Ethnic Identity No Longer Primary One for Russians, Tishkov Says

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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, July 4, 2013) Russians increasingly identify themselves not in ethnic terms but in others, a development that the director of the Moscow Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology says should not lead anyone to conclude in “alarmist” terms that ethnic Russians are “losing their self-identification.” Instead, Valery Tishkov told a Moscow roundtable yesterday, […]

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Foreign Agents, Small Towns, and ‘The Crucible’

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(RIA Novosti – Natalia Antonova – Natalia Antonova, Acting Editor-in-Chief of The Moscow News – July 2, 2013) Last week, a couple of foreign journalists I know traveled to a small town very far from Moscow in order to explore local culture ­ and possibly write about it. Before they went, they posted an innocent question on a local forum, […]

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Russia’s Liberals Share Blame for Survival of Moscow’s Imperialist Impulses, Rodionov Says

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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, June 24, 2013) Russia’s liberals played a key role in pushing through the economic reforms which made a return to communism impossible, but they failed to help the country to make the transition from an empire to a nation and thus must bear part of the blame for continuing strength of Moscow’s […]

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Russians’ Lack of Trust Explains Their Xenophobia and Support for Top Leaders, Moscow Sociologist Says

Migrant Workers file photo

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, June 19, 2013) Strikingly low levels of inter-personal trust among Russians, the result of the experiences of Soviet times, explain both their xenophobic reactions to immigrants and their high rates of support for Russian leaders because “distrust in institutions is transformed into trust in the president and prime minister,” according to a […]

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Putin says Russia needs more flexible approach to immigration

Migrant Workers file photo

(Interfax – June 11, 2013) Russia needs a more flexible immigration policy to make it possible to attract the specialists the country requires, President Vladimir Putin has said. He was speaking during a visit to state-owned international TV channel RT (formerly known as Russia Today) in Moscow on the same day, as reported by the Russian media that day. “On […]

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Russia’s internet party

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(opendemocracy.net – Emil Pain) Emil Pain is a professor at the National Research University­Higher School of Economics, Moscow, and the General Director of the Center for Ethno-Political Studies Does Russia’s online community have anything resembling a common philosophy? New analysis of social media suggests the only idea shared right across the political spectrum is xenophobia. Emile Pain presents the research. […]

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Russian Security Service chief worried about extremism being spread online

File Photo of Partial FSB Headquarters Building Facade

(Interfax – June 11, 2013) The director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Aleksandr Bortnikov, has said that social networksand shortcomings in migration laws contribute to the proliferation of extremism in Russia. His comments at a session of the National Antiterrorist Committee were reported by the Interfax news agency on 11 June. “Part of the internet has become a […]

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Russian officials worried influx of migrants becomes unmanageable

Migrant Workers file photo

(Interfax – June 6, 2013) The influx of migrants in Russia is becoming alarming, head of the Federal Migration Service Konstantin Romodanovskiy has said, as quoted by Interfax news agency on 6 June. “For the last four years, we have recorded a significant increase in the number of immigrants to Russia. It was especially high in 2012 and 2013. Certainly, […]

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Experts in Russia Say Moscow Should Heed Lessons from Wars in Syria, Libya and Yugoslavia

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 101 – Valery Dzutsev – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – May 29, 2013) On April 26, the authoritative Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta hosted a roundtable of experts on the situation in Syria. Although almost all the experts, as usual, accused the United States and the West of fueling civil unrest in Syria now and […]

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Russian government seeks stricter penalties for extremism

Russian Jail File Photo Showing Outer Wall, Windows, Barbed Wire

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – May 28, 2013) A Russian government commission has approved a draft law increasing criminal punishments for extremism-related crimes and wrongdoing by religious organizations, seeking stiffer penalties for an existing controversial extremism law. “The government legislation commission has approved for consideration a draft law establishing a legal basis for neutralizing the destructive activities of religious organizations […]

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Russian analysts: immigrants, guest workers fertile ground for radical Islamism

Russian Mosque File Photo

(Interfax / Religion – Moscow, May 15, 2013) The head of a Russian policy think tank has argued that immigrants and guest workers who have come to Russia from Muslim republics of the former Soviet Union are potentially a fertile environment for radical Islamist ideas and called for tighter restrictions on immigration and guest labor. “The migrants are hostile toward […]

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Even Russian Nationalists Now Reject Slogan ‘Russia for the Russians,’ Demushkin Says

Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 9, 2013) Dmitry Demushkin,, the leader of the “Russians” political movement, says that “even Russian nationalists do not support the slogan ‘Russia for the Russians’ because it has to be qualified in so many ways that it is useless as a mobilizing tool and dangerous it if is applied in a […]

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The motivation of the Boston Bomber: The ethnic background of the Tsarnaev family must provide some clues to mass murder.

Boston Bombings Suspects File Photo Adapted from FBI Image

(opendemocacy.net – Susan Richards – April 23, 2013) Susan Richards is a non-executive director and founder of openDemocracy. She has produced a number of feature films and written a prize-winning book, Epics of Everyday Life, about the lives of ordinary Russians in the transition from communism. Lost & Found in Russia, Encounters in the Deep Heartland, which covers the period […]

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The Kind of Russian Nationalism Putin Needs and the Kind He Doesn’t

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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 9, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/04/window-on-eurasia-kind-of-russian.html) There are many kinds of Russian nationalism on offer today, a Russian Communist Party commentator says, but a major divide now lies between the kinds of Russian nationalism that President Vladimir Putin wants to promote and use and other kinds of Russian nationalism that he views as […]

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Anti-Semitism quite uncommon in Russia – report

File Photo of Torah Scrolls

(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 6, 2013) Authors of a research on the level of anti-Semitism in Russia in 2011-2012 concluded that animosity toward Jewish people in the country is fairly uncommon, although they mentioned worrying manifestations of it among some nationalists, Muslims and government officials. “The level of crimes motivated by anti-Semitism continued to be relatively low in 2011-2012. Five […]

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Ethnic nationalism threatens Russia’s unity

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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Sergei Markedonov, special to RBTH – April 5, 2013) Sergei Markedonov is a visiting fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, D.C. The country’s authorities should undertake drastic reform of the nationalities policy. “The nationalities issue” remains a priority for Russia’s social and political development. In the 1990s-early 2000s, the […]

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Russian Nationalists ‘Gathering Strength,’ Moscow Expert Says

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(Window on Eurasia, Paul Goble, Staunton, March 28, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/03/window-on-eurasia-russian-nationalists.html) Russian nationalist parties are likely to form in the near future and to gain enough support to put their representatives into the next Russian Duma, according to a Moscow specialist who has examined polling data, monitored the Russian media and talked to other members of the expert community in […]

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Russian Nationalism ‘Far More Terrible’ than Non-Russian Extremism, Novocherkassk Scholar Says

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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, March 25, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/03/window-on-eurasia-russian-nationalism.html) In a review of the literature on the attitudes of young people toward members of other ethnic groups, Aleksandr Skorik, a professor at the South Russian State Technical University, says that research suggests that “Russian nationalism is far more terrible than non-Russian extremism” as a source of […]

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136 National Languages Now at Risk in Russia, UNESCO Says

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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, March 22, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/03/window-on-eurasia-136-national.html) Some 136 national languages of the Russian Federation are at or already beyond “the edge of extinction,” according to UNESCO. Many of these languages are subgroups of others, but the danger of disappearance exists for groups as large as Avars, Bashkirs and Chechens. According to the United […]

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Hundreds of NGOs Checked for Foreign Agents, Extremism

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – March 20, 2013) Acting on instructions from the Prosecutor General’s Office, government inspectors in at least nine Russian regions have conducted hundreds of unannounced checks on non-governmental organizations, including well-known human rights, environment and religious groups. The checks are designed to catch organizations that receive foreign funding and are involved in “political […]

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Russia’s indigenous languages at risk of dying out

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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – March 17, 2013) Around 250 languages are spoken in Russia, including Russian, which is spoken by some 150 million people. Russian, along with several Turkic-based languages, is doing fine. However, the linguistic situation for many lost tribes and Small Indigenous People in Russia is far more  Dmitry Sukhodolsky, special to RBTH Russia’s many […]

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Few Russians Want to Identify as Putin Wants Them To, Survey Suggests

File Photo of Crowd of Russians with One Waving Russian Flag

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, March 17, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/03/window-on-eurasia-few-russians-want-to.html) More than 90 percent of ethnic Russians taking part in an online survey do not want to identify as “Rossiyane,” the non-ethnic civic identity President Vladimir Putin has been promoting as the primary self-designator for citizens of the Russian Federation, preferring instead to identify as ethnic Russians […]

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Five New Statistics about Russia That Say More Than a Glance Might Suggest

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, March 1, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/03/window-on-eurasia-five-new-statistics.html) Five new statistics about Russia this past week ­ one about Muslims in the army, a second about the state of its roads, a third about the number of illegal migrants in the country, a fourth about Russian attitudes toward religious instruction in the schools, and a […]

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Xenophobic Attitudes Growing Across Russian Political Spectrum, Moscow Expert Says

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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 26, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/02/window-on-eurasia-xenophobic-attitudes.html) Xenophobic attitudes are now to be found among communist, nationalist, liberal and pro-Kremlin parties and groups, according to Moscow’s leading specialist on inter-ethnic relations, a development that reflects the efforts of these organizations to tap into popular attitudes and win votes. Such outreach programs are not likely […]

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Putin’s Nationality Policy Won’t Work as He Intends

Migrant Workers file photo

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 20, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/02/window-on-eurasia-putins-nationality.html) Both the five specific planks of his nationality policy that Vladimir Putin outlined yesterday and problems underlying his entire approach to this issue guarantee that the Russian president will offend both Russians and non-Russians and produce the very outcome he says he is trying to avoid ­ […]

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Back to the Soviet era? A tougher law on registration has alarmed rights activists

Kremlin and Moscow Environs Aerial View

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – January 15, 2013) President Vladimir Putin has introduced a bill into the State Duma calling for tougher penalties for Russians and foreigners who violate registration rules, in a bid to “civilize” internal migration. The bill, introduced into the lower house of Parliament last Wednesday, echoed an earlier proposal by Russian lawmakers to […]

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Russians favor immigration restrictions – poll

Migrant Workers file photo

MOSCOW. Dec 14 (Interfax) – The majority of Russians want the government to restrict labor immigration. The number of people favoring labor immigration restrictions has grown from 57% to a six-year high of 64% over the past 12 months, according to a November poll held by the Levada Analytical Center. The number of those who have not yet formed an […]

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2010 Census Shows Fewer Russians, More Non-Russians, and Many Who No Longer Declare an Ethnic Identity At All

File Photo of Russian Crowd, with Russian Flag Being Waved

(Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 9, Issue 223 – Paul Goble – Dec. 6, 2012)    According to recent census results, the rate of the overall decline in the population of the Russian Federation nearly doubled during the past decade compared to the rate over the course of the 1990s, but that trend obscures rather than […]

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Rumblings In The Republics: New Russian Nationalities Policy Sparks Outcry

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(RFE/RL – Nail Khisamiev, Robert Coalson – Dec. 1, 2012) A potentially explosive political kettle has been simmering in Russia for months, and it may well boil over in the weeks to come. Shortly after his return to the Kremlin in May, President Vladimir Putin ordered the drafting of a new State Nationalities Policy. The document, which was to be […]

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‘Adaptation Center’ to Help Migrants Integrate

Migrant Workers file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com –  Natalya Krainova – November 13, 2012) Russia’s largest association of migrants opened an “adaptation center” in Moscow on Monday that will help workers from other countries learn Russian, obtain professional training and get medical insurance and bank loans. The center will help to fulfill goals set by President Vladimir Putin in late August to “secure […]

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Putin Faces Anti-Migrant Tide as Opponents Tap Resentment

Migrant Workers file photo

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Ilya Arkhipov and Henry Meyer – November 7, 2012) Russian President Vladimir Putin’s opponents are looking to take advantage of a dip in his approval rating by latching on to rising anti-immigration sentiment. With the share of Russians wanting tighter immigration rules at the highest in at least a decade, Alexey Navalny, the country’s most-popular opposition […]

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Senators Pass Treason Bill Affecting International NGOs

Russian Jail File Photo Showing Outer Wall, Windows, Barbed Wire

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – November 1, 2012) The Federation Council on Wednesday passed amendments to the law on treason that could make it possible for law enforcement officials to target people collaborating with international organizations. The changes, which were passed by the State Duma earlier this month, were approved by 138 of 166 senators, despite appeals […]

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Lukin Calls For Distinguishing Between Espionage, Contacts With Foreigners

Vladimir Lukin file photo

ST. PETERSBURG. Sept 28 (Interfax) – Russian human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin believes there is a need to distinguish between contacts with foreigners and espionage. “Naturally, I believe espionage should be fought. Thank God, we have a very serious organization for fighting espionage. I am for a law-governed state, and, consequently, for legal certainty,” Lukin told reporters on Friday. Lukin […]

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