Tag: Sevastopol

Leonid Parkhomenko was arrested by the FSB in Sevastopol on Tuesday.

Staunton, February 18 – The head of the FSB in Crimea says that “anti-Russian risings do not yet threaten” the peninsula but that Western intelligence services are creating the basis for them, a claim that the Russian security services are likely to invoke as justification for a sweeping new crackdown. And one commentator with whom […]

Staunton, December 17 – For much of the past year, many commentators have focused on the flood of refugees from southeastern Ukraine into the Russian Federation, but now, given economic and political instability in Russia, Ukraine must be prepared for a flood of refugees from the east, according to Sergey Datsyuk. Speaking at a Kyiv […]

Staunton, September 26 – Four days after the Russian occupation authorities closed down the Gasprinsky Library in Simferopol as part of their effort to rein in the Crimean Tatars, later reopening it presumably under tighter control, the same officials allowed a meeting to take place in Bakchisarai in honor of the centenary of the death […]

As the guns begin to fall silent over Europe’s newest frozen conflict (or at least some of the guns), joining a long and terribly depressing line of conflicts such as Transdniester, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the exact opposite is happening to Russia’s defense policy and military plans in the region. Russia continues to fly provocative […]

Staunton, June 12 – As the Russian occupation authorities in Crimea continue to force out Crimean Tatars from positions of responsibility and exclude them from policy discussions, the Muslim Spiritual Directorate (MSD) there is playing a more prominent role in speaking out about Crimean Tatar concerns, especially in the area of “disappearances.” In an appeal […]

Staunton, May 26 – Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the special arrangements it has made for it mean underscores the fact that the federal subjects of the Russian Federation are far from equal, a reality that undercuts Vladimir Putin’s pledge to create a common legal space in his country and one sure to set off […]

Staunton, May 10 – Speaking in Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea, President Vladimir Putin called on all countries “to respect the right of Russians to self-determination,” but he failed to note, Boris Vishnevsky points out, that there is no such right for peoples on the territory of the Russian Federation. In an Ekho Moskvy blog post […]

Staunton, March 24 – Vladimir Putin may have moved against Ukraine because the Russian military is dependent on Ukraine’s military industry if the Kremlin leader is to achieve his plans to launch a broader world war, a conclusion that if true both suggests the directions of Putin’s next moves and the best ways in which […]

The deadline for the withdrawal of Ukrainian soldiers from Crimea is passing, and the interim government has signed an agreement with the European Union, an agreement ripe with symbolism as this fulfills the wishes of the protesters that started this revolution in the first place. Yesterday’s liveblog can be found here. For an overview and […]