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Despite Promises, Russian Draftees Are Fighting and Dying in the North Caucasus
By Paul Goble
Despite repeated promises by senior Moscow officials and the explicit provisions of several laws, Russian draftees are being sent to fight and die in the hotspots of the North Caucasus, a situation a major Moscow paper is calling attention to and one likely to spark both more resistance to the draft and more questions about Russia's policies in that region.
Poll Suggests Russians Oppose Further De-Stalinization
By Paul Goble
The Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights has said that de-Stalinization and de-Sovietization programs are preconditions for modernization. But according to a recent poll, Russians are categorically against such reforms.
Young Russians Less Tolerant of Non-Russians Than Their Parents Are, Poll Finds
By Paul Goble
A survey of 1500 Russians conducted by Tomsk officials found that younger people in that city are less tolerant of representatives of other nationalities than their parents and other older people are, according to a press release from the new organization Children of the Mountains, which unites people from the North Caucasus now living in Russia.
Moscow Planning to Abolish Non-Russian Republics, Pavlova Says
By Paul Goble
Under the cover of the international effort against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, the leaders of the ruling United Russia Party are planning to abolish the non-Russian republics within the Russian Federation and to create a unitary state far more severe in its constraints than even the one Stalin established in the Soviet Union, according to Irina Pavlova.
Sochi Olympics Makes the Circassian Genocide an International Issue, Analysts Say
By Paul Goble
Moscow's drive to hold the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi has transformed the question of the recognition of the Circassian genocide from a narrowly local issue into an international one by attracting the attention of intellectuals around the world, according to a Circassian scholar.
Why Aren't Russians in Revolt?
By Paul Goble
The spread of political protests in the Middle East and increasing problems inside Russia, including corruption, income gaps and official arbitrariness, have prompted ever more analysts to ask why Russians aren't going into the streets more often.
Manezh Clashes Were Orchestrated
By Paul Goble
Though many social factors were behind the Manezh clashes last month, the action itself was orchestrated by political forces interested in destabilizing the country and exploiting "ethnic wars" in order to come to power, according to a leading Moscow psychologist.
Khloponin Considers Cossacks for North Caucasus
By Paul Goble
Alexander Khloponin, the North Caucasus special envoy, has said his "first task" should be to rely on a Cossack revival to return ethnic Russians to the region. But Cossacks have a troubled history there.<br />
Chechnya Is More Violent Than Reported
By Paul Goble
Ivan Sydoruk, the deputy prosecutor general of the North Caucasus Federal District, told federal senators that "a large portion of weapons are obtained by militants from the stores of military units." His other comments raised equal alarm.
FSB's Bill Holds Hidden Dangers for Free Speech
By Paul Goble
Human rights activists have succeeded in eliminating a provision of a draft bill on state secrets that would have blocked the media from covering most counterterrorist operations. But a provision that places a veil of secrecy over the financing of such operations has the potential to do more harm.
State Readies for Street Clashes
By Paul Goble
Until recently, officials and politicians have downplayed the risk of massive street clashes and the state's preparation for them. But now, they have a counter-plan.
Resin Wants Hearings on Religious Construction
By Paul Goble
The acting mayor of the Russian capital has called for holding public hearings on all construction projects for churches, mosques and synagogues. That could threaten the status quo between Moscow's government and the Moscow Patriarchate.
Moscow Wants Emigrees Home, At Lower Cost
By Paul Goble
Moscow spent less than a quarter of the amount that it had budgeted to attract compatriots living overseas to come back to Russia, a slide that lessens the country's chances of getting Russians to return.
Group Proposes an 'Ethnic Russian' Republic
By Paul Goble
In a move that could be called either a provocation by Russian regionalists and a power grab by a federal district, a self-described civic group has proposed transforming the Central Federal District into an ethnic Russian republic. The draft law is revealing.
Dagestan Plans Anti-Terror Units, Worrying Locals
By Paul Goble
Anti-terrorist units in Chechnya have accrued a horrible human rights record. But officials in Dagestan say violence in their republic now is warranting anti-terrorist units there. They say their soldiers will be different. Some are skeptical.
GONGOs Are Returning in Force
By Paul Goble
GONGOs, or government-organized non-governmental organizations, are increasingly being used by Russian authorities to elbow aside genuine NGOs, a Russian journalist says.
- Siberia's Status in Russia on Par With Russia's in the World
- School Closings Indicate 'Internal Decolonization' of Russia
- Police No Longer Feel the Need to Deny Use of Torture
- Terrorism Threats Cover Up Corruption in Sochi, Analysts Say
- Kadyrov Reaches Out to Chechens Outside His Republic
- Internet Can't Compensate for Kremlin's Info Blockade, Analysts Say
- Russia's Roads Collapsing From More Traffic, Less Money
- Could Kyrgyzstan Cease to Exist?
- Reports Say Ethnic Violence Rising in Kyrgyzstan
- Russians Now Face-to-Face With Terrorism
- Terrorism Ultimately Costs Citizens Their Freedom
- Kremlin Misreading Latest Round of Protests
- 'War of the Worlds' Broadcast Highlights Pathologies of Georgian-Russian Relations
- Nation Forcibly Deported Under Brezhnev Now at Risk
- 'Russian Mafia' Abroad Now 300,000 Strong, Journal Says
- Moscow's Muslim Slums Now Breeding Grounds for Despair
- Nearly 80% of Draft-Age Russians Unhealthy, Sources Say
- Who Will Manage the 2 Million Shiites of Russia?
- Moscow Fears Regional Officials Who Obey Law More Than Those Who Don't, Russian Commentator Says
- Internet Editions of Crimean Tatar Newspapers Disappearing
- Worst is Yet to Come at Sayano-Shushenskaya and in Moscow, Petition Warns
- One-Third of Russian Militiamen Psychopaths or Alcoholics, Expert Says
- Dagestani Mullahs Plan to Counter Ideological Challenge of Militants via the Internet
- Kirill Expanding Patriarchate's Missionary Effort in Russia and Abroad
- Closure of Soviet Concentration Camps Where 'Arbeit Macht Frei' First Appeared Recalled
- Neo-Nazis Are a Threat to Russia, Polish Analyst Says
- Climate Change Hitting Russia's Northern People First and Hardest
- Kadyrov Aide Calls for Establishing 'Radio Caucaus' to Fight Extremism
- 'A Criminal Society is Easier to Rule Because All Feel Themselves Guilty'
- Will 'Bloggerization' of Russian Bureaucracy Change Relationship Between State and Citizens?
- Russia's Real 'Middle Class' — Those Who Own Cars — Gains a Victory
- Officials Accused of Blocking Relocation Aid to Radiation Victims
- Kyrgyz Prisons Becoming 'Universities of Religious Extremism'
- Far Eastern Republic of the 1920s as Model for the Future Sparks Debate in Vladivostok
- Another Soviet Practice Returns as Moscow Installs a Russian as No. 2 in Ingushetia
- Basargin Admits Moscow Lacks a Strategy for Dealing With Company Towns
- Relying on Traditional Structures Unlikely to Stabilize North Caucasus
- Tatar Nationalists Demonstrate on Eve of Clinton's Kazan Visit
- Reopening of Turkish Border to Create Shift Between Armenia and Its Diaspora
- MVD Enforcing Ideological Conformity Within Its Ranks
- Voting Rights Group Says 'Falsifications' in Moscow Elections Inevitable
- Vladivostok Denies Plan to Lease Half of City to China
- Delay in Census to 2013 Could Open Door to Lies
- Could Turkey be the Next Country to Recognize Abkhazia?
- Moscow Shifts Subsidies From Caucasus to Russian Regions
- Moscow's Policies Undermining Russia's Position in North Caucasus
- Western Reaction Keeps Moscow From Annexing South Ossetia
- North Caucasian Draftees Undermining Russian Military
- Church Makes Efforts at Gulag Remembrance
- Chechnya Rapidly Becoming Russia's Algeria
- Medvedev Seeks "Real, Not Cosmetic" Stability in North Caucasus
- Sakhalin Residents Petition to Join Japan
- Military Suffering Casualties in War Games
- Eight Reasons to Become Ukrainian
- Group Says Power Vertical Threatens Republics
- Chechens in Fear After Memorial's Departure
- Hackers Increasingly Targeting Religion Sites
- 'Only North Korea Has a Registration System Like Moscow's'
- High Mortality Among Men Undercuts Moscow's Pro-Birth Policies
- Beyond Pikalyovo - Urals Workers Seize Control of Plant's Finances
- Iranian Events Provide Lessons for Russians, Moscow Journalist Says
- Wealthier Moscow Teenagers More Inclined to View U.S. as Russia's Enemy
- Moscow's Anti-Extremism Effort Targeting Ever More Groups
- Moscow Gave Four Times More Hero Medals in Chechen War than in Afghanistan
- 40 of Russia's 700 Penal Institutions Recall Soviet Concentration Camps, Rights Activists Say
- Moscow's Policies Unwittingly Promoting Islamist Extremism
- Moscow Distances Itself from Article Blaming Poland for Starting WWII
- Why Do Ethnic Russians Convert to Islam?
- Moscow Broadens Definition of 'Extremism'
- Why More Russian Archives are Likely to Close
- Economic Crisis Leads Moscow to Cut Back on 2010 Census Plans
- Could United Russia Go the Way of the CPSU?
- Dagestan Now Has 50 'Representative Offices' Across CIS
- Memorial, Others Criticize History Falsification Commission
- Could Kabardino-Balkaria Become the Kosovo of the Caucasus?
- South Ossetian Leader's Authoritarianism Posing Problems for Moscow
- Commentator Says Anti-Fascism Bill Could Lead to Imposition of More Official Histories
- Environmentalists Say New Climate Doctrine Focuses on Reacting to Change, Rather Than Preventing It
- 'Koenigsberg is a Russian City,' Kaliningrad Mayor Says
- Russian Justice Ministry Maintains Quotas for Closing NGOs
- Existing Federal System Said a Threat to Rights of All Russia's Citizens
- Six Months After Zyazikov's Ouster, Ingushetia Remains Unstable
- Conviction of Activist Who Protested Baptism of Tatar Infants Decried
- Moscow's Ignoring of Iranian Leader's Anti-Semitism Has Deep Roots, Dangerous Consequences, Russian Commentator Notes
- A Central Asian Echo of Russian Aggression in Georgia
- 'Lenin is Worse than Hitler,' Senior Moscow Patriarchate Official Says
- Finns Call on Medvedev to End Violations of Rights and Freedoms in Russia
- Some of Russia's Muslims Seeking to Define a Place between 'Dar ul-Islam' and 'Dar ul-Harb'
- Depopulation Threatens Russia 10 Ways, Moscow Demographer Says
- Will the Internet Integrate the Russian Federation — or Tear It Apart?
- Will Moscow Expand Assistance to Russian-Language Schools in Ukraine?
- Russian Nationalism Threatens to Destroy the Russian Federation
- Kazan Tatars, Muslims and Shamans Present Three New Challenges to Moscow
- How Moscow Compiles Its 'Extremist' List Guarantees Absurdities, Russian Lawyer Says
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Author's Bio
Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia. He has held research positions at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, Audentes University in Tallinn and EuroCollege of the University of Tartu. He currently serves as a director for studies on the Baltic Countries, Ukraine and Poland at the U.S. Department of State's Foreign Service Institute. He can be reached at his office telephone number 703-302-6864 or by email at either goblepa@state.gov or paul.goble@gmail.com. His complete blog is available at www.windowoneurasia.blogspot.com. |
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