Day: June 4, 2019

Monday, June 3, 2019

Coming of Age in North Caucasus Not What It Used to Be, Russian Scholar Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 3 – The transition to adulthood, from the time of leaving school to the birth of a first child, was until recently in the North Caucasus strictly defined by traditional patterns, Yekaterina Mitrofanova, a specialist at the Moscow Institute of Demography. But now it is changing rapidly, increasingly diverse across the region and faster for men than for women.

            In an article in the current issue of the Russian-language Journal for Research on Social Policy (jsps.hse.ru/article/view/8862) that has now been summarized by Yekaterina Mitrofanova of the IQ portal (iq.hse.ru/news/280786439.html), the demographer says that there have been more changes in the socio-economic events than in the socio-demographic. Read more →

Saturday, June 1, 2019

Ingushetia Close to Explosive ‘Point of No Return, Matiyeva Says

Paul Goble

Staunton, June 1 – Anzhela Matiyeva, a member of the Ingush Committee of National Unity, says that if Moscow does not intervene very soon and remove the corrupt, irresponsible and increasingly repressive Yunus-Bek Yevkurov as Ingushetia’s head “tomorrow the point of no return will have been passed” and she can’t predict what might happen.

The political analyst and activist’s conclusion comes at the end of a long interview she gave to Anna Veber, a Paragraphs journalist, in which Matiyeva outlined the way in which things have been deteriorating in Ingushetia because of Yevkurov’s actions over the last two years (paragraphs.online/article/386-ingushskiy-aktivist-my-khotim-tolko-odnogo-ponimaniya). Read more →

Monday, June 3, 2019

Fliers Appear in Ingushetia Calling for Republic to Leave Russia and Join Georgia

Paul Goble

Staunton, June 3 — In what be a reflection of the growing radicalization of Ingush protesters or a provocation staged by Yunus-Bek Yevkurov intended to justify an even more draconian crackdown, fliers have appeared in Magas and other cities of Ingushetia urging that the republic withdraw from Russia and join the Republic of Georgia.

Opposition leaders disowned the effort saying that it was either the work of hotheads or provocateurs and pointing out that during the entire course of the protests, they have rejected separatism or any violation of Russian law (eadaily.com/ru/news/2019/06/02/v-ingushetii-rasprostranyayutsya-listovki-s-antigosudarstvennymi-prizyvami). Read more →

Putin v. the People: Divided Russia faces perilous politics

June 4, 2019

According to a new survey from WCIOM, one of Russia’s leading polling agencies, trust in Russian president Vladimir Putin has fallen to an all-time low of 31.7 percent, notes Samuel A. Greene (@samagreene), reader in Russian politics and director of the Russia Institute at King’s College London. As the economy struggles and real disposable incomes look set to decline for the sixth straight year, the bloom is very much off the Crimean rose. After some consternation from the Kremlin, the same agency released a new survey using a different method and yielding a number almost twice as high, he writes for The Post’s Monkey Cage..

Even Putin’s job approval figures — while still at a healthy 65.8 percent — are 20 points off their highs. The real bad news for Putin, however, is what the polls aren’t showing: Russians are clamming up, adds Greene, co-author of Putin v. the People: The Perilous Politics of a Divided Russia:

In fact, the gap between the non-answer rates on trust and approval has never been greater than it is right now. The number of people who simply look the other way when asked whether they trust the Russian president has never been higher — and the chasm between Russians’ hearts and minds is growing ever deeper. Read more →