Tag: Karelia

Karelia ‘First Region in Russia’ Where Local People Demand Ouster of Republic Leader

April 3, 2015

Staunton, April 3 – More than 1,000 residents of Petrazovodsk took part in a demonstration there yesterday which called for the ouster of the Karelia’s current head Aleksandr Khudilaynen, “the first region in Russia” in Putin’s times where the local population has demanded such a step, according to Karelian republic television. (The television station’s assertion […]

Anti-Maidan Actions Shouldn’t Make Putin Feel Secure, Vishnevsky Says

February 22, 2015

Staunton, February 22 — The Kremlin-organized Anti-Maidan demonstration in Moscow should not make Vladimir Putin feel secure because it was in reality an updated version of the Day of the Black Hundreds, Boris Vishnevsky says, groups organized by the tsarist regime to show support for the autocracy but that later did nothing to defend it. […]

Separatism In Karelia More Serious Than Many Think, Petrozavodsk Deputy Says

December 17, 2014

Staunton, December 17 — Karelian nationalists who call for the independence of their republic and raise “unnecessary and harmful questions about additional state languages” there are being “seriously underestimated” as a threat to Petrozavodsk and Moscow, according to Sergey Pirozhnikov, a deputy in the republic legislative assembly. The reason that this small group is so […]

75 Years On Russia Again Engaged In a Winter War

December 1, 2014

Staunton, November 30 – Seventy-five years ago, Moscow launched what became known as the Winter War against Finland. It used much the same propaganda and tactics it is using against Ukraine now. It faced far greater resistance than its vast disproportion of forces had led it to believe. And thanks to that resistance, it achieved […]

Toward an International of Resistance to Russian Occupations

November 16, 2014

Staunton, November 16 – Demonstrations in Tbilisi and Kyiv on November 15 are the latest and most public indication of a development that not only challenges Vladimir Putin’s seizure of territory in Georgia and Ukraine but also calls into question Russia’s earlier occupation of other non-Russian lands. Moscow has always tried to deal with its […]

If Moscow Returned Crimea to Ukraine, What Else Might It Have to Give Back – and to Whom?

October 24, 2014

Staunton, October 23 – In the course of a discussion of why he argues Moscow will have to reverse the Anschluss of Crimea at the end of Russia’s war with Ukraine, Andrey Illarionov says that the Russian government could lose many other disputed territories to neighboring countries. The Russian commentator lists the following territories which […]

There Was No March But the Traitors Were Found’ – How Karelian Officials Falsify Events

September 23, 2014

Staunton, September 23 – In an article bearing the title “There Was No March But the Traitors Were Found,” Anatoly Tsygankov, “the chief political observer of Karelia,” according to Politika-Karelia.ru, provided a classical example of tendentious disinformation about the protest against Moscow’s war in Ukraine that took place in Petrozavodsk on Sunday. Such articles often […]

Moscow’s ‘Imperial Federalism’ Sparking Federalist Demands Within Russia, Shtepa Says

August 4, 2014

Staunton, August 4 – Moscow’s adoption of ‘imperial federalism’ as a strategy to extend its power over neighboring countries is sparking a variety of demands within the Russian Federation for moves toward making that country a genuine and not only a nominal federal system, according to Vadim Shtepa. In an article on Rufabula.com, Shtepa, one […]

What a Nationalist Movement Looks Like in Russia Where Elections are Still Allowed

July 30, 2014

Staunton, July 30 – Vladimir Putin has eliminated elections at the regional levels at least in part to ensure that nationalist parties do not have the opportunity to challenge his hand-picked party of power officials. But some nationalist groups are using elections at the city level to advance their cause. In Karelia, Yekaterina Yemelyanova and […]

Three New Moves on the Russian Federation’s Language Chessboard

July 3, 2014

Staunton, July 2 – Russia’s many languages are constantly in kaleidoscopic motion, with some gaining, others losing, and still others transformed. During the past week alone, some Duma deputies tried to ban Russians’ use of foreign words, German enthusiasts sought to reverse the demise of their language in Russia, and Karelian scholars moved to overcome […]