… [Our NASA Earth Observatory] team noticed a … message with a peculiar and beautiful image from Russia near 66 degrees north latitude. It turned into a scientific detective story and an unresolved case […]
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(Paul Goble – Window On Eurasia – Staunton – Feb. 17, 2021) In most other former Soviet republics, people favor taking down statues of Lenin or renaming any place or street bearing his name – Ukraine, for example, has completed these tasks (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2021/01/last-lenin-statue-in-ukraine-falls.html). But a new Public Opinion Poll suggests Russians have a very different view. It found that while […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, August 19, 2020) In Soviet times, schools devoted a great deal of attention to geography and especially to how much larger the USSR was than any other country and where its natural wealth was located. But since 1991, such instruction appears to have taken a back seat to other subjects at least […]
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“Every fifth Russian worker earns less than RUB15,000 ($250) per month, according to … a study by the RIA Rating agency [cited by] … RIA Novosti …. Over 33% of people living in 22 regions earn less than this amount, according to the survey. [The worst were] Dagestan … (46%) … [and the] Karachay-Cherkess Republic (44%). In six regions, two […]
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Subject: Event – November 1, 2018 – Book Launch – Understanding Russia: The Challenges of Transformation Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2018 From: IERES, GW Elliott School <ieresgwu@gwu.edu> Understanding Russia: The Challenges of Transformation [Amazon: amzn.to/ 2S1KHak] This timely book provides a balanced and comprehensive overview of the geographical, historical, political, cultural, and geostrategic factors that drive Russia today. Russia has […]
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In Izvestia, Sergei Ryazantsev argues: “… The United Nations rates [Russia] third after the United States and Germany in terms of number of immigrants. … in 2015 … the US population born overseas amounted to 46.6m; 12m went to Germany, 11.6m to Russia. Uzbeks, Tajiks, Kyrgyz, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, and representatives of other republics of the former USSR began to come […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Ivan Chesnokov – May 16, 2018) Ivan Chesnokov is a Russian freelance journalist specialising in social issues and conflicts. His work has appeared in Takie Dela, the Moscow Times, RBTH, and other publications, and he is engaged in several multimedia journalism projects. [opendemocracy.net/od-russia/ivan-chesnokov/behind-the-wire] A shabbily dressed older man in a cap with ear flaps, looking like a character […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, November 5, 2017) Most discussions of migration in Russia focus on the arrival of gastarbeiters from Central Asia, the Caucasus or elsewhere; but two other population flows may be even more important for the country’s future: the flight from villages to the cities and the exit of people from the north and […]
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(Kremlin.ru – April 24, 2017) Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting of the Russian Geographical Society (RGO) Board of Trustees. The meeting reviewed the Society’s work over the last year and the most important projects planned for 2017. It was attended by members of the Society’s Board of Trustees, media and managing councils, as well as top scholars. President of Russia […]
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The government plans to tempt Russians with a complimentary hectare in one of the country’s most remote regions – but the initiative faces a number of problems that need to be solved if it is to become a success. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – OLGA VLASOVA, RBTH – November 4, 2016) Have you ever dreamed of acquiring land […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, October 6, 2016) During the 20th century, large numbers of #Russians moved from villages to the cities, but as of now, many of them have not completed the psychological transition from rural to urban life; and that has given rise to marginal groups who represent a threat to the country, according to […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, May 24, 2016) “The thinning out of the Russian ‘cultural stratum’ and, as a result, the degradation of elites who have turned out to be incapable of responding to new historical challenges,” Vladimir Pastukhov says, is the underlying cause of the current decline of the country. All other causes, technological, societal and […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Vladimir Itkin – March 3, 2016) Vladimir Itkin is a journalist and literary critic from Novosibirsk, Russia. [Photos here opendemocracy.net/od-russia/vladimir-itkin/ordinary-yet-exceptional-people-of-russia-s-provinces] In 2009, Valery Klamm, a photographer from Novosibirsk, launched a photo project about elusive provincial Russia. This photoblog, called “Birthmarks on the map” (Rodinki na karte) [http://rodinkinakarte.ru/], quickly became popular for introducing poorly-known people and places. The idea […]
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In a country where more than 130 languages are spoken, the idea of unity is a necessary theme to explore. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Mikhail Shvydkoi – November 4, 2015) Mikhail Shvydkoi was the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation (2000-2004). On Nov. 4, Russian citizens will celebrate National Unity Day. This is a relatively new […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – October 15, 2015) Russia’s state-funded Antarctic expedition has had to halt its research due to a lack of funding, the TASS news agency reported Wednesday, citing one of the scientists involved in the expedition. “It’s not yet clear how long the research will be suspended for,” Ruslan Kolunin told TASS. He said that work on […]
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The New York Times comments on Russia’s attempt to use the United Nations to expand Russian territory in the Arctic, accompanied by expanded Russian military activity in the region. As the Arctic rapidly thaws and surrenders access to its awesome wealth of energy and precious minerals, it is inevitable that nations in the far north will stake claims over huge […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, December 13, 2014) Two studies about how residents of Russia’s cities feel about where they live and identify themselves suggest that the residents of Russian cities away from the core of the country are ever less focused on Moscow as the center of their lives and identify instead either with their own […]
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Subject: South shore of the Kola peninsual Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2014 14:09:31 -0500 From: William Brumfield <william.brumfield@gmail.com> David, below is announcement for the latest in my RBTH series. A stunning part of northwest Russia. Regards, William —— My current article for Russia beyond the Headlines is devoted to the south shore of the Kola Peninsula. Located near the Arctic […]
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TULA. Dec 12 (Interfax) – Russia will not give the North Pole to countries, which have claimed their rights to it, polar explorer, Federation Council member Artur Chilingarov said. “We will not give the North Pole to anyone. Canada’s claims for the North Pole are nothing but an ambition,” he said at a Tula meeting dedicated to the Constitution Day […]
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MOSCOW, November 29 (RIA Novosti) Fewer than a tenth of Russians would favor breaking up the sprawling nation by allowing the secession of one of its regions, according to a poll by the independent Levada Center posted Thursday. Just eight percent of respondents to the survey, held over November 15-18, said they felt positively about the region where they […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, August 30, 2013) A recent opinion poll has shown that only 15 percent of Russians think that Moscow is an attractive city to live in, while another 25 percent prefer small-town life. Some 60 percent of respondents said they could not see any “good qualities” in the average Muscovite, considered arrogant (19 percent), greedy (9 […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, August 23, 2013) Russia expects that its application to the United Nations to approve its bid for extending the boundary of its part of the Sea of Okhotsk section of the continental shelf will receive consideration in the international organization early next year, said Deputy Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Minister Denis Khramov. Russia also wants the […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, August 8, 2013) At the present time, there are approximately 30 territorial disputes among Russia’s federal subjects, a situation that makes changing borders anywhere a such an extremely dangerous proposition that one Moscow commentator calls these conflicts “a slow acting bomb under Russian sovereignty” as a whole. Indeed, Ruslan Gorevoy argues in […]
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(Interfax – July 31, 2013) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev intends to order the ministries and the Moscow government to draw up a document reducing the degree of secrecy of geographical data for the publication of digital maps on the Internet. “As regards the maps, the draft orders I will sign after our meeting expressly orders various agencies – the […]
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