By supporting Chechen across Russia, Grozny challenges Moscow’s language policy — and with Moscow’s money
Chechnya under Ramzan Kadyrov has challenged Moscow in many ways, but now it has taken on a new…
Putin’s unrealizable dream vs. his all too-real nightmare
That Vladimir Putin lives in a different reality than do other world leaders is now more or less…
Only Crimean Tatars have right of self-determination in Crimea, Kasyanov says
Under UN rules, neither the Russians nor the Ukrainians living in Crimea have the right to conduct a…
Moscow’s attacks on Cossacks show limits of Putin’s ‘reconciliation’ program
“Reconciliation is a good thing, and hostility is bad,” Igor Klyamkin says. “But there are reconciliations and reconciliations,”…
Russian sociologist: ‘Almost no one in Russia wanted real democracy with separation of powers’
Vladimir Putin and his regime are a logical reflection of the fact that “almost no one [in Russia]…
Kremlin’s ‘Top-5 Propaganda Myths, Fakes, and Stupidities’ of the Week
Today, Dmitry Bukovsky of Kyiv’s “Delovaya stolitsa” provides a particularly rich harvest of the Kremlin’s “top propaganda myths,…
On 75th Anniversary of Soviet occupation, Balts must remain vigilant, Grybauskaite says
Seventy-five years ago today, the Soviet Union began to occupy Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, act the West never…
Changing even administrative borders no easy thing in post-Soviet states
Many commentators write as if changing borders was a simple process that only requires a decision from above…
Russian writer: The Day of Russia – ‘holiday of another country’
Twenty-five years ago, the RSFSR adopted a declaration of state sovereignty, an event Moscow has marked in various…
Putin’s misreading of situation behind hardening of West’s position on Ukraine, Portnikov says
The toughening of the West’s position on Ukraine, very much in evidence at the G7 meeting, reflects the…
As Ukraine de-Sovietizes, Russia’s 2nd city will prohibit dropping Soviet place names
Not satisfied with the three-year moratorium imposed by St. Petersburg governor Georgy Poltavchenko on changing street and other…
Moscow returning to tsarist Russification policies, Chuvash activist says
The reduction in the role of non-Russian languages in Russia and their being driven out of many public…
Two major non-Moscow Ukrainian Orthodox churches move toward unity
The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP), two of…
Saakashvili’s presence makes Odesa likely target of Russian provocations, Kirillova says
Many have suggested that Moscow will move against Odesa or Kharkiv lest any effort to create a Russian…