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 […]
Staunton, November 24 – One of the most dangerous developments for which Vladimir Putin is responsible is that the lies he and his regime regularly employ, and the actions they take, have changed what would be unthinkable under normal conditions into a new normal, things which people would earlier have focused on into things which […]
In a revealing article for The Daily Star, Scott Hesketh and Colin Cortbus write about training camps in Wales where neo-Nazi thugs “are being drilled in unarmed combat and fighting using knives and assault rifles”. According to the authors, anti-terror police are monitoring the activities of the training camps which – under the leadership of […]
Staunton, October 23 – On October 23, Just Russia Duma deputies tabled a draft bill that would allow private firms to create under license from the Federal Security Service (FSB) their own military units, something that some Russian corporations have already done and that others appear to want to do and that could create new […]
Staunton, October 7 – At the end of the Soviet era, a joke circulated in Moscow that appears to be having an echo today. According to the story, Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze met President Mikhail Gorbachev at the airport when the latter was returning from Estonia. “What have you done?” Shevardnadze supposedly asks. Gorbachev […]
Staunton, September 19 – Moscow officials have confirmed that they will not declassify documents concerning the Soviet security services for another 30 years, a decision that was anticipated by a resolution of the Inter-Agency Commission on the Defense of State Secrets and one that means that it will remain impossible to research many key events […]
Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. An archive of our liveblogs can be found here. For an overview and analysis of this developing story see our latest podcast. Please help The Interpreter to continue providing this valuable information service by making a donation towards our costs. View Ukraine: April, 2014 in a larger map For […]
Staunton, September 15 – The FSB has brought charges against four Russians in Krasnodar Krai for promoting separatism there, the first such application in the country of the law adopted in May of this year imposing criminal penalties for calling into question the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation. But a survey of specialists on […]
Updated Daily. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev sprang two restrictive Internet decrees on providers and users this week, one requiring presentation of domestic passports to use public Internet cafes or wi-fi, and the other mandating operators of social media to collect more user data and make it available to Russian intelligence agencies. Mysteriously, a group calling […]
Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. For an overview and analysis of this developing story see our latest podcast. Please help The Interpreter to continue providing this valuable information service by making a donation towards our costs. View Ukraine: April, 2014 in a larger map For links to individual updates click on the timestamps. For […]
