Tatarstan Balks at Moscow’s Austerity Measures
Federal deficit expected to reach nearly $50 billion this year unless oil price rebounds. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Newsflash: Russia Is Not the Soviet Union
Doug Bandow No position taken by President-elect Donald Trump more upsets leading Republican legislators than his desire to reconcile with Russia. GOP leaders routinely assert that 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney was right when he declared Russia “without question our No. 1 geopolitical foe.” Perhaps in Neoconservative nightmares. But not...
Russian, Georgian Designers Shake Up Fashion World
Led by red-hot names like Gosha Rubchinsky and Vetements, the post-Soviet look is flooding the catwalks and boutiques. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
An Empire Divided by a Common Language
‘Sovietization’ by means of Russian was devastating both for the Russian language and other languages across the old USSR, linguist Hasan Huseinov argues. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
McCain Easily Shocked by Alleged Russian Meddling
Doug Bandow For someone who has served in war, Sen. John McCain is easily shocked. He has joined the wailing and gnashing of teeth filling Washington over Russia’s alleged hacking of the Democrats. He and his war-happy colleague Sen. Lindsey Graham are pressing for an investigation by a newly constituted select congressional committee....
Russian Doping Whistleblower Polarizes Opinions
Praised abroad, runner’s decision to expose state-sponsored program have often met with an angry reaction in Russia. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
The 2016 Russian Words of the Year, Explained
Those eager to polish their Russian, or to simply pepper their conversations with witticisms, are in for a treat. From Global Voices. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Russian Sova Centre forcibly added to ‘foreign agent’ list for criticizing authorities
In the latest move aimed at crushing critical voices and independent NGOs in Russia, the renowned Sova Centre has been labelled a ‘foreign agent’. The reason almost certainly lies in the Centre’s monitoring and criticism of Russia’s ever-increasing misuse of dangerously broad ‘anti-extremism’ legislation. …read more...
Crimean Tatar leader added to Russian List of ‘Terrorists & Extremists’ for Opposing Annexation
Russia has added Crimean Tatar Mejlis leader Ilmi Umerov to its notoriously long list of so-called ‘Terrorists and Extremists’ for saying, as do all democratic states, that Russia should be made to leave Crimea. With its customary contempt for presumption of innocence, it has also added all 19 Crimean Muslims whom it is holding in custody...
Russian historian of Soviet terror arrested on chillingly cynical charges
Yury Dmitriev has devoted the last 30 years to ensuring that the history of the Soviet Terror is known, and the unmarked graves of countless victims honoured. Judging by the harassment preceding his arrest, this has made him enemies, and there are strong grounds for concern over the criminal proceedings initiated against him. …read more...
