Staunton, June 16 – In what might seem counter-intuitive but which in fact underscores the way Moscow media coverage of one thing may cause Russians to draw conclusions about others, 58 percent of Russians say that as a result of developments in Ukraine, they are more negative about nationalist groups in their own country, up […]
Staunton, 3 June – The Ukrainian crisis and Moscow’s insistence on the federalization of that country have “awakened the interest of Russian society in federalism,” with some predominantly ethnic Russian regions and territories now as committed to achieving real federalism in Russia as any of the non-Russian republics. And if Moscow does not agree to […]
Staunton, 1 June – One of the problems that Moscow propagandists face is that many of the arguments they put out for political change in Ukraine apply with equal or even greater force to the Russian Federation and thus have the potential to spark demands inside the latter country that the Kremlin is very much […]
Staunton, May 23 – A suggestion by Russian businessman Mikhail Prokhorov that “federal districts should not necessarily coincide with the borders of Russian regions” appears to be gaining traction in Moscow, the latest in a long line of proposals dating at least to Khrushchev’s time to weaken Russia’s oblasts, krays, and republics. According to Prokhorov, […]
Staunton, May 23 – Vladimir Zorin, a former Russian nationalities minister, says that the Crimean Tatars continue to think about themselves in terms drawn from the Soviet past but have infused these terms with anti-Soviet attitudes and that this contradiction explains many of their current problems. In an interview given to Yuliya Taratura of TV […]
Staunton, April 15 – Russia’s annexation of Crimea has attracted international attention to the tragic fate of the Crimean Tatars whose homeland it is, but in addition to that nation and to ethnic Russians and Ukrainians, Crimea is home to many other ethnic groups and their fates should be of concern as well, especially given […]
Staunton, April 13 – The vehemence of Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s opposition to Moscow’s proposal for the federalization of Ukraine suggests that this Russian demand may not be an ad hoc position reflecting uniquely Ukrainian situation but part of a broader strategy to break and ultimately re-subordinate neighboring countries. Not only would such an approach […]
Staunton, April 5 – The annexation of Crimea is already becoming “a powerful catalyst” for serious changes in Moscow’s nationality policy and even on the current principle of the national-territorial division of the Russian Federation, according to Margarita Lyange, head of the Guild of Inter-Ethnic Journalism. In an essay on the Nazaccent.ru portal yesterday, Lyang […]
Staunton, March 31 – Confronted with Moscow’s seizure of Crimea and its demands for the federalization of Ukraine, the Ukrainian foreign ministry has countered by calling for every republic within the Russian Federation to hold a referendum about their future status and possible independence. Moscow has been pushing for the federalization of Ukraine for two […]
