Staunton, November 10 – The primitivism in the thinking of Vladimir Putin and his entourage reflects the fact that he and they are members of the generation that was “the most Soviet of all those who arose after 1917,” cut off from those who could remember pre-1917 conditions and fully socialized in the communist system, […]
Tag: Stalin
Ukrainians Feel Themselves Masters of Their Own Country But Russians Don’t, Shtepa Says
Staunton, November 6 – Ukrainians and Russians differ in many ways, Vadim Shtepa says, but perhaps the most important is that Ukrainians “feel themselves masters of their own country” but Russians “do not feel” the same way. Instead, among residents of the Russian Federation, there is a sense that the powers control everything and the […]
Western Leaders ‘Don’t Understand at All’ What is Happening in Russia, Sotnik Says
Staunton, September 20 – Aleksandr Sotnik, who has set up an independent television studio in Moscow, says that “unfortunately Western politicians absolutely do not understand what is happening in present-day Russia” and thus are incapable either of assessing the nature of the threat Vladimir Putin represents or countering it effectively. In an interview with NR2.com.ua, […]
If Putin Isn’t Stopped in Ukraine, He Will Move against Baltic Countries, Piontkovsky Says
Staunton, September 20 – If the West does not stop Vladimir Putin’s campaign to subordinate Ukraine to Moscow, then the Kremlin leader will move against the Baltic countries even though that carries with it the direct threat of a military conflict with NATO, according to Andrey Piontkovsky. But if Putin and his concept of a […]
After Crimea, Russian Germans Press for Restoration of Their Republic
Staunton, August 31 – Seventy-three years after their republic was disbanded by Stalin and 24 years after the two Germanies were reunited, some of Russia’s remaining Germans have been inspired by the creation of a Crimean Republic within the Russian Federation to increase their efforts to restore a German Republic within Russia. Given the radical […]
Putin Commits Himself to ‘Novorossiya’
Staunton, August 29 – Given how often Vladimir Putin lies, it may be a mistake to make too much of any of his statements as an indication of where he is heading. But his use of the term “Novorossiya” in his statement yesterday, the first time he has talked about that space within Ukraine as […]
Putin has Turned the Clock Back to July 1938, Felshtinsky Says
Staunton, August 7 – During the Cold War, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists rated the level of danger of a nuclear war in terms of the number of minutes the clock was running before midnight. Now, Russian historian Yuri Feltshtinsky has told a Polish newspaper that Vladimir Putin has set the world’s clock back […]
Putin Now Insuring Himself Against Nationalists Returning from Ukraine, Ikhlov Says
Staunton, July 28 – Vladimir Putin is ensuring himself ideologically against a nationalist challenge to himself if Russian militants fighting in Ukraine are forced to return to the Russian Federation where their popularity among many Russians, thanks to the Kremlin’s earlier ideological effort, remains extremely high, according to Yevgeny Ikhlov. The Moscow commentator says that […]
‘Stalin Was a Greater Fascist Than Bandera or Mussolini,’ Zubov Says
Staunton, July 25 – The way in which many in Russia and elsewhere view Stepan Bandera and his anti-Soviet movement during World War II is “an example of the big lie of the Soviet system” and its influence in post-Soviet times, according to Andrey Zubov, the MGIMO historian who was dismissed from his post for […]
Putin Jokes Moving from Internet Back to the Streets, Says Expert
Staunton, July 11 – After a period in which most new anecdotes about Vladimir Putin, arose on the Internet, they are now appearing in Russian streets, a shift that is changing their form and possibly their impact, according to one of the co-authors of Anecdotes about Stalin: Texts, Commentaries and Investigations. In an interview published […]