik-leninu/6070842).
18.
Kremlin, Uncertain
How to Mark 1917 Anniversary, Stays Mostly Quiet. Fearful of
coming down on the wrong side or exacerbating tensions, the Russian leadership
stayed mostly quiet on the centennial of the Bolshevik coup (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/11/06/74460-15-oktyabrskih-revolyutsiy,
newsland.com/community/5625/content/otnoshenie-vlasti-k-revoliutsii-ni-odnogo-upominaniia-o-100-letii-po-novostiam/6069394 and rferl.org/a/anniversary-bolshevik-revolution-100-lenin-assessment/28836011.html).
Perhaps the biggest public demonstration on that date marked not the revolution
itself but the 1941 military parade whose participants marched off to fight the
Germans (stoletie.ru/na_pervuiu_polosu/v_moskve_vspomnili_legendarnyj_parad_1941_goda_284.htm).
But elsewhere, the monuments war continues: Orenburg erected a monument to
combat losses in Syria (.interfax.ru/russia/586170),
a survey found that the smaller the village the more support there is for
erecting statues to the most bloody
rulers in Russian history (zebra-tv.ru/novosti/jizn/ivan-vasilevich-ne-menyaet-propiski/),
Stalin’s name and visage are appearing on ever more products (politsovet.ru/57136-v-ekaterinburgskom-tc-prodayut-podarochnye-pakety-so-stalinym.html),
complaints about and attacks on the Yeltsin Center are expanding (momenty.org/city/i178871/ and echo.msk.ru/news/2087924-echo.html),
and activists have called for a referendum on the erection of a statue of Islam
Karimov (fergananews.com/news/27216).
19.
Russians Stripped
of More Medals as Doping Scandal Spreads. Ever more Russian athletes have lost
medals or been banned from future competitions because of doping. Russian
athletes acknowledge there was a state system of doping, but the Kremlin won’t
(https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russian-athletes-admit-existence-of-rodchenkov-doping-scandal-59519).
Instead, Vladimir Putin has suggested there is a conspiracy against Russia to
keep it out of the Olympics and to harm his re-election chances (themoscowtimes.com/news/putin-slams-doping-ban-on-russian-skiers-59477 and meduza.io/news/2017/11/09/putin-uvidel-svyaz-mezhdu-obvineniyami-rossiyskih-smenov-v-dopinge-i-prezidentskimi-vyborami).
Some Russian officials suggested Russia might not take part in the Olympics
even if the IOC allows it to attend but rather organize its own “alternative”
games in Moscow (svpressa.ru//news/185537/
and versia.ru/v-gosdume-predlozhili-provesti-alternativnuyu-olimpiadu-v-rossii).
In other sports news, officials were trying to find out where two billion
rubles (30 million dollars) allocated for the Samara arena for next year’s
World Cup had disappeared (versia.ru/kuda-ischezli-2-milliarda-rublej-pri-stroitelstve-samara-areny
and themoscowtimes.com/news/former-russian-governor-embroiled-in-world-cup-corruption-scheme-59527),
cities where that competition is scheduled are finding out about just how many
dormitories will have to be emptied for visitors (newsland.com/community/4765/content/rossiiskikh-studentov-pered-chm-2018-vyseliat-iz-obshchezhitii/6073775),
and a Duma deputy has complained that Russia’s soccer uniforms have too much “Soviet”
in them (lenta.ru/news/2017/11/05/kitusssr/).
20.
Only One Russian
in 16 Admits Having Ancestors on Both Sides of Russian Civil War. Only six percent
of Russians say that they had ancestors who fought for the Reds and for the
Whites, a reflection both of genealogical ignorance and fears that identifying
with one or the other even now could land them in difficulties (rosbalt.ru/blogs/2017/11/08/1659276.html).
21.
’The
Revolutionaries who Forgot to Ask the People.’ Efforts by some
Russian nationalists led by VyacheslavMaltsev to provoke a new revolution on
November 5 fizzled given a near total lack of interest among the Russian
population and massive intervention by Moscow’s security agencies (newsland.com/community/8211/content/iuliia-latynina-pochemu-maltsev-pop-gapon/6069846, profile.ru/obsch/item/121310-sto-zaderzhannykh,
polit.ru/article/2017/11/05/5nov/,
ixtc.org/2017/11/itogi-nesostoyavsheysya-revolyutsii-vyacheslava-maltseva/,
and vz.ru/politics/2017/11/3/893794.html).
22.
Russian Internet
Advertising Revenues Pass Those of Russian TV for First Time. Advertisers
seeking to reach the Russian population are now, for the first time ever,
spending more on ads on the Runet than they are on all Russian television channels
combined (rbc.ru/technology_and_media/09/11/2017/5a041f509a7947026c7e9e7e?from=main).
23.
Abuses in Russian
Prisons Increase but Moscow Works to Hide Them. Abuses in
Russian prisons appear to be on the rise now that Moscow has not only banned
most rights activists from visiting penal institutions but forced the leader of
Sitting Russia, the most prominent Russian prisoners’ rights organization, to
flee the country (profile.ru/obsch/item/121418-prirodnaya-vrazhda,
echo.msk.ru/news/2088636-echo.html,
echo.msk.ru/news/2088672-echo.html,
kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A02A8F665A55,
kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A01BFC36A0C1
and regnum.ru/news/society/2343035.html).
24.
Regional
Differences in Russian Reflect Divergent Mythologies. Scholars report
that Russians in different parts of the country speak different forms of
Russian and say that this at least in part reflect differences in national and
religious mythologies behind certain words (polit.ru/article/2017/11/05/ps_maruha/).
25.
‘One of the
Cossacks Was a Jew – Nothing Out of the Ordinary in That.’ Many assume that
all Cossacks are Orthodox, but in fact, many have been Buddhists, Muslims or
even Jews, as a new study finds (facebook.com/avraham.shmulevich/posts/10214323348098506).
26.
Moscow Plans to
Create World-Class Wineries. The Russian authorities may not want to acknowledge
global warming, but they are taking advantage of some of its positive consequences.
Rising temperatures in parts of the country now mean that there is the
possibility of establishing vineyards that may ultimately, if Russian claims
are followed through, produce world-class wine (echo.msk.ru/blog/artemzuev/2088652-echo/).
And 13 others from countries in
Russia’s neighborhood:
1. Moscow Controls the Donbass 100 Percent, Volker Says. Kurt Volker, the US special representative
for Ukraine, says that Moscow and no one else controls the territories of the
DNR and LNR in the Donbass 100 percent, a statement that should end any
discussion about the supposed autonomous actions of forces there (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/11/05/kurt-volker-rossiya-na-100-kontroliruet-proishodyaschee-na-donbasse.html).
2.
Kyiv Finally Ends Arms Deals with Moscow. Despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the
Kyiv government has not broken diplomatic ties with Moscow or even ended
numerous commercial relationships. Now that is beginning to change with some
Ukrainian deputies pressing for a break in diplomatic relations and the
Ukrainian government itself ending commercial relations in the area of military
equipment (newsland.com/community/8248/content/ofitsialno-ukraina-razorvala-soglashenie-s-rossiei-o-postavkakh-oruzhiia-i-voennoi-tekhniki/6071154).
3.
Ukrainian TV
Ignores Crimea.
Ukrainian television devotes only about two percent of its time to the
situation in Crimea, about the same amount it did before the Russian Anschluss,
thus effectively removing it from the mental maps of many Ukrainians (gordonua.com/blogs/kazarin/ukrainskoe-televidenie-zalozhnik-dovoennyh-podhodov-o-kryme-govoryat-lish-2-efirnogo-vremeni-216329.html).
4.
Ukrainians
Extinguish Soviet Eternal Fire Monument with Cement. To the outrage of
Russians, a group of Ukrainians have extinguished the eternal flame in Kyiv by
pouting congrete over the monument to Soviet war dead (qha.com.ua/ru/obschestvo/stoletie-oktyabrskogo-perevorota-v-kieve-zalili-tsementom-vechnii-ogon/181850/).
That was just one of the Ukrainian actions on the occasion of the centenary of
the Russian revolution (newsland.com/community/8211/content/
-ispytyvaet-trudnosti-s-prazdnovaniem-100-letiia-oktiabrskoi-revoliutsii/6068312).
5.
Crimea’s
Population Decline Accelerating. Since the Russian Anschluss, Crimea’s
population has been declining at an ever accelerating rate, and the Ukrainian
peninsula may soon be the region within the claimed borders of the Russian
Federation with the greatest demographic collapse of all (newsland.com/community/4109/content/estestvennaia-ubyl-naseleniia-v-krymu-vyrosla-na-17/6065469).
6.
Half of Local
Ukrainian Deputies in Transcarpathia have Hungarian Passports. According to
local officials, approximately half of all local deputies in Ukraine’s
Transcarpathia have Hungarian passports, an indication of Budapest’s activism
there (newsland.com/community/5862/content/bolee-poloviny-deputatov-zakarpatia-uzhe-s-pasportami-vengrii/6064766).
7.
Belarus before
1991 had Highest Per Capita Soviet Military Presence Anywhere. Minsk faces
serious problems in overcoming the
heritage of the Soviet military presence and Soviet military values on its
territory. Before 1991, there were more Soviet military personnel per capita in
that republic than in any other republic or country in the world (charter97.org/ru/news/2017/11/8/268549/),
and dedovshchina, one of the biggest problems in the Soviet military, continues
to be a threat to the Belarusian army which has been unable to root it out or
even reduce its virulence (belaruspartisan.org/life/405259/).
8.
Nearly 700
Kilometers of Streets in Belarus Still have Soviet Names. A study has found that 698 km of streets in
Belarus still bear Soviet names (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/11/07/obschaya-protyazhennost-ulits-s-nazvaniem-sovetskaya-v-belarusi-sostavlyaet-698-kilometrov.html). Belarusians still have an enormous number of
Lenin statues around the country (charter97.org/ru/news/2017/11/7/268411/),
and they lag behind other post-Soviet states in learning foreign languages
other than Russian (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/11/09/opros-15-molodyh-belorusov-vladeyut-neskolkimi-inostrannymi-yazykami.html).
9.
Nearly Half of
Belarusians Say They Work Hard to Avoid Having Contact with Officials. Forty-five
percent of Belarusians say they do what they can to avoid having to interact
with the government, an indication of the strategy they have adopted to cope
with Lukashenka’s corruption and repression (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/11/09/opros-okolo-45-belorusov-polagayutsya-tolko-na-sebya-izbegaya-kontakt-s-vlastyu.html).
10. Estonia Arrests Another Russian Spy. Estonia has
arrested another Russia illegal attempting to cross into its territory, keeping
the Baltic state well in the lead internationally in taking such actions or at
least taking credit for stopping this form of Russian subversion (news.err.ee/641144/estonia-s-internal-security-service-arrests-suspected-fsb-agent-in-narva).
11. New Uzbekistan President Calls for Central Asian Unity. The new president of Uzbekistan, Central Asia’s most
populous country, is calling for the formation of a region-wide political and
economic union, something that would represent yet another challenge to the CIS
(turantoday.com/2017/11/uzbekistan-central-asian-unity.html).
12. Tajikistan Fires Imams Trained Abroad. In an effort to control the spread of radicalism
among its people, Dushanbe has ordered that all imams who received training
abroad be dismissed from their posts (news.tj/ru/news/tajikistan/society/20171103/v-tadzhikistane-mecheti-ochistyat-ot-vipusknikov-zarubezhnih-vuzov-muftii-ostanetsya-pri-dolzhnosti). That
action may prove counter-productive. Not only are there not enough domestically
prepared people to take their place, but the dismissed imams are likely to form
underground mosques that will in the nature of things be more radical than
those the authorities have been able to monitor in the past.
13.
Tajik Doctoral Candidates Must Defense Their
Theses in Tajik … or in English. Tajikistan has taken another major step away from the
Russian world by announcing that graduate students will now have to defend
their work in Tajik or in English rather than in Russian as was the case up
until now (fergananews.com/news/27217).
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