Staunton, July 1 The passing of Yevgeny Primakov “unexpectedly unified Russian society no less” and quite possibly more than the Crimean Anschluss, and the basis of this – an “indisputable faith in the greatness of the old Soviet nomenklatura” represents “a real diagnosis of the illness of Russian or more precisely post-Soviet society,” Vitaly Portnikov […]
Tag: Chekists
Why Putin Will Fail
This is turning out to be a bad week for Europeans hoping to resist the advance of Putinism. Ukraine continues to dither, rather than fight Russian invasion seriously. While Kyiv at last termed Moscow’s violence against their country “aggression,” they demurred from calling it a war, which it is, seemingly not realizing that if Ukraine […]
Putin Condemns ‘Charlie Hebdo’ Attack but His Ideological Allies Support It
Almost a Third of Russians Would Like Their Children or Grandchildren to Grow Up to Be Chekists
Staunton, December 20 – Thirty percent of Russians, nearly one in three, say that they would like their children or grandchildren to serve in the security organs with almost two-thirds of those (62 percent) saying that this would guarantee them status and respect from the rest of society, according to a Russian Public Opinion Research […]
Extreme Russian Nationalism Widespread in Soviet Security Organs, Archives Show
Staunton, December 18 – The Soviet security agencies from Lenin on were infected by an often vicious Russian nationalism which led their officers to attack non-Russians far more frequently than Russians, according to a new study based on archival sources by Aleksey Teplyakov, a Novosibirsk historian. Many researchers Russian and foreign have considered the national […]
Russia’s ‘Era of Freedom’ has Come to an End, Academician Says
Staunton, October 19 – Russia’s 25-year-long era of freedom, which began in 1989 with the Congress of Peoples Deputies, has come to an end and the prospects for the future are extremely bleak, according to Academician Yury Pivovarov. If Russians do not transform themselves, their country risks becoming part of the third world. In an […]
Russian Provocations in Ukraine Follow Classic Soviet Model
Staunton, October 12 – On October 11, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate said that Russian special services are planning provocations against that denomination on October 14th, a reminder if one is need that Vladimir Putin is following the Soviet provocation model first developed by Cheka founder Felix Dzerzhinsky. On its website, the […]
Western Leaders ‘Don’t Understand at All’ What is Happening in Russia, Sotnik Says
Staunton, September 20 – Aleksandr Sotnik, who has set up an independent television studio in Moscow, says that “unfortunately Western politicians absolutely do not understand what is happening in present-day Russia” and thus are incapable either of assessing the nature of the threat Vladimir Putin represents or countering it effectively. In an interview with NR2.com.ua, […]