Staunton, January 7 – Ukrainians and others increasingly recognize that Russia will change its approach to Ukraine only when Russia itself changes, a conclusion that has led many to consider how Russia might change and reflect on what Ukraine must do until its eastern neighbor has become very different from what it is today. Unfortunately, […]
Staunton, January 14 – Practically all efforts to promote development while maintaining a power vertical based on the existing arrangements of regions, republics and municipalities have failed because development requires a different set of incentives than does the vertical which is interested above all in maintaining itself, according to Rasul Kadiyev. Nowhere is that more […]
Staunton, November 22 – Under the impact of Moscow media, Russians have become accustomed to thinking that anti-Russian militants in the North Caucasus are bearded men who fight in the forests. But recent events in Dagestan suggest, Vladislav Maltsev says, that in that republic, they are now an urban street movement capable of fighting local […]
Staunton, November 20 – Legislators in the two autonomous districts in Tyumen region and the one in Arkhangelsk region, the three remaining “matryoshka” federal subjects, this week simultaneously asked for the elimination of direct elections of their governors in favor of one in which the local legislators themselves would make the decision. Moscow officials say […]
Welcome to our new column, Russia Update, where we will be closely following day-to-day developments in Russia, including the Russian government’s foreign and domestic policies. Yesterday’s issue is here, and see also our Russia This Week. Prime Minister Beslan Butba of the disputed breakaway republic of Abkhazia was beaten by two men who assaulted his […]
Staunton, September 10 – On Monday, Die Welt published an interview with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the world’s Buddhists, in which he sharply criticized Vladimir Putin for being “egocentric” and for seeking to isolate Russia from the rest of the world by rebuilding a Berlin wall, something the Dalai Lama said was […]
Staunton, September 5 – Vladimir Putin’s plan to move several ministries from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk and to launch a massive investment program there reflects fears in the Kremlin that separatist attitudes in Russia east of the Urals are growing and that only such steps have the potential to quiet them, according to Anton Chablin. In […]
Staunton, September 2 – Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has “unexpectedly” allowed Tatarstan to retain its presidency and thus “again confirm its status as a special region within Russia, ‘an exception from the rules,’ as former Federal Council speaker Sergey Mironov put it, and thus, “a bastion of federalism” within Russia, according to a Muslim […]
Staunton, August 14 – Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechens, says that the Russian armed services must resume drafting young Chechens to serve in their ranks. This appeal reflects his concerns about what not drafting them will mean for the future of his republic and region and calls into question recent Moscow claims that it […]
Staunton, July 25 – Russian prison officials are marking Ramadan in their own distinctive way by intensifying their longstanding discrimination against and active persecution of Muslim prisoners, according to a survey by Kavpolit.com’s Gulya Arifmezova of posts by the relatives and friends of these prisoners on the Internet. Because Islam requires fasting during the day […]
