Category: History, Soviet Union

Bureaucrats must not teach historians how textbooks should be written – Naryshkin

Education, Academia, History, Soviet Union
File Photo of U.S. Diplomat Teaching Class to Russian Students

(Interfax – KAZAN, July 16, 2013) Historians and history teachers, not bureaucrats, should decide how Russian history should be taught to Russian students, said Sergei Naryshkin, the Russian State Duma’s speaker and president of the Russian Historical Society. “Experts in history have wisely asked the Russian Historical Society to provide guidelines for teaching history as a subject, which will be […]

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The tsar files: Who killed the Romanovs

Assassinations, Beatings, Threats, Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Romanov Family Photo

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yan Shenkman, RBTH – July 16, 2013) In the night between the 16th and 17th of July 1918 the family of Russia’s last Emperor, Nicolas II, was killed in Ekaterinburg. RBTH investigates the identities and lives of the killers of the tsar. Even now, 115 years after the murder of Russia’s last czar, […]

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Brief history of corruption in Imperial Russia

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, History, Soviet Union
File Image of Czar Alexander II

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Georgy Manaev, special to RBTH – July 16, 2013) Since medieval times, corruption in Russia has been rooted in the essence of the governing system­not, however, an incurable disease. The third presidential term of Vladimir Putin has been marked by an unprecedented (for post-Soviet Russia) war on corrupt officials in the central governing […]

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Patriarch Kirill conducts Romanov Dynasty 400th anniversary service in St. Petersburg

History, Soviet Union, Religion
Romanov Family Photo

(Interfax – St. Petersburg, July 12, 2013) Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia presided over a religious service marking the 400th anniversary of the House of Romanov at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg on Friday. Hundreds of worshippers gathered at the cathedral and in the square in front of it for the service, an Interfax correspondent […]

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Total of 4.6 mln Soviet soldiers, killed in World War II, still not identified

History, Soviet Union, Military
Battle of Stalingrad file photo

(Interfax – PROKHOROVKA, July 12, 2013) The Russian Defense Ministry has not yet identified 4.6 million Soviet soldiers, whose remains are buried in Russia and abroad, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said. “A total of over 32,000 burial sites of over 7 million people are registered by the ministry. A total of 2.6 million are known by surname. Unfortunately, the […]

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New Russian cinema trend: Biopics of Soviet stars

History, Soviet Union, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
File Photo of Yuri Gagarin and U.S. Newspaper About Gagarin Space Flight

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Andrey Arkhangelsky, film critic, special to RBTH – July 10, 2013) There is a new trend in Russian cinema: biopics about famous people from the past. Films about Gagarin, Vysotsky and Kharlamov are not only educational, but ideological too. There is a new trend in Russian cinema: biopics about famous people from the […]

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Architectural Preservation’s Politics

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, History, Soviet Union, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Aerial View of Moscow From Beyond Stadium, file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Delphine d’Amora – July 9, 2013) The battle over the preservation of Moscow’s architectural heritage has become visibly political in recent weeks, as prominent opposition parties criticized acting mayor Sergei Sobyanin’s policies. Several candidates have promised to address the issue in the run-up to this September’s mayoral race. The primary catalyst in the debate has […]

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Re: Moscow October 1993

History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Parliament Building Billowing Smoke in 1993

Subject: Re: Moscow October 1993 From: lsell52354@aol.com (Louis D. Sell) Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 In catching up on my reading I saw an exchange of e-mails on the events in Russia in October 1993.  At that time I was the acting number 2 at the US Embassy in Moscow, which as those familiar with Moscow know, is only a […]

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[Yeltsin and Parliament: 1993 Crisis] re: Adomanis/1993

History, Soviet Union, Human Rights, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Parliament Building Billowing Smoke in 1993

From: Stephen F. Cohen <sfc1@nyu.edu> Subject: re Adomanis/1993 Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2013 In his important revisiting of Yeltsin’s violent destruction of Russia’s elected parliament, and indeed its entire constitutional order, in October 1993, Mark Adomanis (JRL #113, 2013) endorses my longstanding argument that the country’s de-democratization began not with Putin but with that horrific event. I am grateful for […]

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Half of Russians ready to fight for homeland – poll

History, Soviet Union, Military
File Photo of Russian Military Conscripts Boarding Train with Gear

(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 21, 2013) Russians are paying tribute to their compatriots who saved the country in World War Two. They are also ready to fight for their homeland if a new war starts, Levada Center told Interfax in comment on a poll held before the Day of Remembrance and Grief. Some 52% of the respondents said the Soviet […]

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Long-Lost Soviet Holocaust Films Under New Spotlight

History, Soviet Union, Human Rights, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Nazi Concentration Camp - adapted from image at army.mil

(RIA Novosti – Maria Young – WASHINGTON, June 19, 2013) ­ Nearly a dozen long-lost, rarely seen Soviet films and scores of screenplays that were never produced about the persecution of Jews during World War II have been revived to offer decades-old evidence of a side of the Holocaust few people recognize today. From the dusty archives of Moscow and […]

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Russian Court Refuses To Hear Defence Witnesses In Navalnyy’s Embezzlement Trial

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(RIA Novosti – Kirov, June 18, 2013) Judge Sergey Blinov refused on Tuesday (18 June) the request of the defence that 13 witnesses, including an auditor and several experts, be summoned to court in at the Kirovles (Kirov Timber) trial, a RIA Novosti correspondent has reported from Kirov’s Leninskiy court. On Monday, defence lawyer Svetlana Davydova submitted a request for […]

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U.S. Returns Rare Documents to Russia

History, Soviet Union, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Romanov Family Photo

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 18, 2013) The United States has returned to Moscow eight historical documents, taken out of Russian archives during the turbulent 1990s and recently recovered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The documents, including handwritten orders by Tsarina Catherine the Great and Russia’s last Tsar Nicholas II, and a personal letter by composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky, […]

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Presidential Library opens access to declassified materials on World War II

History, Soviet Union
Battle of Stalingrad file photo

ST. PETERSBURG. June 13 (Interfax) – The Presidential Library named after Yeltsin has opened access to declassified and little known documents coming to its fund. “We began digitizing declassified materials almost three years ago. We work with the archive of the defense ministry and other official archives. Documents are declassified, we digitize them, put them in our funds and wide […]

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June 12: How Declaration of Sovereignty saved Russia

History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Artem Zagorodnov, RBTH – June 12, 2013) Sergei Shakhrai, one of the authors of Russia’s constitution, explained to RBTH what really brought about the USSR’s demise, and what prevented Russia from splitting apart further. During the turbulent years of the Soviet collapse, parliamentarian Sergei Shakhrai supported the Declaration of Sovereignty, passed by parliamentary […]

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Russia Day: From independence to summer holiday

History, Soviet Union, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Map of Russia

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Gleb Cherkasov, special to RBTH – June 11, 2013) Conceived by the founding fathers of the new Russia and in the mold of U.S. Independence Day, “Russia Day” has become just a new summer holiday ­ mainly because no one has ever managed to figure out who Russia gained independence from. For almost […]

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Only Half of Russians Can Name June 12 Holiday – Poll

History, Soviet Union, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Kremlin and St. Basil's

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 11, 2013) ­ Only 50% of Russian citizens know the correct name of the June 12 national holiday ­ the Day of Russia, according to a survey by the Levada Center independent pollster. The survey, published on Monday, indicates that another 30% of Russians know this holiday by its previous name ­ the Day of […]

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Russia’s June 12 holiday: birth of a nation

History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Map of Russia

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova – June 10, 2013) Ask a handful of people about Russia Day, celebrated every year on June 12 since 1992, and you are likely to encounter confusion. Meant to celebrate the birth of the Russian Federation, a modern nation with a new Constitution and flag, the holiday does not have a lot of […]

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Russia Gearing Up for National Holiday

History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Map of Russia

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – June 10, 2013) On Wednesday June 12 offices around Russia will empty as Russia celebrates Russia Day, one of the nation’s youngest public holidays. Since the day falls in the middle of the week, it will not be rearranged to make up a long weekend. “People will have to organize their working week to take […]

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Windows on Eurasia: Russia’s Future Belongs Not to the Opposition but to the Stalinized Young, Pavlova Says

Children, Adoptions, Orphans, History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, June 5, 2013) The supporters of Stalin and those who want to continue his political approach have in fact “triumphed” in today’s Russia, and these people consist not of the older generation but of the young who have grown up in the course of the re-Stalinization of the country during the last […]

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How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin

History, Soviet Union, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Beatles file photo, black and white, in ties and coats waving; adapted from image at dol.gov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Des Brown – May 28, 2013) “How The Beatles Rocked the Kremlin: The Untold Story of a Noisy Revolution,” rockets the reader back to the stagnant times of the Brezhnev era, when the Beatles’ music was illegal in the Soviet Union, yet at the same time, bootleg recordings of Paul, George, John and Ringo were […]

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In Russia, Commemorative Plaque To Be Restored Amid Brezhnev Nostalgia

History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Richard Nixon sitting with Leonid Brezhnev, with Third Person Standing and Leaning between Them

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Claire Bigg – May 28, 2013) Authorities have backed a plan to return a commemorative plaque to the Moscow apartment building where Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev spent the last 30 years of his life. A Moscow City Hall committee has approved the initiative, submitted by a group of State Duma deputies. Supporters had hoped to have […]

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The Fabulous 90’s: A Siberian memoir: Response to Adomanis JRL#94

History, Soviet Union
Map of Russia

Date: Sun, 26 May 2013 Subject:  The Fabulous 90’s: A Siberian memoir: Response to Adomanis JRL#94 From: Sarah Lindemann-Komarova <echosiberia@gmail.com> The Fabulous 90’s: A Siberian memoir in response to JRL#94 Mark Adomanis Forbes.com “The Intelligence Squared Debate: Masha Gessen Has Some Really Strange Ideas About The 1990’s” (JRL #94) Adomanis, “With the stipulation that Gessen doesn’t represent the entire Russian […]

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Putin says Russia needs to look back to move forward

History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Religion
Vladimir Putin file photo

(Interfax – May 25, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that to move forward Russia needs to look back at its traditions and roots, Interfax news agency reported on 25 May, quoting the Kremlin’s website. In a message on the occasion of the unveiling of a monument to Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Germogen (Hermogenes), Putin says: “Today’s […]

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Why Did Russia Let the Republics Go? Revisiting the Fall of the USSR

History, Soviet Union
Map of Russia

(Kennan Institute Meeting Report – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Mackensie Knorr – April 29, 2013) “Why did the Russians, despite all that one would expect from them given the histories of the downfalls of empires, decide not to fight and to let the empire fall?” asked Serhii Plokhii, Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University, at a 29 April 2013 […]

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Brezhnev Beats Lenin as Russia’s Favorite 20th Century Ruler

History, Soviet Union
File Photo of Richard Nixon sitting with Leonid Brezhnev, with Third Person Standing and Leaning between Them

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, May 22, 2013) ­ Russians view Leonid Brezhnev as the most positive of all Soviet and Russian leaders in the 20th century, but Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin were close behind in an opinion poll released on Wednesday. Brezhnev, who ruled the Soviet Union from 1964-1982, was viewed positively by 56 percent of respondents in the […]

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Russians don’t like idea of bringing monarchy back – poll

History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Romanov Family Photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 16, 2013) A poll conducted by the Levada Center shows that the majority of Russians are confident that Russia does not need a monarchy and Russia’s last emperor Nicholas II was not the best leader. The 145th anniversary of the birth of Russia’s last Emperor Nicholas II will be marked on May 19. The study shows […]

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Putin’s Patriotism: Duma May Make Criticism of WWII Illegal

History, Soviet Union, Human Rights, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – May 17, 2013) Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series on state initiatives to promote patriotism. The State Duma has ordered an evaluation of a comment made by opposition politician Leonid Gozman in which he compared a Soviet intelligence agency to Adolf Hitler’s SS on the grounds that the comment […]

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Judicial probe needed into activities of Stalin’s security agencies – rights group

History, Soviet Union, Human Rights
File Photo of Prison in Russia with Wall, Barbed Wire, Guard Tower

(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 16, 2013) A leading Russian human rights group has called for a judicial inquiry into the activities of Stalin-era security services after a high-profile public figure accused a Soviet counterintelligence service that existed during World War II of methods similar to those of Nazi Germany’s security agencies. Leonid Gozman, head of humanitarian projects at state corporation […]

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Sacred beliefs: The painful legacy of WWII is made up of questions that cannot be answered

History, Soviet Union
Battle of Stalingrad file photo

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – May 13, 2013) Anna Arutunyan is a correspondent and editor at themoscownews.com The tanks and the Topol-M missile had all passed, the booming, Soviet-era voice of the announcer was quiet, the 11,000 uniformed servicemen were at ease, and the little boy standing on the curb of the Red Square suddenly spoke up. […]

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Why Stalin Would Be Proud of Putin

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Vladimir Putin file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Victor Davidoff – May 13, 2013) One year ago on May 7, President-elect Vladimir Putin’s motorcade traversed the empty streets of Moscow, cleared of every living soul by the police, to his inauguration in the Kremlin. This anniversary passed mostly unnoticed by the public and mainstream media. The reason is not so much that it […]

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Ban on Foreign Holdings Gives Kremlin Muscovy-Like Control, Commentator Says

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Man Placing Stack of Large Bills into Inside Pocket of Suitcoat

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, May 10 ­ New Russia legislation to prevent officials from having cash or stock accounts abroad, promoted by the regime as a step toward “the nationalization of the elite,” brings Russia into line with countries like Bangladesh rather than the West and gives the Kremlin powers much like those of medieval Muscovy, […]

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Berezovsky buried in England

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, History, Soviet Union, In Memoriam, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Boris Berezovsky file photo

(Interfax – LONDON/MOSCOW, May 8, 2013) Russian business tycoon Boris Berezovsky was buried Brookwood cemetery, Surrey, in Great Britain, a source close to the businessman told Interfax on Wednesday. “The burial service was conducted in the family circle, while the burial ceremony itself was attended by 50 to 70 people – the family and friends of the late oligarch,” the […]

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Bestselling writers bear witness to the devastation, and glory, of WW II

History, Soviet Union
Battle of Stalingrad file photo

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alena Tveritina, RBTH – May 10, 2013) Many Soviet writers experienced the brutal front as Red Army soldiers and as war correspondents; others collected the accounts of everyday citizens. World War II is among the most tragic chapters in the hard book of the 20th century. Many Soviet writers fought with the Red […]

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On Victory Day, Putin Says Russian Soldiers Freed Europe

History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Battle of Stalingrad file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 10, 2013) President Vladimir Putin has praised Russian soldiers as “the liberators of Europe” at a Victory Day parade with more than 11,000 soldiers and 100 military vehicles on Red Square. “We will always remember that it was the Red Army that didn’t allow the fascists to occupy the world,” Putin said a speech […]

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What to make of May Day?

History, Soviet Union, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
File Photo of Russian Tanks on Parade

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Simon Speakman Cordall special to The Moscow News – April 29, 2013) Overshadowed by dramatic Victory Day celebrations, the May 1 holiday has yet to be redefined in the post-Soviet landscape There were four pivotal dates on the Soviet calendar; January 1, May 1, May 9 and, the anniversary of the revolution, November 7. Times, […]

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Boston Bombers Reflect Specific Experiences of Some North Caucasians in Soviet and Post-Soviet Times, Moscow Analyst Says

Central Asia, Chechnya, Dagestan, North Caucasus, History, Soviet Union, Terrorism, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Boston Bombings Suspects File Photo Adapted from FBI Image

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 29, 2013) The two brothers who carried out the horrific Boston bombing are not simply Muslims who were inspired by radical websites or Chechens who were continuing their struggle against Moscow by other means, as many in both Russia and the West have insisted, according to a Moscow analyst. Instead, Konstantin […]

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Putin and Russian History

History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Spies, Spy Allegations
File Photo of Vladimir Putin Sitting at Desk

From: Arch Getty <getty@ucla.edu> Subject: Putin and Russian History Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2013 Putin and Russian History By J. Arch Getty J. Arch Getty is Professor of History at UCLA.  He is the author of several books on Russian history, including Practicing Stalinism: Boyars, Bolsheviks and the Persistence of Tradition, forthcoming from Yale University Press. An occupational hazard of […]

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Debate Rages Over State History Textbooks

Education, Academia, History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of U.S. Diplomat Teaching Class to Russian Students

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – April 26, 2013) This is part of an occasional series. As part of his effort to promote patriotism among younger generations of Russians, President Vladimir Putin has proposed creating a single set of history textbooks for schoolchildren, arguing that there should be more consistency in what students are taught and that textbooks […]

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CIA Officers Advised Russia’s Privatization Minister – Putin

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Spies, Spy Allegations, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Anatoly Chubais file photo

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 25, 2013) ­ Officers of the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency operated as consultants to Anatoly Chubais, the Russian deputy prime minister who oversaw the privatization of the country’s economy in the early 1990’s, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. “In Chubais’ entourage, it has now turned out, CIA officers worked as consultants,” Putin said […]

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Putin denies accusations of Stalinism

History, Soviet Union, Human Rights, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – April 25, 2013) President Vladimir Putin said his methods don’t have anything in common with those of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, and that the trials of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the members of the Pussy Riot feminist punk group were not politically motivated. Putin made the remarks in response to a […]

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Attitude of Russians to Lenin becomes more moderate – poll

History, Soviet Union
File Photo of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin

(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 21, 2013) Russians have become more reserved in their attitudes to Vladimir Lenin and they do not support the idea of returning the name of Leningrad to St. Petersburg, according to a poll taken ahead of the birth anniversary of the Russian revolutionary (April 22). Sociologists from Levada Center told Interfax that almost every third Russian […]

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Putin Isn’t Restoring the USSR; He’s Seeking Support from Conservative Part of the Population, Gontmakher Says

History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Vladimir Putin file photo

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 17, 2013 – windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/04/window-on-eurasia-putin-isnt-restoring.html) Several recent actions by the Kremlin restoring Soviet-era symbols have led to speculation that Vladimir Putin is returning Russia to the political-economic model of the USSR, but such speculation distracts attention from what the Russian president is really trying to do: generate support for himself among the […]

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Investment questions for Russia’s closed cities

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, History, Soviet Union, Oil, Gas, Energy, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Science, Technology, Engineering, Space
Map of Russia

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Nathan Gray – April 15, 2013) One of the most famous and secretive features of the Soviet Union, closed cities – known today in Russian as ZATOs – still dot the country, though in far fewer numbers than during the Cold War. The cities, which numbered upward of 100 throughout the different republics in the […]

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Alienation of Russian Nation from Russian State Led to 1917 and 1991, Moscow Historian Says

History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Map of Russia

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 13, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/04/window-on-eurasia-alienation-of-russian.html) A major reason for the destruction of the Russian Empire in 1917 and of the Soviet Union in 1991, a Moscow historian says, was “the alienation that existed between the state and the Russian people,” a shortcoming that unfortunately the Russian Federation has not yet overcome with […]

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All dissidents now: Russia’s protests and the mirror of history

History, Soviet Union, Human Rights, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Kremlin and St. Basil's

(opendemocracy.net – Tom Rowley – March 29, 2013) Tom Rowley is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge. His work investigates how dissidents are remembered in Russia from perestroika to the present day. THE CEELBAS DEBATE // How far does the current clash between the opposition and authorities reflect Russia’s history of dissidence?  Tom Rowley considers the importance of […]

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Medvedev Warns Ruling Party to Avoid Communists’ Fate

History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin

YAKUTSK, April 2 (RIA Novosti) ­ Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warned his ruling United Russia party on Tuesday not to repeat the mistakes made by the Soviet Union’s Communist Party. “We do not aspire to be the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, particularly as it did not turn out very well,” Medvedev said at a meeting in Russia’s Sakha […]

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Berezovsky funeral to take place in London by decision of his children – source

Britain, UK, United Kingdom, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Boris Berezovsky file photo

MOSCOW. April 2 (Interfax) – The funeral of businessman Boris Berezovsky, who died in London recently, will take place in the British capital, TV Rain (Dozhd) reported citing a source close to Berezovsky’s family. “The decision to hold the funeral of the embattled oligarch in the UK has already been made by his children, firstly his older daughters – Yelizaveta […]

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Stalin’s secret kill lists

History, Soviet Union, Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's
File Photo of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Joy Neumeyer – April 1, 2013) In 1934, Ivan Nosov appeared in a photo in Pravda, gazing rapt as his friend Joseph Stalin addressed the 17th Party Congress. In 1937, Stalin scribbled “za” (“I approve”) on a list condemning Nosov to death. Nosov is one of 44,500 names that appear in “Stalin’s Shooting Lists,” a […]

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‘Stalin knew’: why NGO work is important

History, Soviet Union, Human Rights
File Photo of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova – April 1, 2013) The NGO raids in Russia are the big story right now – and yet this story is one that threatens to overshadow some of the important work being done by one particular NGO. I’m talking about “Stalin’s Shooting Lists,” an updated and corrected disk recently reissued by Memorial scans […]

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