Staunton, March 18 – Despite the initial euphoria promoted by the Kremlin’s propaganda effort, ever more Russians appear to be concerned that what Vladimir Putin has done in Crimea, however good it made them feel in the short term, may have bad consequences for themselves, their country, and even for those who have backed this […]
Crimea has gone to the polls today to decide, nominally at least, between joining the Russian Federation or reverting to the 1992 Crimean consitution (a declaration of independence from Ukraine in all but name). The referendum has been condemned by both the Ukrainian government and almost all foreign states bar Venezuela, Syria and North Korea. […]
With strong statements from the US State Department countering Kremlin propaganda like “President Putin’s Fiction: 10 False Claims About Ukraine” and “Setting the Record Straight on Ukraine” coming from the US Embassy in Kiev, it didn’t take long for some commentators to appear with a “plague on both their houses.” The Israeli newspaper Haaretz published an […]
The war of words between Russia and the EU and USA is intensifying. While the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, is attending meetings in Paris to persuade France, an arms supplier to Russia, to oppose sanctions, Russian state media have released potentially damaging phone recordings between EU diplomats. Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. For […]
The Russian media and some foreign media outlets have expressed concerns about rising antisemitism, neo-Nazism, and ultra-radical nationalism in the wake of the Ukrainian revolution. To be sure, the right wing organization Pravyi Sektor, or “Right Sector,” and the Svoboda party are nationalist organizations linked with some radical ideologies. A very prominent Jewish Ukrainian, Vadim […]
Ukraine’s Svoboda party is a right-win, anti-communist, nationalist party led by Oleh Tyahnybok. The party is in direct opposition to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, but it has also been criticized as being ultra-nationalistic, or even xenophobic. It is just one of the parties vying for support from the anti-Yanukovych protesters in the streets of Ukraine. […]
In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a very long press conference. However, many organizations were not allowed to attend, and the kind of hard-hitting questions we’d expect if there were freedom of the press in Russia were not asked. Three days before the event, The New Times published this brave piece of journalism – […]
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny published a statement (translated by The Interpreter) explaining why he did not attend the nationalist “Russian March” which was held on November 4. The march is an annual a protest against immigration and internal migration policies, as well as against the policies that allow employers to bring migrant workers to work […]
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny did not attend this year’s Russian March, an event where nationalists rally to protest against immigration-related issues. This year, as in the past, there was a strong presence of blatant racism and neo-Nazism, which might explain why Navalny would not want to go. However, Navalny is a nationalist, someone who thinks […]
The following is an editorial that appeared in Colta, an independent media website. It is a revealing look inside the xenophobic and racist culture that pervades Russia today. – Ed. It turns out that no single idea in modern Russia has such a mobilizing effect as the nationalist idea. Xenophobia is a spiritual clamp which […]
