NEWSWATCH: “No pomp as Russia revolution centenary nears” – AFP
“… Russia strives to strike an odd balance … remembering the uprising that brought about the Soviet Union … stopping short of romanticising regime change. … 1917 saw Tsar Nicholas II abdicate in March and the Bolsheviks … seize power in October. Civil war erupted … followed by the creation in 1922 of the USSR, built on the ruins of the Russian empire. … Russia still has trouble dealing with its revolutionary past … the legacy of the 1917 uprising and the Soviet Union spark[] fierce debate …. [Putin’s] rejection of popular uprisings has not wavered … within Russia nor beyond. … [with] major crackdown[s] on protests, foreign NGOs and independent media …. Russia has also sought to suppress revolts in Ukraine, Georgia and Syria ….”