Paul
Goble
Staunton, December 31 -- 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 115th 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 Said
Bringing Back Concept of ‘Enemy of the People.’ In December 1958,
the Khrushchev government banned “enemy of the people” as a legal concept, but
several Moscow commentators say that Vladimir Putin wants to bring it back with
his amendments to the foreign agents law (diletant.media/articles/38588185/ and
graniru.org/Politics/Russia/President/m.266612.html).
Multiple commentators suggested that the Kremlin’s main achievement in 2017 was
to make Russia an outcast internationally and to mobilize international
opposition to it (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A436DD4337BD). In another move, Putin said that rising
poverty over the last year in Russia is entirely the result of actions by
foreigners rather than any mistakes or failures by his government (meduza.io/news/2017/12/26/putin-pohvalil-pravitelstvo-za-pod-em-ekonomiki-i-ob-yasnil-rost-bednosti-vneshnimi-ogranicheniyami).
2.
Putin Nominates
Himself to Underline His Unique Role as National Leader. Instead of using
his United Russia Party as a vehicle, Putin has nominated himself to
demonstrate that he is above all that as leader of the nation (politsovet.ru/57604-putin-propustit-sobstvennoe-vydvizhenie-v-prezidenty.html).
Immediately, however, various groups in the population came out in support of
his re-election (e.g., ng.ru/regions/2017-12-25/100_atamany251217.html and nazaccent.ru/content/26277-lidery-nacionalno-kulturnyh-obedinenij-podderzhali-kandidaturu-putina.html), and he began
acting like a candidate who needed to win votes by raising the salaries of key
votes and promising other goodies once he is elected to his fourth term (sobkorr.ru/news/5A432B3C7728B.html). Meanwhile,
other candidates real and otherwise were busy. Kseniya Sobchak appealed to
Tatar nationalists to become her campaign workers (newsland.com/community/5652/content/sobchak-v-kazani-predlozhila-aktivistam-vtots-stat-ee-agitatorami/6141323). Aleksey Navalny
says he has the needed 100,000 signatures but continues to be rejected by the
authorities as a candidate (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A3F82F677347). He is now
calling for a boycott, an effort that Navalny says more people will join now
that he has been refused registration as a candidate (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A41EDA701BD6) sharing his view
that only by reducing turnout can they hurt Putin (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A415A396475B). Despite the
opposition of the authorities, legal experts say that calls for a boycott are
completely legal (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/12/26/75050-prizyvy-k-boykotu-vyborov-ne-narushayut-rossiyskih-zakonov). Meanwhile, even as Vedomosti selected Navalny as politician of the year (vedomosti.ru/opinion/articles/2017/12/28/746765-politik-goda-aleksei-navalnii),
his supporters were again forced to turn to the Pornhub portal to get his
message out (snob.ru/selected/entry/132902). And LDPR
candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky came out in support of celebrating Western
Christmas as well as the Eastern one (ng.ru/faith/2017-12-25/100_xmas251217.html). One unexpected
place where the various candidates may get votes is the network of psychiatric
hospitals where officials said polling places would be opened (politsovet.ru/57603-v-ekaterinburge-otkroyut-izbiratelnyy-uchastok-v-psihbolnice.html).
3.
Russians Should
Stop Speaking of Putin Stability: It Doesn’t Exist, Commentators Say. Like many things in Putin’s Russia,
the much-ballyhooed “Putin stability” is ersatz, various writers say. It is
more appropriate to speak of “the Putin collapse” (svpressa.ru/politic/article/189317/). In other
political developments, Russians in the Transbaikal are accusing an oligarch of
wrecking Lake Baikal (echo.msk.ru/blog/sofia_villo/2120278-echo/),
one analyst says new arrests in Rosatom are the first move in an attack on
Kiriyenko (babr24.com/msk/?IDE=168802), Putin replaced
his plenipotentiary representatives in two federal districts (politsovet.ru/57605-v-dvuh-federalnyh-okrugah-smenilis-polpredy.html),
the Moscow mayor’s office was discovered to have paid 40,000 rubles (650 US
dollars) for a single post on social networks (snob.ru/selected/entry/132749),
Duma deputy Elena Misulina was attacked for supposedly mobilizing the country
to attack fake pedophiles while allowing real rapists to go free (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A45E7FDB16DF), several federal
subjects have begun talking about the possibility of moving their capital
cities (regnum.ru/news/polit/2361985.html), the government
reminded bureaucrats that they can’t use government funds for holiday presents
(fedpress.ru/news/77/society/1922975), and for the
first time and only a few days before the Kremlin took it down, the finance
ministry published the salaries of Russian ministers and other senior officials
(rbc.ru/economics/27/12/2017/5a4264ba9a79472a5bcfc5d5?from=main).
4.
Putin Seeks to
Bring a Trillion Dollars of Russian Money Before New Sanctions Take Effect. Vladimir Putin, fearful that the new personal
sanctions the US is slated to introduce on February 2 will put the wealth he
and other oligarchs have stashed abroad and is working overtime to attract that
money back to Russia (themoscowtimes.com/news/putin-tries-to-lure-1-trillion-home-as-sanctions-fear-grows-60061). (In a related move, Putin loosened financial
controls for those Russians who live abroad (bbc.com/russian/news-42509670).)
Meanwhile, Western investors have pulled 900 million US dollars out of Russian
equity markets because of analogous fears (kommersant.ru/doc/3508471). Moscow and Washington traded actions with Russian
reducing the amount of territory open for the Open Skies Program (politikus.ru/v-), arossii/103142-menshe-otkrytogo-neba-rossiya-dala-zerkalnyy-otvet-ssha.html), Moscow denying a visa to a US senator (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A47511D1F366), and Russian
social sites rumored to have lifted the accounts of Donald and Melania Trump (intersucks.ru/v-mire/odnoklassniki-zablokirovali-akkauntyi-donalda-i-melanii-tramp/).
5.
The Russian
Economy is Growing ‘Only in Putin’s Dreams,’ Analyst Says. Aleksandr Ryklin says the Russian economy is growing
“only in Putin’s dreams.” Indeed, other officials confirm this (ej.ru/?a=note&id=31962, politsovet.ru/57641-schetnaya-palata-v-rossii-zamedlilsya-rost-vvp.html and thinktanks.by/publication/2017/12/29/rost-ekonomiki-rossii-popytka-vydat-zhelaemoe-za-deystvitelnoe.html). The Kremlin
is also lying about the level of inflation as Russians see every day (mk.ru/economics/2017/12/27/rossiyan-obmanuli-nizkoy-inflyaciey-realnyy-rost-cen-shokiruet.html, regnum.ru/news/omy/2363297.html and iz.ru/686633/grigorii-kogan/rossiiane-pereotcenili-infliatciiu). The reserve fund is now empty (ura.news/news/1052318090), and
commentators say foreigners are refusing to invest in Russia not because of
sanctions but because of Moscow’s policies and practices (newsland.com/community/129/content/inostrannye-investory-begut-ne-ot-sanktsii-a-iz-za-bezdeistviia-nashikh-ekonomicheskikh-vlastei/6139654). Some experts are projecting a serious Russian
government deficit in 2018 (newsland.com/community/4109/content/stsenarii-bloomberg-v-2021-godu-biudzhetnyi-defitsit-v-rf-vykhodit-iz-pod-kontrolia/6136504) even with the price of oil going up (ng.ru/economics/2017-12-18/100_20171218_oil.html). More than 1000 Russian firms are now going bankrupt
each month (ng.ru/omics/2017-12-25/4_7143_bankrot.html and finanz.ru/novosti/aktsii/rossiyskiy-biznes-porazila-epidemiya-bankrotstv-1012189009) given that a third of all companies are now
operating at a loss (forum-msk.org/material/news/14148401.html, and violations of financial rules have soared over
the last 12 months (nakanune.ru/news/2017/12/26/22493725/). As a result
of all this, Russia is falling ever further behind the economies of other
countries and experts say its economy will be smaller than Turkey’s by 2032 (rbc.ru/economics/26/12/2017/5a420b789a7947d5cd3f2342?from=main and rosbalt.ru/business/2017/12/26/1671296.html).
6. More than a Third of Russians Say Country is
Economically at a Dead End. A new poll finds that more than one in every
three Russians think the economy is headed into a dead end and that Moscow must
change course (newizv.ru/article/general/27-12-2017/sotsiologi-bolee-treti-rossiyan-schitayut-chto-strana-idet-v-tupik). There are all kinds of evidence for this
conclusion: Russians in Moscow are using credit cards to get tattoos (newsland.com/community/5652/content/moskvichi-nachali-delat-tatuirovki-v-kredit/6141370), Russians say
that anyone who has children under Putin is condemning himself or herself and
the children to poverty (burckina-new.livejournal.com/1022446.html), and every
other pensioner now lacks enough money to buy both food and clothing (rus
nation.org/sfk/1712/1712-27.shtml). There have been some real horror
stories, albeit anecdotal: A Krasnoyarsk man has sold his liver in order to
feed his children (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A45F98506D2D), and Russians in Irkutsk oblast have been exchanging
soap rather than holiday presents because they need the soap more (ru-mir.net/2017/12/26/v-irkutskoy-oblasti-na-novogodnem-stole-budet-myilo-i-kley-moment-vmesto-edyi/). As some Russians say, when you can only celebrate
small things, that is what you do (znak.com/2017-12-26/samye_strannye_torzhestvennye_ceremonii_otkrytiya_2017_goda).
7. Russians Crown New Number One Thief
in Law – and It isn’t Putin. Vasya Voskres has
been recognized by the criminal community in Russia as the new thief in law (rusjev.net/2017/12/29/v-rossii-koronovan-novyiy-vor-1-im-stal-vasya-voskres/).
The percentage of optimists among Russians fell by 50 percent at the end of 2017
(regnum.ru/news/economy/2363695.html). Moscow to
allow hunters to kill formerly protected endangered species (svoboda.org/a/28941208.html). Russian
legislators want to reduce vodka’s alcohol content from 40 percent (80 proof)
to 37.5 percent (75 proof) (znak.com/2017-12-26/senatory_predlozhili_zakonodatelno_ponizit_gradus_v_vodke). Health
officials urge Russians not to use mayonnaise (politsovet.ru/57626-glavnyy-ganstrenterolog-prizvala-ekaterinburzhcev-otkazatsya-ot-mayoneza.html). And news on the education front was uniformly bad:
94 percent of Russian university graduates said unprepared for work (mngz.ru/russia-world-sensation/3652182-94-vypusknikov-vuzov-ni-na-chto-ne-godyatsya.html), Russian scholars complain to Putin that science in
their country is dying (rbc.ru/society/27/12/2017/5a4396c79a79475759b75cd0), and one of their number acknowledges that paper
claims have replaced real achievements in that sector (ehorussia.com/new/node/15444).
8.
Psychologically,
Residents of Russia Today Said Like Residents of Medieval Muscovy. Although the
number of Russians today who do not have representatives of other ethnic groups
in their backgrounds is very small, most Russians now are psychologically very
similar to the residents of Muscovy, observers say (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A4265007D2AC and russian7.ru/post/chistokrovnye-russkie-skolko-ikh-zhi/). Russian
government crushes most organized Russian nationalist groups over the last six
months, SOVA says (sova-center.ru/racism-xenophobia/publications/2017/12/d38558/). A Buryat deputy
is sharply criticized for negative comments about ethnic Russians in the
non-Russian republics (babr24.com/bur/?IDE=168987).
The Kalmyks remember their deportation by Stalin (nazaccent.ru/content/26290-zhertv-deportacii-kalmyckogo-naroda-vspominayut-v.html). The Turkic
Nogays stage protests to demand their ethnic rights in Karachayevo-Cherkessia (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/314484/). And the Siberian Cossack Host is becoming
ever more active and gaining official recognition (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2017/12/26/sibirskoe_kazachestvo_s_kazhdym_godom_vse_reshitelnee_zavoevyvaet_svoi_prezhnie_pozicii/).
9.
After Language
Debacle, Komis Say to Putin ‘You are Not Our President!’ Members of the
Komi nation, infuriated by Putin’s insistence that the study of their language
be only voluntary, have protested with signs declaring that he is “not our
president” any longer (thebarentsobserver.com/en/ecology/2017/12/putin-you-are-not-our-president-after-initiative-komi-rallies-defense-komi-language). And
Putin’s campaign against the non-Russian languages continues to outrage many
non-Russians (nazaccent.ru/content/26303-deputat-gosdumy-my-eshe-vernemsya-k.html, idelreal.org/a/28937248.html, idelreal.org/a/28939265.html and idelreal.org/a/28937731.html),
even while some Russians are complaining that he isn’t pushing hard enough to promote
Russian as against non-Russian languages (apn.ru/index.php?newsid=36946).
10. Moscow Says Navalny Coordinator an Ingermanland
Separatist.
The Russian authorities say that the coordinator of opposition leader Aleksey
Navalny’s staff has promoted Ingermanlander separatism (nazaccent.ru/content/26292-koordinatora-shtaba-navalnogo-proveryat-na-separatizm.html and freeingria.org/2017/12/deputat-gosdumy-boyarskij-prosit-proverit-koordinatora-shtaba-navalnogo-na-ingermanlandskij-separatizm/).
Regional leaders say that Moscow is not redistributing the wealth of the
country from the rich to the poor as it has claimed (idelreal.org/a/28937670.html). Regionalist groups are trying to figure out
how to advertise their feelings with clothing during cold weather (afterempire.info/2017/12/29/moda/).
Campaign to move Moscow disparaged: what is needed is genuine decentralization,
many say (regnum.ru/news/polit/2363218.html). Putin’s first
regional amalgamation project failing, its victims say (regnum.ru/news/polit/2363729.html). Regions are
now ranking themselves by intelligence: Yekaterinburg said to be “stupider”
than Kazan but “smarter” than Novosibirsk (politsovet.ru/57613-ekaterinburg-okazalsya-glupee-kazani-no-umnee-novosibirska.html and niitc.ru/news/opublikovano-issledovanie-indikatory-umnykh-gorodov-niits-2017-/). And regional online news agencies are
experiencing explosive growth in the number of visitors (ura.news/news/1052318437).
11.
Despite Record
Cold in Siberia, Russia Experienced Warmest Year on Record in 2017. Scientists say that global warming has brought
Russia its warmest year ever over the past 12 months, leading to the melting of
permafrost in the European north but also to record cold in the northern
regions east of the Urals (themoscowtimes.com/news/2017-hottest-year-on-record-in-russia-60078). When it has snowed in Russian cities, many
are discovering just how much pollution there now is. In. St. Petersburg, for
instance, some of the snowfall is now blue and violet (themoscowtimes.com/news/blue-and-violet-snow-discovered-in-st-petersburg-60057).
12. Moscow Patriarchate Plans to Double Number of Churches
in Russia by 2050. Despite declining
populations, the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church says it
plans to double the number of churches in Russia over the next three decades (interfax-.ru/?act=news&div=68913). It also plans to promote religious tourism (stoletie.ru/lenta/v_rossii_pojavitsa_religioznyj_turizm_909.htm) but says the time
has not come to return to the pre-1917 calendar (interfax-.ru/?act=print&div=20486).
Kaliningrad officials have finally given the Muslim community there land for a
mosque, but others in Kemerovo have blocked Muslim requests for property (kgd.ru/news/society/item/69473-vlasti-kaliningrada-peredali-musulmanam-zdanie-ryadom-s-nedostroennoj-mechetyu-v-yuzhnom-parke and sova-center.ru//news/community-media/communities-conflicts/2017/12/d38584/). Moscow commentators said that 1917 had been marked
by the return of Soviet-style militant atheism with the attacks on Jehovah’s
witnesses (portal-credo.ru/site/?act=comment&id=2206). One fallout
from that campaign has been that draft officials are not allowing Jehovah’s
Witnesses called up to perform alternative service because that denomination
has been banned in Russia (todaykhv.ru/news/society/10194/). Meanwhile, Pope Francis has called on Russian
Catholics to pray for victory in the struggle against corruption (politsovet.ru/57623-rossiyskie-katoliki-po-porucheniyu-papy-rimskogo-budut-molitsya-protiv-korrupcii.html).
13. Now Smaller Cities Dying Just Like Villages. Statistics show that the death of Russian population
centers is spreading from villages, more than a thousand of which are ceasing to
have any residents each year, to smaller cities as well (news.mail.ru/society/32024736/). Many people are leaving them but others are
dying because medical services are no longer available (ng.ru/kartblansh/2017-12-26/3_7144_kartblansh.html and forum-msk.org/material/news/14157037.html).
Many doubt Putin’s latest pro-natalist policies will work, although there was
some good news: Rosstat reported that mortality had fallen by 3.1 percent
across all age groups (lenta.ru/brief/2017/12/29/mamamipapam/ and
regnum.ru/news/society/2363721.html).
Meanwhile, Russians outside of Moscow continue to complain about the capital
mayor’s dismissive comments about them: Russia needs the people he called
“superfluous,” they say (newizv.ru/comment/yakov-mirkin/25-12-2017/rossii-ochen-nuzhny-lishnie-lyudi-29b8cbdf-d78b-464c-8c1e-ffb313cb35e4).
14.
Unemployed in Khabarovsk
Stage Armed Attack Against Those Who Let Them Go. A group of
unemployed workers in Khabarovsk armed themselves with guns and threatened to
wreak vengeance on those who had cost them their jobs (regnum.ru/news/accidents/2362916.html). Protesters in
Yekaterinburg increasingly political and anti-Putin (politsovet.ru/57630-v-ekaterinburge-poyavilis-podozritelnye-plakaty-s-putinym.html). Daghestani
villagers protest against plans to keep an oil processing plant that is
polluting their area open (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/314218/). Some 500 people
take part in a demonstration in Moscow in favor of free elections despite an
official prohibition on that action (meduza.io/news/2017/12/24/na-aktsiyu-den-svobodnyh-vyborov-v-moskve-sobralis-okolo-500-chelovek and
openrussia.org/notes/717469/).
Derbent residents demand that the authorities clean up the air in that southern
Daghestani city (kavpolit.com/articles/poka_vse_spjat_zavod_smerti_rabotaet-36944/). And demonstrations
against banks and officials who say that the banks deceived them continued in
many cities (sobkorr.ru/news/5A40D30DA69DF.html).
15.
Eleven Gays
Testify They were Tortured in Chechnya. Eleven members of the LGBT community in
Chechnya say they were torture, and the first says that he was forced to
apologize to the authorities there (themoscowtimes.com/news/first-chechen-gay-to-come-out-as-gay-says-public-apology-was-forced-60059 and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/314414/). Meanwhile, in a
move that may help or hurt Russia’s gay community, the Federation Council has
adopted a measure that equalizes the treatment of animals and that of defenders
of sexual minorities (rosbalt.ru/russia/2017/12/26/1671428.html). The Duma also
adopted a measure that appears likely to ban future hearings on key issues
there (newizv.ru/news/society/27-12-2017/tihoy-sapoy-gosduma-prinyala-zakon-stavyaschiy-krest-na-obschestvennyh-slushaniyah). A St. Petersburg court says that reports
Moscow is involved in terrorism are “extremist” (sova-center.ru/misuse/news/persecution/2017/12/d38570/), and the
interior ministry issues a ban on any materials that discredit the authorities
or call for people to attend meetings the authorities have not sanctioned (echo.msk.ru/blog/day_photo/2118108-echo/). Three
neo-pagans were declared guilty of
disseminating extremism in the Kuban (nazaccent.ru/content/26291-na-kubani-osudili-troih-neoyazychnikov-ekstremistov.html). Russia’s
parliament adopts a law making anyone who recruits people to work as terrorists
liable to a sentence of life in prison (newsru.com/russia/29dec2017/recruiters.html),
and Russian courts begin sentencing those charged with failing to report on
those planning terrorist acts (znak.com/2017-12-29/v_astrahani_sud_oshtrafoval_studenta_za_nedonesenie_na_druga_terrorista).
In a move with potentially positive but also negative consequences, Moscow has
established a registry of those convicted of corruption (stoletie.ru/lenta/v_rossii_pojavitsa_rejestr_korrupcionerov_278.htm).
Meanwhile, persons unknown but thought to be linked to the authorities have
beaten a leader of the Ecological Watch on the North Caucasus (graniru.org/Society/ecology/m.266677.html).
16.
Telephone Bomb
Threats Continue to Force Evacuations across Russia. While the
central media seldom mentions there, telephone bomb threats continue to force
the evacuation of public buildings and apartment blocks in cities and towns
across Russia (newsland.com/community/8171/content/chto-spetssluzhby-znaiut-o-volne-telefonnogo-terrorizma-v-rossii/6142781, rbc.ru/technology_and_media/25/12/2017/5a3ced9d9a79470b6a5750ad, fedpress.ru/news/54/incidents/1927503, sibreal.org/a/28947194.html,
and meduza.io/news/2017/12/29/v-habarovske-tomske-irkutske-i-izhevske-evakuirovali-torgovye-tsentry-iz-za-zvonkov-o-bombe).
More reports about official
incompetence in dealing with terrorists and in securing the country’s nuclear
power facilities surfaced (newsland.com/community/politic/content/veteran-fsb-vzryv-v-peterburge-otgolosok-zaderzhanii-terroristov/6140238 and versia.ru/kak-rosatom-iz-lokomotiva-rossijskoj-yekonomiki-prevratilsya-v-obuzu-dlya-byudzheta-i-pogryaz-v-skandalax).
Reports of violence by individuals
became more common (snob.ru/selected/entry/132829),
and some Russians began expressing
outrage that Russian gun producers are pushing too many people to arm
themselves, possibly even against the state (publizist.ru/blogs/34/22254/-).
And Putin’s Russian Guard announced that it would retain all fines it collects
to help finance its activities (kommersant.ru/doc/3511561).
17. Moscow Continuing to Help North Korea with Trade and
Advice. Despite the international embargo which
Russian says it supports, Russian ships continue to ply their way between
Vladivostok and North Korea and Russian experts reportedly continue to provide
expertise to Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs (echo.msk.ru/news/2120270-echo.html, kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A47455246AFF and https://newsland.com/community/5652/content/v-seule-schitaiut-chto-putin-sygraet-reshaiushchuiu-rol-v-iadernoi-probleme-kndr/6140940). Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin says 50,000
Russians have served in his military operation in Syria (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A44B44D6A3E8). The St.
Petersburg troll factory has been forced to move into bigger quarters as it has
expanded its operations (echo.msk.ru/news/2120228-echo.html ). British
intelligence says that Moscow was responsible for shooting down the Malaysian
jetliner (qha.com.ua/ru/voina-bezopasnost/britanskaya-razvedka-zayavila-ob-otvetstvennosti-rossii-za-sbitii-mn17/184651/). Moscow
restricts foreign shipping in the Arctic (thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic/2017/12/russian-legislators-ban-foreign-shipments-oil-natural-gas-and-coal-along-northern-sea). Moscow says it will build a new aircraft
carrier sometime in the future, but budgetary constraints are limiting its
production of naval vessels and aircraft now (vz.ru/politics/2017/12/28/901732.html, politikus.ru/industry/103147-v-rossii-za-2017-god-postroili-214-vertoletov-i-139-boevyh-samoletov.html and russian.rt.com/russia/news/465139-rossiya-vertolyoty-samolyoty). One measure of
Moscow’s desperate search for cash is a Russian proposal to turn the
international space station into a hotel for rich tourists (hi-news.ru/eto-interesno/rossiya-xochet-prevratit-mks-v-otel-dlya-sostoyatelnyx-turistov.html). Chinese
poaching and smuggling is an increasing problem in the Russian Far East as the
discovery of the paws of illegally slain bears seized by Russian customs
officials show (siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/468-paws-from-at-least-117-illegally-slain-brown-bears-seized-en-route-to-china/). The
FSB said it would ease the approval process for those seeking to visit
border areas. Now its answer will come within one month and not three or more
as in the past (thebarentsobserver.com/en/borders/2017/12/fsb-eases-access-border-zone).
18.
Officials
Keep Tearing Down Nemtsov Memorial. Russian government officials keep knocking
down the temporary memorial to slain Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov;
but his supporters quickly re-erect it each time (gordonua.com/news/worldnews/v-moskve-uzhe-dve-nochi-podryad-vlasti-unichtozhayut-memorial-nemcovu-na-mostu-vozle-kremlya-224595.html). The Russian culture minister continues to be mired
in controversies from St. Isaac’s – he says he isn’t against giving back to the
church – to clashes with the Presidential Arts and Culture Council which has in
a remarkable step lambasted him for his failing (rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=79751
and forum-msk.org/material/news/14144670.html).
Meanwhile, some Orthodox Russian nationalists have marked the anniversary of
Grigory Rasputin’s murder (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2017/12/27/101ya_godovwina_ubijstva_grigoriya_efimovicha_rasputina/)
while communists says that “Trotskyites and Yeltsinites” are behind recent
attacks of the FSB (katyusha.org/view?id=9145&utm_source=politobzor.net).
Buryat activists oppose plans to rename a street in their republic in Stalin’s
anger (sibreal.org/a/28937057.html),
and activists in the Khanty-Mansi District have honored the memory of deported
Crimean Tatars only to be criticized by others for their defense of “collaborationists”
(politikus.ru/v-rossii/103131-v-hanty-mansiyske-pochtili-pamyat-krymskotatarskih-kollaboracionistov-kak-zhertv-sovetskih-repressiy.html).
And on a historical note, the British archives have announced that they have
misplaced the Zinoviev Letter which sparked a diplomatic crisis between London
and Moscow in 1927 (meduza.io/feature/2017/12/26/v-velikobritanii-propali-tysyachi-arhivnyh-dokumentov-o-folklendskoy-voyne-severnoy-irlandii-i-pisme-zinovieva).
19. WADA Says Doping Continues in Russia. The World
Anti-Doping Agency says that Moscow has not stopped its doping program despite
promises to do so (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5A44B6007E2AD). The official who oversaw that program has
officially resigned his positions in Russian sports but continues to speak as
if he were still in office (kommersant.ru/doc/3508451
and kommersant.ru/doc/3508307).
An intense debate continues in Russia as to whether athletes either
individually or collectively should not go to the South Korean Olympiad now
that the IOC has banned their appearance there under the Russian flag (newsland.com/community/5392/content/mok-rossiiskie-neitralnye-smeny-prinesut-publichnye-izvineniia-pered-dopuskom-k-igram/6143467, siberiantimes.com/other/others/features/support-on-white-olympic-flag-for-russian-team/
and echo.msk.ru/news/2119740-echo.html).
With regard to the upcoming World Cup in Russia, experts say that Moscow will
not recoup even one-half of one percent of the money it has spent getting
reading for that competition (mirnov.ru/za-kulisami-sporta/na-chm-2018-rossija-ne-otobet-dazhe-polprocenta-rashodov.html). Moscow did agree to “de-communize” the public
space in venue cities (newsland.com/community/129/content/fifa-i-rossiia-dogovorilis-o-dekommunizatsii-gorodov-prinimaiushchikh-chm-2018/6136275).
It is imposing greater fines for the illegal resale of tickets (themoscowtimes.com/news/fines-ticket-resellers-60018),
but the Russian authorities have not been able to prevent dramatic increases in
air fares and hotel rates at the time of the competition (novayagazeta.ru/news/2017/12/27/138277-aviabilety-v-goroda-provedeniya-chm-2018-podorozhali-v-neskolko-raz
and business-gazeta.ru/article/368346).
And a new survey finds that as a result of the scandals involving Russian
athletes, Russians still believe in their military but they don’t believe in their
national athletes (ria.ru/analytics/20171229/1511939018.html).
20. Muscovy’s Destruction of Novgorod in 1478 Marked
Beginning of Russian Threat to West.
When Muscovy destroyed the Hansa city of Novgorod in 1478, it is
commonly said, that event foreclosed the possible development of a more open
and democratic Russia. But it also represented the beginning of the Russian
threat to the West (freeingria.org/2017/12/razgrom-novgoroda-v-1478-godu-i-vozniknovenie-russkoj-ugrozy-dlya-zapada/).
21.
Russians Want Status of Empire Without Its Burdens. A Russian commentator says that Russians want to be an
imperial state but are not willing to bear the burdens associated with that
status, thus setting the stage for its periodic disintegration and
reconstitution (rosbalt.ru/posts/2017/12/26/1671420.html).
22. An Anniversary Unmarked – 95th Anniversary
of Formation of USSR. The Russian government of Vladimir Putin
seems interested in promoting commemorations of almost all anniversaries of key
Soviet-era events, but the 95th anniversary of the signing of the
union treaty that led to the formation of the USSR passed almost entirely
unnoticed (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2017/12/29/soyuz_nerushimyj/).
23.
Moscow
Can Restore the USSR Whenever It Wants. A
KPRF commentator says that the only think preventing Moscow from restoring the
Soviet Union is a lack of political will at the center (pravda.ru/politics/authority/25-12-2017/1363303-sovietunion-0/).
24.
Orwell’s 1984 Among Best Selling Books in Russia. George Orwell’s anti-utopian novel 1984 which
many viewed as a portrait of Stalin’s Soviet Union is now among the
best-selling books in the Russian Federation (lenta.ru/news/2017/12/27/mda/).
25.
Moscow Gives World
War II Veteran an Apartment – Three Months After His Death. The failure of the authorities to provide a
World War II veteran during his lifetime but only three months after his death
not only highlights some of the inefficiencies of the Russian political system
but also has angered many Russians who see it as symbolic of the Kremlin’s
failure to care about the Russian people (msk.newsru.com/article/26dec2017/after_death.html).
26.
Russia’s Ice Roads
Don’t Always Hold Up. Because there are almost no roads in the
Russian north, residents there rely on deliveries by truck when the rivers
freeze and become ice roads. But the ice
isn’t always thick enough; and this year, the Internet was filled with pictures
of heavy trucks plunging through the ice in Sakha (siberiantimes.com/other/others/features/the-worlds-most-amazing-highways-along-frozen-siberian-rivers/).
And 13 more from
countries in Russia’s neighborhood:
1. Sixty Percent of Ukrainians Opposed to Making Russian
an Official Language.
A new poll shows that 60 percent of Ukrainians are now opposed to giving
official status to the Russian language, the highest share ever (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/12/26/opros-60-ukraintsev-protiv-gosudarstvennogo-statusa-russkogo-yazyka.html). In addition, shares favoring Ukrainian
membership in the EU and NATO are also at new highs (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/12/25/opros-v-ukraine-uvelichilos-chislo-storonnikov-es-i-nato.html).
2. Kyiv Imposes
Biometric Controls at Russian Border Crossings. In
order to ensure tighter control over its borders, Ukraine is now requiring
biometric tests of Russian citizens seeking to enter the country (https://snob.ru/selected/entry/132746).
3. Moscow Church in Ukraine Claims It’s Growing. Despite reports
that many Orthodox parishioners are shifting from the Moscow Patriarchal church
to the Kyiv one, leaders of the former insist that they continue to gain new
members and to open new parishes in various parts of Ukraine (rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=79790).
4.
Problems
Arise in Approaches to Kerch Bridge. The railways and highways leading up to the
bridge between Russia and occupied Crimea are inadequate to carry the amount of
traffic projected and thus are likely to become bottlenecks if and when the
bridge opens (vesti.ru/sdoc.html?id=2969228).
5.
Belarusians
Protest Against Construction of Chinese Factory. Residents of
Svetlogorsk organized a demonstration against a Chinese firm’s decision to
build a factory in their town. They fear they will be inundated by ethnic
Chinese (belsat.eu/ru/news/derevnya-pod-svetlogorskom-vyshla-na-protest-lyudi-trebuyut-zakryt-kitajskij-zavod/).
6.
Belarusian
Population Declines.
Because of the departure of an increasing number of Belarusians to work abroad
and a continuing fall off in the number of Belarusians born each year, the
population of the republic continued to decline in 2017 (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/12/27/v-2017-godu-v-belarusi-sokratilas-rozhdaemost.html).
7.
Inflation in
Belarus Running at Three Times Rate Officials Claim. Minsk maintains that it has kept inflation
low, but a survey by experts finds that the underlying rate of inflation is now
is three times that figure, putting enormous pressure on the country’s poorest
residents (thinktanks.by/publication/2017/12/27/opros-u-belorusov-oschuschaemyy-uroven-inflyatsii-v-3-raza-vyshe-ofitsialnogo.html).
8.
Catholic Church in
Belarus Now Conducts All Its Services in Belarusian. Unlike the
Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus, the Roman Catholic structures there now
conduct all their services in the national language, a powerful message of
support for that language and a concern for Moscow (charter97.org/ru/news/2017/12/28/273898/).
9.
Armenia, Iran Form
Special Economic Zone in Border Region.
Yerevan and Tehran have agreed to form a special economic zone in their
border regions to promote trade and investment in both directions (kavkazoved.info/news/2017/12/25/na-armjano-iranskoj-granice-otkrylas-sez-megri.html).
10. 11,000 IDP Families from Karabakh Conflict Live in
Substandard Housing in Baku. Among the
continuing victims of the Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan are
some 11,000 IDP families who live in dilapidated housing in the Azerbaijani
capital (m.apa.az/en/azerbaijani-news/social-news/ali-hasanov-11-000-idp-families-live-in-117-buildings-in-disrepair-in-baku).
11.
70 Percent of Tajikistan’s Residents
are Under 30. The continuing, albeit slowly demographic growth of the
population in Tajikistan means that more than two out of three of the country’s
residents are under 30, a pattern that puts enormous stress on the government
and the economy and can become a breeding ground for extremism (centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1514238060).
12.
Latvia Boosts
Defense Spending to Counter Russian Threat. Riga has voted to double its
military budget in response to what it sees as the growing threat from Moscow (новости-россии.ru-an.info/новости/латвия-за-счёт-россии-втрое-увеличила-свой-военный-бюджет/).
13.
Estonian President
to Work in Predominantly Russian City for a Month. Estonia’s president says she will work for a
month in Narva, a predominantly ethnic Russian city in the northeastern part of
the country, to underscore Estonia’s commitment to be a country for all its
residents (lenta.ru/news/2017/12/28/gotonarva/).
No comments:
Post a Comment