THE RUSSIAN NATIONALISM BULLETIN
A Biweekly Newsletter of Current Affairs
Vol. 3, No. 34(76), 26 November 2009
Compilers: Scott Littlefield & Andreas Umland

I NEWS: 1 - 15 November 2009
II SURVEYS, ANALYSES, COMMENTS
III APPENDIX: Review of "Oxford Handbook of Fascism"

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I NEWS: 1 – 15 November 2009

Assembly Of Scholars To Discuss Dissemination Of Russian
Itar-Tass, November 3, 2009

MOSCOW, November 3 (Itar-Tass) - The dissemination of the Russian language and
culture at the international level is to be discussed here on Tuesday by
participants in the third assembly held by the Russian World Foundation (RWF).
The forum is traditionally timed to coincide with the celebration of the
November 4 Day of People's Unity. The forum brings together Russian and foreign
public and political figures, members of creative and scientific communities,
representatives of the organizations of compatriots residing abroad,
Russian-language teachers, diplomatic staff, and experts from 70 countries.
Organizers of the meeting emphasized, "The principal aim of the assembly is to
vividly reflect the present-day creative and intellectual potential of the RWF,
and the mounting international interest in the study of the Russian language and
culture".
Participants in the forum will discuss the most acute problems in the sphere of
the Russian language, culture and history, and work out new approaches and
orientations promoting the development of the RWF and the accomplishment of its
mission. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is expected to attend the
Assembly. An agreement between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian World
Foundation on systemic cooperation and interaction is to be signed.
The RWF was established in June 2007 for the purposes of popularizing the
Russian language, which nowadays is mother tongue for 288 million people of most
diverse nationalities. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry
of Education and Science are among the founders of this public organization.
Vyacheslav Nikonov, Director of the RWF, stressed, "By disseminating knowledge
about Russia, its language, history and culture, the RWF, in essence, engages in
projecting this country's positive image abroad. This is promotion of the
Russian world in a broad sense of the word".
The opening ceremony of the assembly is to be attended by Alexander Zhukov,
Russian Vice-Premier, Boris Gryzlov, Speaker of the State Duma lower house of
parliament, Alexander Yakovenko, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Mikhail
Shvydkoi, special representative of the Russian President for international
cultural cooperation.
--------

Russkiy Mir Plans To Open Russian Schools At ROC Parishes Abroad
Itar-Tass, November 3, 2009

MOSCOW, November 3 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russkiy Mir Foundation plans to open
Russian schools in parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad in cooperation
with the Russian Orthodox Church, Vyacheslav Nikonov, the Foundation's executive
director, told reporters on Tuesday.
The Foundation and the Russian Orthodox Church signed on Tuesday an agreement
on systemic cooperation and interaction. Vyacheslav Nikonov, the Foundation's
executive director, and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia signed the
agreement.
Nikonov told Itar-Tass cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the
Foundation develops outside the agreement, also in the area of joint
publications. "We plan to open Sunday schools in parishes of the Russian
Orthodox Church abroad," he said. "The Foundation allocates grants and supplies
literature," Nikonov added. "Russian centres are planned in some countries on
the basis of church property."
The Foundation has already opened 40 Russian centres in various countries.
Eight more such centres are planned to open before the end of the year - in
Germany, Greece, China and Romania," Nikonov said.
Some 450 projects to advance the Russian culture and the Russian language
abroad were implemented in various countries with the Foundation's support
throughout the year, Lyudmila Verbitskaya, the chairperson of the Foundation's
trusteeship council and president of the International Association of Teachers
of Russian Language and Literature, told the Assembly of the Russkiy Mir
Foundation on Tuesday.
Nearly two-thirds of these projects are connected with the development of
contemporary methods of Russian language teaching, she noted. She also said that
more than 60 new textbooks and literature on methods were published with the
Foundation's support, and also 15 multimedia-teaching programs were worked out.
Support was given to more than 120 schools abroad. She also announced that the
World Festival of Russian Language is scheduled for 2011.
------

Russian Must Get Status Of 2Nd State Language In CIS-view
Itar-Tass, November 3, 2009

MOSCOW, November 3 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander
Yakovenko emphasized on Tuesday a need to legislatively fix the Russian language
giving it the status of the second state language in former Soviet republics.
"The interest to the Russian language as a unique instrument of international
communication is constantly growing," Yakovenko told participants in the third
assembly of the Russian World Foundation. "It is the fifth largest language in
the world - Russian is the native language for 160 million people, and over 300
million people understand it," the Russian official stressed.
"Over 160 peoples and nationalities communicate in Russian, which is one of the
main languages of the U.N. system and other international organizations,"
Yakovenko added. "Fifty-two Russian centres of science and culture and 26
missions of Rossotrudnichestvo (the Federal Agency for the Affairs of the CIS,
Ethnic Russians Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation), operating
in 72 countries, do practical work to spread the Russian language," the deputy
minister said.
"The signing of intergovernmental agreements to set up centres in Belarus,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and China is due shortly," he added. "It is
planned to open before 2020 over 30 centres and affiliates of already existing
Russian centres of science and culture in major cities of CIS and Baltic states,
countries of Europe, America, Asia and Africa," Yakovenko added.
"CIS countries are Russia's closest foreign policy partners, and the
strengthening of positions of the Russian language in countries of the
Commonwealth is, of course, of particular significance," Yakovenko is confident.
"The key factor in that to fix the status of the Russian language
legislatively. We believe that giving the Russian language the status of the
second state official language or the language of inter-national communication
would meet the interests of not only our fellow countrymen but also all other
residents of former Soviet republics," he added.
"The Russian World Foundation plays a major role in the process of spreading
the Russian language," the diplomat noted. "A wide range of programs carried out
by the fund - from grants to support humanitarian projects in the sphere of the
Russian language and culture, Russian-language media outlets and information
resources to the unveiling of Russian centres abroad - provides an opportunity
to work purposefully with due regard for concrete audience, achieve maximum
results," he added.
"Forty Russian centres in 23 countries have been opened since the fund began
its activity more than two years ago," Yakovenko stressed. "They have virtually
become islands of Russian culture, and they make it possible for fellow
countrymen to maintain ethno-cultural communication with their Fatherland, while
our foreign friends discover the rich spiritual heritage of our country," the
Russian diplomat stated.
-------

Local Official Reportedly Takes Part in Attack on Jehovah's Witnesses in
Novocherkassk
UCSJ, November 3, 2009

A top local government official allegedly accompanied a prominent
Russian Orthodox cleric and several dozen paramilitary Cossacks in an
attack on Jehovah's Witnesses in Novocherkassk, Russia (Rostov
region), according to a November 2, 2009 report by the Sova
Information-Analytical Center. The previously unreported October 21
attack took place amidst growing official persecution of Jehovah's
Witnesses in Russia.
According to the Sova report, the deputy head of the Novocherkassk
city government, A. V. Demchenko, reportedly took part in the attack,
allegedly led by Protoerey Oleg Dobrinsky from the local Russian
Orthodox diocese. The Cossacks physically expelled Jehovah's Witnesses
from a building they were using, and then started a petition drive
calling for a ban on Jehovah's Witnesses in Novocherkassk. The latest
round of persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia began after a
September 2009 court ruling in the nearby city of Taganrog that
classified Jehovah's Witnesses as "extremists" and banned their
activity within city limits.

http://www.ucsj.org/news/local-official-reportedly-takes-part-attack-jehovahs-wi\
tnesses-novocherkassk
-----

Patriarch Kirill suggests introducing term "a Russian world country"
Interfax-Religion, November 3, 2009

Moscow, November 3, Interfax - A new term could be introduced which would denote
a community of the countries united by the Russian culture, said Patriarch
Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.
"The term 'a Russian world country' could be introduced into usage. It would
mean that a country sees itself as part of the Russian world, if it uses Russian
as the language of international communication, promotes the Russian culture,
and preserves the general historical memory," Patriarch Kirill said at the
opening of the 3rd Russian World Assembly in Moscow on Tuesday.
Today the nations inhabiting the area of the historical Rus should "realize
their being part of the same civilization and see the Russian world as their
common supranational project," the Patriarch said.
It is important to preserve the unique deep meaning of the term "Russian world"
and to preserve original Russian cultural tradition, Patriarch Kirill said.
"We need to continue to be aware of the uniqueness of the Russian way of living
and reproduce it not only in the countries with a predominantly Russian culture,
but also to attest to it far beyond our boundaries," the Russian Church primate
said.
No country of the Russian world can act on the international arena totally
alone, the principle of unity should be respected here as well, he said.
"Only a united Russian world can become a strong subject of international law,"
Patriarch Kirill said.

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=6608
-------

Russians Mark Unity Day Fifth Time, Half Curious What It Is About
Itar-Tass, November 3, 2009

MOSCOW, November 3 (Itar-Tass) -- The Popular Unity Day Russians mark on
November 4 is a holiday the authorities introduced five years ago with the hope
it would be a worthy substitute for the anniversary of the 1917 October
Revolution. Over the past years most people have developed the habit of having a
day off on the fourth day of November, but one in two is still curious what the
holiday is all about.
In the meantime, it is nakedly clear that the relatively new public holiday
called Popular Unity Day has failed to play any unification role yet. On the
contrary, it has proved an excuse for nationalists of all sorts to take to the
streets.
November 4 was for the first time celebrated as Popular Unity Day in 2005. It
was then that the day off was moved from November 7 to the day when believers
marked the Orthodox holiday of the Icon of Our Lady of Kazan. The ideological
background of this secular holiday dates back to the events of 1612, when an
army of volunteers under merchant Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, freed
Moscow of a Polish invasion.
On the eve of the holiday the national public opinion studies center VCIOM held
a poll in 140 villages and cities in Russia's 42 territories. As the pollster
has found, says the daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta, 51 percent do not know what sort
of holiday November 4 is or what events it commemorates, although last year the
rating was 48 percent. A tiny 16 percent of Russian citizens named the holiday
correctly.
Since 2006 the number of those who do not celebrate the holiday at all has
merely grown from 49 percent to 66 percent.
The 'youngest' holiday has proved not exactly what the authorities had fancied
it would be. Over the past year there has developed a very unexpected tradition
for the nationalists to celebrate November 4 by staging street processions
called the Russian March. It was in 2005, shortly after the new holiday was
officially introduced that the nationalists managed to openly declare their
convictions and march along Moscow's streets chanting slogans like Russia for
Russians. This year the radical nationalists from the Movement Against Illegal
Immigration and the Slavic Union in support for what they call "the interests of
the Russian people". Apart from Moscow rallies and street processions are to be
held at least in ten other regions of Russia.
This time, however, the nationalists will confront different forces. The
counter-action of the pro-Kremlin movement Ours, which contests the prerogative
of safeguarding the interests of the Russian people, will be held under the
slogan All are Ours.
The pro-Kremlin party United Russia plans to stage a large rally at the
Poklonnaya Hill memorial in Western Moscow. It will put to test a new SMS-based
know-how of holding a nation-wide campaign entitled "How do you see the future
of Russia?"
Moscow's anti-Nazis, who are far less numerous than the nationalists, will hold
their own rally on November 4, too.
The Russian Orthodox Church, too, will be holding special ceremonies on the
occasion of the state holiday coinciding with the holiday of the Icon of Our
Lady of Kazan. "The patriarchal liturgy, the procession in Red Square and the
memorial service commemorating the victims of the revolution and of the Civil
War is expected to promote the unity of the ancestors of the Reds and the
Whites," the daily Vremya Novostei quotes the chief of the Church-Society
Relations Department of the Moscow Patriarchate, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, as
saying. However, judging by the events that were timed for November 4 over the
past several years indicates the problem of Russia's split into the Reds and the
Whites does not look as acute as that of the border line between Russians and
non-Russians.
The authorities as represented by President Dmitry Medvedev mark the current
holiday in a somewhat unconventional format. The president will celebrate the
holiday among his compatriots, who are very far from the powers that be. On
November 4 he will give a reception in the Kremlin. Instead of the
representatives of the ruling elite he will invite activists of Russian public
organizations, members of the Public Chamber, experts on Russian affairs,
members of the Peoples' World Assembly and renowned descendants of noble Russian
families.
This much-publicized address to the representatives of the civil society will
be not the first attempt by the president to find a common language with the
country over the heads of the elite, says the daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta. This is
precisely the reason why he joined the fashion of communicating with users of
the Internet and even registered a blog of his own. More than once the president
made statements at various public events on the basis of Russian people's
opinions voiced in the world web.
Analysts say the underlying cause of why the new holiday has proved so slow to
take root in Russian society is there exists no unification idea the Russians
would eagerly rally around.
Before, they looked prepared to unite for the sake of repelling a foreign
enemy.
Now the "enemy image problem" looks really bad.
"No obvious ones are in sight any more," the daily Gazeta quotes the chief of
the political psychology division at Moscow' s Lomonosov State University Yelena
Shestopal as saying. Arch foes are extinct. The regime in Georgia is mentioned
in this respect more often than the others, but Saakashvili is too insignificant
a personality for such a great country as Russia to show muscle to.
Military specialists agree with the civil ones.
"In military terms NATO is no longer an enemy, or even a threat, although it
cannot be called a bloc friendly to Russia, let alone an ally," the daily quotes
a member of the Foreign and Defense Policy Council, Vitaly Shlykov, as saying.
As far as a national idea is concerned, everything is very bad, too. The deputy
general director of the Center of Political Technologies, Alexei Makarkin,
believes that no national idea has been found since the collapse of Communism at
least because inside the authorities there is no unity as to what ideas to
propagate.
"The attitude to Stalin is an elementary example. On the one hand, since 2007
there have appeared history manuals that interpret the totalitarian leader's
rule without wholesale criticism. But on the other hand, President Dmitry
Medvedev last week condemned Stalinism in very harsh terms," Makarkin said.
-------

Russia marks post-Soviet national day with mass rallies
AFP, November 4, 2009

MOSCOW, Nov 4 (AFP) - Russia on Wednesday marked its new annual day of national
unity, established under strongman leader Vladimir Putin, with a string of mass
rallies including pro-Kremlin youth and far-right extremists.
The November 4 Day of National Unity has been celebrated since 2005 when
Russia's then president Putin created the holiday to replace the November 7
commemoration of the 1917 October Revolution.
Putin's successor President Dmitry Medvedev said the national day "gives us
reason to believe that we are indeed a united people, a people capable of
overcoming the biggest problems which have been our fate more than once."
Russians were "a people that has defeated the enemy many times. A people that
endured deprivation but stayed strong and courageous," he said in a speech in
the town of Suzdal east of Moscow carried on state television.
This year, the day was to be marked by nationalist-tinged rallies, with the
biggest expected to be by the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi which has vowed to
bring 20,000 of its supporters out by the river in central Moscow.
"November 4 is the day when Russia remembers its great history. All those with
a Russian passport, who know Russian, who study the laws of our country... are
invited irrespective of ethnicity," Nashi said in a statement.
But permission has also been granted to the far-right Movement Against Ilegal
Immigration (DPNI) for a so-called "Russian March" expected to be attended by
2,000 people in southeast Moscow.
"Be polite and respectful... Remember all Russians are brothers... Do not use
gestures that could be used by the media to discredit the Russian March," the
DNPI told its supporters in a statement.
By contrast to the permission given to the right-wing group, Moscow police last
Saturday arrested 50 opposition protesters in the centre of the Russian capital
for staging an unsanctioned demonstration.
The November 4 holiday marks the day in 1612 when Prince Dmitry Pozharsky
forced an invading Polish-Lithuanian force to leave its positions inside the
Kremlin.
This brought to an end a chaotic period in Russian history known as the Time of
Troubles and opened the way for the establishment of the Romanov Dynasty that
ruled Russia until the Revolution.
However most Russians remain unaware what the holiday is for, according to a
poll published by the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VTsIOM).
Only 16 percent could name the holiday as the Day of National Unity while a
mere two percent could make any links to the events of the 17th century with the
holiday, the centre said in a poll of 1,600 people across Russia.
-------

Russia people ¬ truly united people that can overcome any problems
Itar-Tass, November 4, 2009

SUZDAL (Vladimir region), November 4 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev believes that Russia's people is "a truly united people, who can
overcome the biggest problems. The Russian president said so in a congratulatory
message to all Russian citizens on the occasion of National Unity Day.
Medvedev celebrates the holiday in Suzdal, Vladimir region, where he attended
an opening ceremony of a chapel in honour of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. "The feat
of Prince Pozharsky and Citizen Minin will be imprinted forever in the memory of
all Russian citizens and all people, who live in our land," the president said.
He recalled that "Russia had to resolve more than once very difficult tasks for
the reunification of the state and overcoming the times of troubles." Minin and
Pozharsky had to raise the Volunteer Army at the beginning of the 17th century
to give a rebuff to foreign invaders. "The people liberated themselves. This is
an absolutely special date in the history of our country, and today the holiday
¬ National Unity Day and the day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God
venerated in our country is celebrated all over the country," Medvedev noted.
The president expressed confidence that "such events unite us today, give us
reasons to believe that we are a truly united people ¬ the people that can
overcome the biggest problems, which befell more than once in our fate, the
people, who conquered the enemy many times, the people, who endured the
hardships, but stayed courageous."
According to Medvedev, Prince Pozharsky set an example of this valour. "During
the period of the Volunteer Army and afterwards he has served to the Russian
state for many years and has served to the people of our country," the president
said.
"I would like to congratulate you on our national holiday ¬ National Unity Day
and wish to all of you health, strength and happiness. Accept my
congratulations," Medvedev pointed out.
------

Nationalists clash with anti-fascists in St. Petersburg
RIA Novosti, November 4, 2009

MOSCOW, November 4 (RIA Novosti) - A group of nationalists clashed with
activists of anti-fascist movements on Wednesday in Russia's second largest city
of St. Petersburg, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported.
Nationalist rallies, known as Russian Marches, are traditionally held in some
Russian regions on November 4 during the celebrations of Russia's national
holiday, the Day of People's Unity. The country's nationalists first held the
Russian March on November 4, 2005.
A group of nationalists, who held an unsanctioned rally near one of St.
Petersburg's remote parks clashed with anti-fascist activists who gathered
nearby. The clash was quickly stopped by riot police.
According to Russian media reports, nationalists rallied in other Russian
cities, including Moscow and the Siberian cities of Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk.
Up to 1,500 people took part in the so-called Russian March in Moscow's
southern district of Lyublino. The participants were mostly teenagers and young
people in their 20s; many of them covered their faces.
About 500 people, chanting nationalist slogans, have gathered for the Russian
March in Novosibirsk. A similar event gathered some 200 people in the Eastern
Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.
The gatherings were sanctioned by the local authorities and passed without
incident.
November 4 commemorates the popular uprising which expelled the
Polish-Lithuanian occupation force from Moscow in November 1612, and more
generally the end of the Time of Troubles and foreign intervention in Russia in
the Polish-Muscovite War (1605-1618). The day is a Russian national holiday.
Over 40,000 police officers and troops have been deployed to monitor about 400
public events in 64 Russian regions. Over 203,000 people are expected to take
part in the celebrations.
---------

Russia To Mark National Unity Day - Holiday Of Civil Society Wed
Itar-Tass, November 4, 2009

MOSCOW, November 4 (Itar-Tass) - Russia on Wednesday is marking the state
holiday - National Unity Day. It is devoted to the heroic deed of people's
militiamen headed by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky who in 1612 liberated
Moscow from Polish invaders. This event put an end to the Time of Troubles
period and marked the beginning of building the Russian state.
Unity Day, Day of People's Unity (or National Unity Day) was celebrated in
Russian Empire until 1917 and in Russia from 2005. Held on November 4 (October
26, Old Style), it commemorates the popular uprising, which expelled the
Polish-Lithuanian occupation force from Moscow in November 1612, and more
generally the end of the Time of Troubles and foreign intervention in Russia in
the Polish-Muscovite War (1605-1618).
Its name alludes to the idea that all the classes of Russian society willingly
united to preserve Russian statehood when its demise seemed inevitable, even
though there was neither Tsar nor Patriarch to guide them. In 1613 tsar Mikhail
Romanov instituted a holiday named Day of Moscow's Liberation from Polish
Invaders. The holiday, held in October, was abandoned in 1917. November 4 is
also the feast day for Our Lady of Kazan, the holy icon which the Russian
Orthodox Church probably venerates most.
According to a recent poll, only 23 percent of Russians know the name of the
holiday, up from 8 percent in 2005. 22 percent identified the holiday as the Day
of Accord and Reconciliation, the name of the November 7 holiday in the 1990s.
Only 4 percent knew that the holiday commemorates the liberation of Moscow from
Polish invaders, down from 5 percent in 2005.
President Vladimir Putin re-established the holiday in order to replace the
commemoration of the Bolshevik revolution, known as The Day of Great October
Socialist Revolution during Soviet period and as The Day of Accord and
Conciliation in post-Soviet times, which formally took place on November 7. His
decision angered some sections of the public, particularly the communist party,
who pressed on with celebrations on November 7. Putin's predecessor, Boris
Yeltsin took a limited action of changing the name of the holiday; by completely
removing it, Putin has sparked a controversy that continues today.
There have been concerns about the manifestations of ultra-nationalism during
the celebrations of the National Unity Day. In November 2005 and 2006, rallies
were held in Moscow at which demonstrators shouted "Russia for Russians!," made
neo-Nazi salutes, and held placards with swastikas, anti-semitic and
anti-immigration slogans. President Putin and the mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov,
have condemned such slogans and sentiments.
Taking in 2005 its legal place among the "red-letter days" it in essence ousted
the Great October Revolution holiday that had been marked for almost a century,
and turned into the "civil society holiday," as Russia's current Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin once said.
According to the established tradition, the parliamentary majority party -
United Russia that in 2004 was the initiator of the revival of National Unity
Day on Wednesday will organise numerous festivities in Moscow and regions. For
United Russia members, the same as for all Russians, the holiday "has a special
meaning symbolising the solidarity of the people irrespective of origin,
confession and status in the society," deputy head of the United Russia faction
in the State Duma (lower house of RF parliament) Vladimir Pekhtin said on the
eve of the festivities. He invited "all who are not indifferent to the future of
Russia" to join the festive meetings of United Russia, the central of which will
be held on Moscow's Poklonnaya Hill.
Member of the party's General Council, chairman of the education committee of
the Duma Grigory Balykhin expressed confidence in an interview with Itar-Tass
that National Unity Day "is already considered generally recognised." "It takes
some time for November 4 to become as popular as November 7 had been," he is
certain. "It is impossible to just erase from memory November 7, the day that
became for the older generation a holiday of birth of the country, the Soviet
Union," he noted. "But already today, not only for United Russia members, but
also for the opposition, National Unity Day is a significant holiday - they
(opponents) cannot but realise that we will not advance further without uniting
efforts, and this is true not only for overcoming the crisis," believes the
parliamentarian.
Incidentally, the "opponents," namely the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia
(LDPR) will not stay aside from the festivities and intend to gather up to 1,500
their supporters for a rally near the Pushkin Square. The Communist Party (CPRF)
will traditionally ignore the holiday on Wednesday, as they prefer to mark
another anniversary of the October Revolution on November 7.
More than 40,000 policemen and military of the Russian Interior Troops,
including over 6,000 - in the Russian capital, will be on duty ensuring law and
order during the festive events all over the country on November 4.
------

Rallies mark Russia's unity day
BBC News, November 4, 2009.

Russia has marked its annual day of national unity with rallies in Moscow and St
Petersburg.
The Kremlin introduced the day in 2005 to replace the traditional celebrations
marking the 1917 revolution that brought the Bolsheviks to power.
The largest rally took place in the capital, where pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi
gathered some 20,000 supporters.
In St Petersburg there were minor clashes between an ultra-nationalist group and
an anti-fascist movement.
In the south-east of Moscow some 1,500 members of the far-right Movement Against
Illegal Immigration took part in a "Russian March", according to AFP.
Some of the participants, many of whom were dressed in black, shouted "Glory to
Russia" and carried banners proclaiming: "Russia is for the Russians".
The rallies took part despite the Kremlin's attempts to portray the day as a
celebration of Russia's ethnic diversity.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the national day gave "reason to believe
that we are indeed a united people, a people capable of overcoming the biggest
problems which have been our fate more than once".
Russians were "a people that has defeated the enemy many times", he added during
a speech broadcast on state television.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/8343015.stm
-------

Russian TV reports on pro-government Unity Day rallies in Moscow
Channel One TV- BBC Monitoring, November 4, 2009

The dominant One Russia party and its youth branch The Young Guard have held a
rally involving several thousand people in central Moscow to celebrate the Day
of National Unity, state-controlled Channel One TV showed on 4 November. It also
reported on the "Russian March - Everyone is one of ours" rally, organized by
pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi, which brought together 20,000 people in central
Moscow.
The Channel One correspondent said that the One Russia rally, which took place
on Poklonnaya Gora (Hill), was held under the slogan of "Forward Russia!", which
is the title of an article published on the internet by President Dmitriy
Medvedev last month where he called for the country to be modernized.
The report noted that a big screen broadcasted text messages which answered
the question: "How do you see Russia's future?" The correspondent read out one
such answer which said: "I see Russia as strong, modern and socially protected".
He added that the participants in the rally were calling for the modernization
and total unification of Russia.
The report showed Andrey Isayev, first deputy secretary of the General Council
of the One Russia party, addressing the rally. "We are saying that unity is the
main medicine against the crisis. It has not been possible to break Russia, it
has not been possible to bring it to its knees during the international crisis,
because the people are united," he said.
The correspondent then noted that 20,000 people had taken part in the "Russian
March - Everyone is one of ours" (Russkiy marsh - Vse svoi in vernacular) rally
organized by pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi. The participants took part in a
procession from Berezhkovskaya Naberezhnaya (embankment) to the Taras Shevchenko
monument in central Moscow. The report noted that the rally brought together
young people of various ethnicities, and showed crowds of people waving the flag
of the Nashi movement.
Nikita Borovikov, the federal commissar of the Nashi movement, was shown
saying: "As we understand it, the Russian march is a joint celebration of all
the people in Russia, and is a common celebration of national unity". The rally
also brought together delegations from Russia's regions and abroad, some of whom
were shown carrying their national flags.
According to the report, Vladimir Zhirinovskiy and his Liberal Democratic
Party of Russia (LDPR) held a rally entitled "For the unification of Russia!" on
Pushkinskaya Ploshchad (square). Another rally entitled "Against the kindling of
xenophobia and racism on the pretext of exploiting the patriotic idea" was held
on Chistoprudnyy Bulvar (boulevard).
The correspondent concluded his report by saying that, according to the
Interior Ministry, all the events held in Moscow to celebrate the Day of
National Unity had passed by peacefully.
Earlier in the bulletin, Channel One also showed events taking place in
Khabarovsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Nizhniy Novgorod and St Petersburg to celebrate
the Day of National Unity.
According to a report by corporate-owned news agency Interfax, a source in the
operational headquarters of Moscow's chief internal affairs directorate reported
that there had been no serious incidents during the rallies around Moscow on 4
November. "Security was fully guaranteed," he noted.
The directorate noted that 7,000 people took part in One Russia's rally, 500
people attended the LDPR rally, while 1,500 people took part in a rally
organized by the Young Russia movement on Triumfalnaya Ploshchad.
An earlier Interfax report gave more details on the Nashi rally, saying that
many of those present were dressed in multicoloured raincoats with the
inscription "Everyone is one of ours". Nashi spokeswoman Maria Kislitsyna said
that "if we want to live in a bright, open, strong country, we need to overcome
our differences. People of various ethnicities need to come together to start
better understanding each other and treating each other with respect".
Gazprom-owned, editorially independent Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy
reported earlier in the day that several hundred people had attended the
"Russians against fascism" rally in central Moscow, which was intended to oppose
the Russian March organized by nationalist groups in south-east Moscow. The
correspondent noted that the faces of many of the young "anarchists and
anti-fascists" attending the "Russians against fascism" rally were covered by
masks and scarves.
The Ekho correspondent quoted one of the organizers of this rally, Maksim
Stepanov, as saying that "fascism is a disease in society" and it was a
"disgrace" that the Moscow authorities gave permission for the nationalist
groups to hold rallies in the city. The leader of the For Human Rights movement,
Lev Ponomarev, also took part in this rally and hailed its importance. "This is
perhaps the only event in Moscow that is directed against Russian nationalism,"
he said.
--------

Descendants Of Reds And Whites Mourned For Victims Of Revolution, Civil War
Itar-Tass, November 4, 2009

MOSCOW, November 4 (Itar-Tass) -- Descendants of the Reds and the Whites mourned
for victims of the 1917 revolution and the ensuing civil war on Wednesday.
The religious service for the dead was held at one of the churches in central
Moscow. About 50 people - members of the Russian Imperial House, nuns from the
Convent of Saint Mary Magdalene, priests from foreign dioceses of the Russian
Orthodox Church Abroad in France, descendants of Russian emigrants who attended
a Russky Mir (Russian World) conference on Tuesday, and those who had moved to
Russia for permanent residence - attended the service.
Russian ombudsman Vladimir Lukin was present too.
"Today we are praying for the victims of the revolution and the civil war, and
those who died from suffering here in Russia," archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, head
of the Synodic Department for Interaction between the Church and Society, said.
"There will be many disputes in mass media, but despite this dissension there
is one thing that should indisputably bring us together: memory of the people
who suffered for their country .875 Our gratitude should always be above all
disputes and disagreements," he said.
"People's Unity Day is only beginning to reach out to the minds and souls of
people, but there are things that bring people together above social, cultural
and ethnic peculiarities, and generational disagreements - these are love for
the country, common spiritual roots and the memory of those who gave their lives
in times of hardships," Chaplin said.
"If we are divided, we can easily be defeated and put on the knees and
enslaved. But if we together we will achieve the most ambitious goals," he said.
----------

Requiem for victims of civil war and revolution 1917 fist held in Moscow on
National Unity Day
Interfax-Religion, November 5, 2009

Moscow, November 5, Interfax – Requiem service for all victims of the revolution
1917, the civil war and fratricidal fighting Russian people went through in the
20th century was conducted in the Moscow Church of Our Lady of the Sign in the
Roman Pereulok.
Head of the Synodal Church and Society Department Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin
conducted the requiem. Over 50 people prayed at the service including public
figures, members of the Russian Imperial House, clerics and believers of
parishes and monasteries of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Church
Outside of Russia in the Western Europe, descendants of Russian emigrants, Human
Rights Commissioner in Russia Vladimir Lukin.
"One thing can and should unite us. It is memory about people who suffered for
our Motherland. Our gratitude to them should be above all arguments and
discords," Fr. Vsevolod said before the requiem and urged all participants to
pray for eternal salvation for all victims of the civil war and revolution 1917.

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=6612
-----

NATIONALISTS AND ANTI-FASCISTS MARK DAY OF RUSSIAN UNITY
Bigotry Monitor-UCSJ's weekly newsletter, Volume 9, Number 42, November 6, 2009

Marking the official National Unity Day on November 4, the pro-Kremlin Nashi
youth organization appeared to stage the largest rally, with about 30,000 people
attending its so-called "Russian March" on Naberezhnaya Tarasa Shevchenko,
according to its web site, Nashi.su. The rally organized by the Movement Against
Illegal Immigration (DPNI) known for its violently xenophobic and
ultranationalist stance attracted up to 1,500 supporters, mostly teenagers. Many
participants covered their faces. According to "The Moscow Times," city
authorities confined the nationalists to the Lyublino District in southeastern
Moscow, where an estimated 7,000 marched peacefully. However, activists who
protested ultranationalism, racism, and fascism numbered only 1,000, gathered in
downtown Moscow.
Only one clash between the two groups was reported, but police stopped it
quickly. It happened in St. Petersburg, where several nationalists attacked a
small group of anti-fascist activists who had unfolded a banner reading "Fascism
kills." According to Russian media reports, nationalists rallied in other
Russian cities, including Novosibirsk (drawing 500 participants) and Krasnoyarsk
(200 participants). The gatherings, sanctioned by the local authorities, passed
without incident.
According to RIA-Novosti, more than 40,000 police officers and troops were
deployed to monitor about 400 public events in 64 Russian regions. "The Moscow
Times" headline observed that "Heavy Police Presence Keeps Unity Day Quiet."
More than 200,000 people were expected to take part in the celebrations, held
for the fifth time, and commemorating a popular uprising led by Kuzma Minin and
Dmitry Pozharsky expelling from Moscow a Polish-Lithuanian military force in
1612. Referring to that victory 1612 victory, President Medvedev said, "I am
sure that events of this kind … give us reason to believe that we are truly a
united people capable of solving the greatest problems."
However, Itar-Tass observed that "it is nakedly clear" that the holiday "has
failed to play any unification role yet. On the contrary, it has proved an
excuse for nationalists of all sorts to take to the streets." In observing the
National Unity Day in 2005 and 2006, ultranationalists marched in Moscow,
shouting "Russia for Russians!," gave neo-Nazi salutes, and held placards with
swastikas, antisemitic, and anti-immigration slogans. Putin and Moscow Mayor
Yuri Luzhkov condemned the slogans and the sentiments.
According to a recent poll cited by Itar-Tass, only 23% of Russians know the
name of the holiday, up from 8% in 2005 when the then--President Vladimir Putin
established it to replace the commemoration of the Bolshevik revolution. "His
decision angered some sections of the public, particularly the Communist Party
which pressed on with celebrations on November 7," the semi-official news agency
noted.

http://www.ucsj.org/bigotry-monitor/volume-9-2009/volume-9-number-42-november-6-\
2009
------

UNIVERSITY STUDENT FOUND GUILTY OF DISTRIBUTING RACIST LEAFLETS
Bigotry Monitor-UCSJ's weekly newsletter, Volume 9, Number 42, November 6, 2009

A Russian court fined a university student for posting antisemitic and racist
leaflets on a St. Petersburg subway, the Sova Center for Information and
Analysis and UCSJ reported. On October 30, Sergey Orlov was found guilty in
Vyborg District Court of fomenting interethnic hatred. Prosecutors plan to
appeal the verdict, which they said was too lenient. They are seeking jail time
for Orlov. The amount of the fine was undisclosed. The leaflets urged Russian
citizens to "act against Muslims, Jews, Chinese, and people from the Caucasus
and Central Asia."

http://www.ucsj.org/bigotry-monitor/volume-9-2009/volume-9-number-42-november-6-\
2009
-------

TOP OFFICIAL JOINED IN ATTACKING JEHOVAH WITNESSES
Bigotry Monitor-UCSJ's weekly newsletter, Volume 9, Number 42, November 6, 2009

A top local government official allegedly accompanied a prominent Russian
Orthodox cleric and several dozen paramilitary Cossacks in an attack on
Jehovah's Witnesses in Novocherkassk, Rostov Region, according to a November 2
report by the Sova Center for Information and Analysis. The previously
unreported October 21 attack took place amidst growing official persecution of
Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.
According to the report, the deputy head of the Novocherkassk city government,
A. V. Demchenko, reportedly took part in the attack, allegedly led by Protoerey
Oleg Dobrinsky from the local Russian Orthodox diocese. The Cossacks physically
expelled Jehovah's Witnesses from a building they were using and then started a
petition drive calling for a ban on Jehovah's Witnesses in Novocherkassk.
The latest round of persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia began after a
September court ruling in the nearby city of Taganrog classified Jehovah's
Witnesses as "extremists" and banned their activity within city limits.

http://www.ucsj.org/bigotry-monitor/volume-9-2009/volume-9-number-42-november-6-\
2009
-------

High-profile murder case arrests seen as Russia taking on right-wing extremism
Ekho Moskvy Radio- BBC Monitoring, November 7, 2009

Commentator Yuliya Latynina said on 7 November that the arrest of an alleged
member of an ultranationalist group for the murder of human rights lawyer
Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasiya Baburova was a sign that the
Russian authorities had begun fighting right-wing extremists in earnest.
Latynina was speaking in her weekly "Access Code" slot on Gazprom-owned,
editorially independent Ekho Moskvy radio.
After his arrest, Nikita Tikhonov had confessed to murdering Markelov and
Baburova in central Moscow last January, Tikhonov's lawyer had told Ekho Moskvy
on 6 November, but he denied reports that Tikhonov was a member of the far-right
group Russian Image (Russkiy Obraz). Another alleged member of the group,
Yevgeniya Khasis, had been arrested on suspicion of being an accomplice to the
murder.
According to Latynina, far-right groups in Russia have been under pressure from
the authorities for some time.
"This is not an isolated arrest, which shows that especially since Stanislav
Markelov's murder, but also before that, the authorities started dealing with
the fascists in earnest. The authorities must have realized that the movement
got out of control. Whereas previously fascists and Nazis were caught and
quickly released, so they were effectively untouchable, now they have found
themselves under strong pressure. It is possible that in the past there was an
illusion that these lads could be used to kill someone, but it later turned out
that they could not be controlled," Latynina said.
She criticized unnamed members of Russia's liberal opposition for doubting the
official version of the case.
"I was, of course, absolutely shocked by the reaction from the liberal public
to this murder having been solved... In the absence of any feedback mechanisms,
human rights activists and liberals may, unfortunately, turn into a sect. In
this specific case, this was reaction from a sect that will not be happy with
the investigation until the investigator says that it was Putin himself who
killed Markelov. Only that will probably satisfy them," Latynina said.
------

Politization Of History Leads To Perpetuating Splits In Europe
Itar-Tass, November 9, 2009

MOSCOW, November 9 (Itar-Tass) -- The politization of history leads to
perpetuating splits in Europe, Grigory Karasin, state secretary and deputy
foreign minister of the Russian Federation, said at the opening of the European
Russian Forum in Brussels on Monday.
"Russia has more than once raised with its European partners the question about
unacceptability of rewriting the history of the 20th century Europe," the
ranking diplomat said. "This refers particularly to the period when the Second
World War was about to start, and, in this connection, to the responsibility for
the horrible tragedy. Certain politicians and researchers now continue trying to
"paint" the players of that period only in black and white in accordance with
their political preferences and, while about it, to place the blame for
unleashing the war equally on Germany and the Soviet Union.
Karasin expressed profound confidence that "trying to present the USSR as the
culprit or the accomplice in unleashing the war means the mockery of the common
sense and cynical juggling with facts." "And from human viewpoint this is the
insult to the memory of 27 million Soviet citizens who gave their lives to the
fight against fascism," he stressed.
"The politization of history leads to perpetuating splits on our common
continent. The past should not be forgotten. But the lessons of the past must
help build the common future rather than obstructing it," the deputy foreign
minister said.
He said, "Russia understands full well why it is that the attempts to put on
par fascist Germany and the Soviet Union have intensified in the past decades.
The point is, he noted, that "in a number of countries, including members of the
European Union, there has been for some time open glorification of those who,
during the Second World War, joined the Nazis and participated in their crimes
under the pretext of fighting the Soviet regime, and, on the contrary,
persecution of those who fought against the Nazis in the ranks of the
anti-Hitler coalition."
Karasin called attention again to matters of discrimination against ethnic
Russian minorities in the Baltic countries and in Ukraine, the matters that were
raised more than once with the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and
at the meetings with the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. "We
must note sluggish response of our European partners to Russia's concern,"
Karasin stressed.
-------

Chelyabinsk Neo-Nazis Face Justice for Killing Chinese Man
UCSJ, November 10, 2009

Three neo-Nazis in Chelyabinsk, Russia face trial on accusations of
killing a Chinese man while videotaping the crime, according to a
November 3, 2009 ITAR-TASS report. The members of the "Wild Ones" gang
allegedly beat the victim and then stabbed him 35 times in September
2008. The video was later posted on the web. The three suspects, all
in their mid-20s, face charges of murder motivated by ethnic hatred.
Their trial date is pending.

http://www.ucsj.org/news/chelyabinsk-neo-nazis-face-justice-killing-chinese-man
------------

Possible Racist Attack Coincided With Nationalist Rally
UCSJ, November 12, 2009

Three youths attacked a Korean man in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia the same
day that a far-right rally took place there and in other cities,
according to a November 6, 2009 report by the Sova
Information-Analytical Center. The 37 year old victim was treated for
his injuries and reported the attack to local police. So far, there is
no information about any arrests in connection with the crime.

http://www.ucsj.org/news/possible-racist-attack-coincided-nationalist-rally
---------

ATTACKED BY NATIONALISTS, ANTIFASCISTS CHARGED WITH DISORDERLY CONDUCT
Bigotry Monitor-UCSJ's weekly newsletter, Volume 9, Number 43, November 13, 2009

Four antifascist activists were detained by the police after being beaten by
nationalists at a "Russian March" rally in St. Petersburg on People's Unity Day,
established by the Kremlin as a national holiday in 2005, "The St. Petersburg
Times" reported. They were charged with disorderly conduct and were kept
overnight at a police precinct before being taken to court and released at 2
p.m. the next day.
Six activists had unfurled a banner reading "Trash Nationalism" and chanted an
antifascist slogan at a nationalist rally at the remote Polyustrovsky Park when
they were attacked by the nationalists. "The St. Petersburg Times" cited a video
showing the antifascist protest disrupted by a young man wearing a camouflage
jacket who ran at the protesters, kicking and punching one of them. Additional
nationalist marchers joined the beating, which the police stopped. The
antifascist protest lasted about one minute.
"There were many of them; about five jumped on me alone," an antifascist
activist told "The Times." "They surrounded us, and the first one jumped on and
kicked our comrade, causing him to fall down, and the rest followed suit." The
police detained four antifascist activists and one attacker. The detainees were
brought to Police Precinct 66, where they were charged with disorderly conduct.
"We were accused of using profane language," the antifascist activist said. "I
don't know which of the words we used was the most profane—we were chanting `The
fascists kill people, and the authorities cover it up.'" But, she continued,
"the slogan we were chanting came true because the fascists jumped on us, and
the authorities arrested us—even though we were standing there peacefully
without going for anybody. We simply came and expressed our opinion about the
gathering."
Organized by the Slavic Union, the "Russian March" drew about 250 activists from
different nationalist groups, including extreme ones. Formed in 1999, the Slavic
Union calls itself "national-socialist," abbreviates its name to "SS," and uses
a swastika-like symbol as its emblem.

http://www.ucsj.org/bigotry-monitor/volume-9-2009/volume-9-number-43-november-13\
-2009
=========================

II SURVEYS, ANALYSES, COMMENTS

Rivals in Conciliation: The Candidates Are Promising Reconciliation, but
Ukraine's Differences with Russia Are Deeper than More Difficult to Change than
a Politician's Rhetoric
By Tom Balmforth
Russia Profile, October 27, 2009

As the presidential electoral race kicked off in Ukraine last week, both
frontrunners pledged to revive severed ties with Moscow. While Prime Minister
Yulia Tymoshenko promised a new phase of "equal and honorable" relations with
the Kremlin in her opening speech on October 24, Party of the Regions leader
Viktor Yanukovich said that renewing "a fully-fledged partnership with Russia"
was his foreign policy priority. With both Tymoshenko and Yanukovich emerging as
rivals keen to rebuild relations with Russia, which horse will the Kremlin back
this time?
Relations between Ukraine and its old master have been continually frosty since
President Viktor Yushchenko succeeded Kremlin-backed Yanukovich in the 2005
Orange Revolution. And it was business as usual when on August 11, President
Dmitry Medvedev launched a bitter personal attack by video blog on Yushchenko's
"anti-Russian" behavior and postponed the appointment of a Russian ambassador to
Kiev.
Back in the 2004 elections, Russia publicly backed Yanukovich, and
then-President Vladimir Putin personally paid him a visit in Ukraine in the run
up to the campaign. Moscow assumed that the post-Soviet establishment would
favor the pro-Russian candidate rather than the pro-European integration
Yushchenko. When Yanukovich was later found to be the beneficiary of widespread
electoral fraud and Yushchenko was swept to power in the peaceful protests that
ensued, not only was Moscow deeply embarrassed, but it was also angry that
Ukraine now had aspirations to join NATO.
However, with president Yushchenko, whose popularity now languishes around the
five percent mark (scarcely in the frame), Russia's active involvement to
support a particular candidate in the January 17, 2010 presidential elections is
likely to be far more cautious this time around. "Russia is not going to put all
its eggs in one basket," said Yevgeny Kiselyov, a political analyst and anchor
for a political talk-show on Ukraine's Inter channel. "Judging by what Russian
correspondents based here in Kiev are telling me about their editorial policies,
they say their editors in Moscow are quite balanced and are not even trying to
exert any pressure to get stories that would be one-sided or that would be more
favorable to one of the candidates," he added.
Tymoshenko's opening campaign speech before cheering crowds of supporters in
central Kiev stressed the revival of ties with Moscow, but it also pledged to
continue Ukraine's integration with Europe. Although Kiev's Western orientation
has been one of the major points of disagreement between Russia and Ukraine, it
is a mistake to therefore assume that Russia should favor Yanukovich over
Tymoshenko. Firstly, she has proven herself as a practical and reliable
alternative to Yushchenko in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and,
through this, has also built up personal rapport with the Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin. "Tymoshenko, as cynical as it may sound, fits in with Russia's
interests because Putin seems to have found common ground with her," said
Aleksei Mukhin, the director of the Center for Political Information in Moscow.
Secondly, in spite of Yanukovich's comparatively dim view of integration with
Europe, it is unclear how strongly he would resist such a move. On the one hand,
"if Yanukovich wins, probably there will be certain changes in Ukraine's
Atlantic agenda, and Ukraine's relationship with NATO will slightly change. But
then again, when Yanukovich and his supporters are promising that Ukraine will
drop its Atlantic ambitions and change its foreign policy to that of a
non-aligned country, like Sweden or Switzerland, it may just be pre-election
rhetoric, nothing more than that," said Kiselyov.
Thirdly, an often-overlooked aspect of Yanukovich's supposedly pro-Russian
credentials is that his policy is to a large extent governed by the interests of
the Ukrainian business elite that funds him. Yanukovich's Party of Regions is a
"party of very wealthy businessmen. Look at his party list represented in the
Ukrainian parliament. Every second person on this list is a multimillionaire
from Donetsk, Lugansk, Dniepropetrovsk," said Kiselyov. "Their interest is
mostly in Eastern Europe. They are buying up factories and plants in Slovakia,
the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary; they are trying to sell gas and extra
electric energy to the neighboring countries."
The Party of Regions' business interests are often out of kilter with those of
Russia's political and business elite and, if elected, Yanukovich is unlikely to
simply open the doors to Russian dominance. "There are many common economic
interests [between Russia and Ukraine], but if we take the biggest industries
that exist in the Ukraine, like steel mills, iron ore, all kinds of chemicals
and agricultural products, they compete with Russia, because the Russian steel
industry is in the same bad shape as the Ukrainian one," said Kiselyov.
As for a future warming in Ukraine-Russia relations, there seems to be little
cause for optimism. Past problems between the two countries, such as
disagreements over gas and interpretations of history, are not going to
disappear with a change of president. After Ukraine's newly-appointed Foreign
Minister Petr Poroshenko met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in
Moscow on October 23, Russia's Kommersant daily was quick to discern a "warming"
in relations. But Mukhin disagreed. "There is no warming in relations. The first
of January is approaching, and it is always a time of extremely tense
relations," he said.
The infamous Russia-Ukraine "gas wars" usually take place around this time, when
Ukraine's contracts for gas consumption are due for renegotiation. The issue of
gas contracts will continue to mar Russia-Ukraine relations because "Ukraine
will need years to adapt its energy consumption to its financial capabilities,"
said Andreas Umland, Assistant Professor of Contemporary East European History
at The Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt in Bavaria.
Nor will the politically-explosive topic of differing interpretations of history
between the two countries disappear overnight. "Putin's government and
`political technologists' will continue to present the Baltic countries and
Ukraine as quasi-fascist states, thereby distracting attention from Russia's own
and much more serious ultra-nationalist tendencies in its youth culture, party
politics, religious circles and intellectual life. I do not see any possibility
for a lowering of tensions as long as the Russian regime remains as it is today.
It will need these conflicts with Ukraine in order to create legitimacy for its
non-democratic rule," Umland concluded.

http://www.russiaprofile.org/page.php?pageid=International&articleid=a1256670766
------------------------

A time to heal
By: Tim Wall
Moscow News, November 2, 2009

President Dmitry Medvedev's strong condemnation of Stalinist repression, on the
day commemorating the millions of victims under his rule, comes as a timely
intervention into a debate that has been raging in Russian society in recent
months.
As part of that discussion, The Moscow News is this month hosting a public
debate on "Stalin's Legacy for Russia". The event takes place at RIA Novosti's
conference centre on Thursday November 19, from 6:30 pm, and all are welcome to
attend and participate in what we hope will be a lively and civilised debate.
Our invited speakers and guests represent important strands of Russian and
international opinion on the issue.
One side will include trenchant supporters of Stalin's rule and conservative
nationalists who support his conduct of World War II but have differing views
about Soviet rule as a whole.
On another side of the debate, we have invited people to speak up for the
millions of Stalin's victims - who have perhaps not been listened to enough amid
the political and economic turmoil of the post-Soviet era.
These include everyone from liberal dissidents and Orthodox priests to Stalin's
opponents in the Soviet Communist Party.
Among the speakers will be Archpriest Georgy Mitrofanov, a liberal Orthodox
Church historian, who argues in his recent book "The Tragedy of Russia" that the
country cannot move ahead unless it comes to terms with its Stalinist past.
We have also invited Peter Taaffe, general secretary of the Socialist Party of
England and Wales and a leading theoretician of the non-Stalinist left
internationally, to speak up for the hundreds of thousands (or millions) of
dissident Communists who Stalin repressed - a trend of thought that was largely
wiped out in the dark days of the purges.
We hope this diversity of views contributes to a greater understanding of the
issues.
As with similar debates that took place in South Africa under Nelson Mandela's
Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the end of Apartheid rule, we hope the
current debates allow the country to face up to these difficult issues.
In seeking to heal the wounds of the past for the current generation, maybe we
can move forward to a less violent and happier future.
---------

Picketing free speech
By: Roland Oliphant
Moscow News, November 2, 2009

The pro-Kremlin youth movement Nashi is back in the headlines with its lawsuits
against four European newspapers over its picketing of Alexander Podrabinek, a
human rights activist who the group claims published an attack on the reputation
of Soviet war veterans last month.
These lawsuits came two weeks after Nashi lawsuits against four Russian media
organisations over the same issue. What's making the red anoraks so touchy?
Nashi is seeking 500,000 roubles ($17,000) in damages from France's Le Monde
and Le Journal du Dimanche, Germany's Frankfurter Rundshau, and Britain's The
Independent for "insults to [Nashi's] dignity and honour".
The Independent is being sued for comparing Nashi to the Hitler Youth, and Le
Journal du Dimanche for describing Nashi's campaign as "a fierce blend of
patriotism and xenophobia".
Frankfurter Rundshau apparently caused offence by reporting that the "Putinist
youth organisation Nashi regularly calls Podrabinek and his family with threats
and is constantly on duty at his home."
The cases all originate with Nashi's reaction to Podrabinek's Sept. 21 article:
"As an Anti-Soviet to other Anti-Soviets."
The trouble can be traced back to the renaming of the Anti-Sovietskaya kebab
restaurant in northern Moscow, which was named (at least in part) because it
stands opposite the Sovietskaya hotel. After a veterans' group complained to the
local authorities that the name was offensive to those who fought in the Red
Army, the restaurant was forced to change its name to Sovietskaya.
Podrabinek, a Soviet-era dissident who spent several years in labour camps in
the 1970s and early 1980s, denounced the decision in Yezhednevny Zhurnal. But
many saw the article, which equated veterans with NKVD units and labour camp
guards, as a scandalous attack on the veterans.
Nashi organised a daily picket outside the writer's house, demanding that he
apologise for what it called "the low, unconscionable act" of "slandering the
great pages of our nation's history".
Shortly afterwards, Podrabinek went into hiding.
Nashi has a long record of staging protests, defending Russia's record in World
War II and being criticised in the Western press. In 2007 activists staged a
similar picketing of the Estonian embassy over the relocation of a Soviet war
memorial in Tallinn.
Suing the four Western newspapers seems to be a continuation of a decision to
defend Nashi's reputation.
On Oct. 8, Nashi filed a lawsuit against REN TV, Novaya Gazeta and Polit.ru,
all over their coverage of the Podrabinek pickets.
Nashi's lawyer Sergei Zhorin told Kommersant that Nashi was seeking damages
from REN TV for describing Podrabinek as "persecuted", and from Novaya Gazeta
for saying that several Nashi activists had broken the law in its pickets. Ekho
Moskvy radio is being sued over similar coverage.
Podrabinek's article contains some pretty blunt language ("You are Soviet
veterans, and thank God your country ceased to exist 18 years ago," is just one
choice sentence), and even those sympathetic to Podrabinek's feelings criticised
him for failing to distinguish between Stalin's government and ordinary
soldiers. And writing in his blog, Podrabinek himself said that he did not
consider Nashi a threat (though he did imply that he had gone into hiding
because of more "serious people" backing the group).
Nonetheless, Nashi's tactics provoked a debate about freedom of speech and drew
criticism from the media and some officials.
Ella Pamfilova, the Kremlin's top human rights official, condemned the
"persecution" of Podrabinek, and described Nashi as "irresponsible
adventurists". Later, after United Russia and the ultranationalist Liberal
Democrats called for her resignation, she condemned some of Podrabinek's
statements. But she didn't apologise and said she would refer the case to
prosecutors.
Nashi blamed the group's opponents for getting the courts involved, but
abandoned its daily pickets of Podrabinek's house in favour of an annual picket.
The Western newspapers' Moscow correspondents declined to comment, but a
spokesman for The Independent, Paul Durnan, said that the paper had not yet
received any formal notice of Nashi's lawsuit.
--------

Russian TV talk show discusses national identity
NTV Mir-BBC Monitoring, November 2, 2009

The 2 November edition of the weekly political discussion programme "Honest
Monday" on Russian Gazprom-owned NTV, hosted by regular presenter Sergey
Minayev, examined the nature of Russian identity and what the founding
principles of Russia's future should be. This discussion took place in the same
week as Russia celebrates its Day of National Unity on 4 November.
The guests on the programme were editor in chief of the Russkiy Obozrevatel
(Russian Observer) magazine, Yegor Kholmogorov; head of the Islamic Centre of
Russia, Abdul-Vakhed Niyazov; and journalist Sergey Dorenko.
The programme invited viewers to answer the question of what unites Russia. Of
the three options given, 66 per cent of the 38,500 votes were given to Russia's
common history; 22 per cent thought the unifying factor was the construction of
the future, while 12 per cent thought Russia was united by common enemies and
threats.
The programme began with a report which set the scene for the discussion. It
contrasted a school for children of foreign migrants, who "dream of becoming
Russian citizens", with foreigners who come to work in Russia without any
intention of integrating into society. Statistics from the Federal Migration
Service were quoted, saying that 2m foreigners officially work in Russia, but
there may be as many as 5m illegal immigrants from the former Soviet republics.
The voiceover said that it was these latter immigrants who provoke the "scathing
hostility" of Russians.
The report also quoted polls suggesting that the number of Russians who profess
not to have any hostility towards foreigners has risen from 34 per cent in 2004
to 55 per cent in 2009. Yet it also noted that the irritation felt by Russians
towards Tajiks, Caucasians, Ukrainians and Baltic residents has risen. The
report showed clips of Russian "skinheads" attacking Caucasian migrants, but
also a video of young Caucasian men attacking ordinary passers-by on the street.
It said that now "we are disconnected", whereas "once we were citizens of one
country with a common history, common goals and hope", over footage of Soviet
achievements. But the report concluded that Russia is still capable of uniting,
both over attacks such as the Beslan school siege in 2004, and sporting
successes.
Kholmogorov noted that Russia is a union of ethnic groups, albeit headed by the
"great Russian people", who are equal in terms of political, civil and cultural
rights. He said that all these groups were united by a common past, even when
this included moments of conflict between them. He denied that the Russian
"skinhead" movement was currently growing, saying that more and more young
people are coming to the realization that life will not improve by beating up
other people.
He stated that it is "absolutely correct" that teachers tell pupils off for
speaking in their own language, rather than Russian. In response to a question
by Minayev on what it means to be Russian, he said that people have to
"genuinely, sincerely and passionately love Russia for its merits and faults".
He also denied a suggestion by a foreign journalist in the audience that the Day
of National Unity is an artificial celebration, arguing that it is crucial to
building the country's future. He concluded that Russians are united by
belonging to "Great Russia", the largest country in the world, and a
determination to "look to the heavens".
Niyazov contrasted the current situation with "the bloody, turbulent 1990s",
when "all points of reference were lost" and Russia was on the brink of
disintegration. He said that the fact that Russians can now talk of having a
common history means that the country has matured sufficiently so that it can
look back at its past and somehow "build a future as a single whole". He
stressed that Russia has always been a multi-ethnic and multi-faith country, and
the country needs to unite according to its common past and language.
He strongly criticized the lack of an ethnic policy carried out by the state.
He lamented the fact that not a single state body looks after the interests of
ethnic minorities, and said that handing over migrants to the Interior Ministry
is like bringing healthy animals to a meat-processing factory. He put forward
"Eurasianism" as a principle on which Russia's future could be built. He also
said that the Kremlin needs to define what Russia's ideology should be, as well
as devise a national policy that takes into account the country's diversity of
ethnicities and faiths. He warned that rather than propagating xenophobic views,
school textbooks should instead teach internationalism and patriotism.
In conclusion, he suggested that Russia is united by the fact that "together we
defeated terrorism in the North Caucasus and separatism". He thought that the
country's future should be built on the Russian language, mutual respect and
spirituality.
Dorenko said that the Soviet Union definitely managed to successfully create a
genuine multi-ethnic state. He said that until 1993 Soviet people looked after
each other, while the shooting during the constitutional crisis of
September-October 1993 changed the nature of Russian society. In his view,
Russia is now an "atomized society, we don't know who are neighbours are".
He said that Russia needs to return to being an ideological society. When
pressed by Minayev on what Russia has to be proud of, he found moments from the
past: the fact that Russians are grandchildren of those who defeated fascism in
1945, and grandchildren of Gagarin. Unlike Kholmogorov, he does view the 4
November celebrations as entirely artificial. Instead, he said that the Day of
National Unity needs to be instilled with ideals, although fittingly for this
rather vague edition of the programme, he could not actually state what these
ideals would actually be.
--------

De-Stalinization of Modernization: Dmitriy Medvedev Acknowledges the Supreme
Value of Human Life As Compared With Supreme State Objectives
By: Aleksandra Samarina
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, November 2, 2009

In his blog the head of state made a number of serious statements regarding
Stalin's role in our history. The emphasis placed by the president most likely
relates to the debate that has flared up in the country regarding the model for
Russian modernization. The head of state categorically swept aside doubts about
its non-violent nature. And he emphasized that not one of the scenarios for the
country's development should be based on human casualties. Medvedev thereby
refuted the main thesis of Stalinists and those who think like them today: the
idea that state interests prevail over the interests of any particular
individual.
Dmitriy Medvedev answered many people's questions which it had seemed the
authorities would never answer. For example, he questioned the commonplace
claim, which has already permeated school textbooks for history teachers, that
Joseph Stalin was an "effective manager." Because how else can one interpret
Medvedev's phrase: "The memory of national tragedies is just as sacred as the
memory of victories"? The increase in the number of citizens who are not
informed about the Stalinist repressions troubles the president. He cites the
example of a two-year-old survey in which "almost 90% of our citizens, young
citizens aged between 18 and 24, could not even name famous people who had
suffered or died in those years from the repressions."
The president is harsh in his assessments, which permit no possible ambiguity:
"It is impossible to imagine the scale of the terror that all the peoples of the
country suffered from...Let us just consider: Millions of people died as a
result of the terror and false accusations -- millions. They were deprived of
all rights. Even the right to a dignified human burial, and for many years their
names were simply erased from history." There follows a direct answer to the
"restorationists": "But even today one can hear it said that these numerous
victims were justified by some kind of supreme state objectives. I am convinced
that no development of the country, none of its successes or ambitions can be
achieved at the cost of human grief and loss. Nothing can take precedence over
the value of human life. And there is no justification for the repressions."
The president is specific: "We pay a lot of attention to combating the
falsification of our history. And for some reason we often think that we are
talking only about the impermissibility of revising the results of the Great
Patriotic War. But it is no less important to prevent the exoneration, under the
guise of restoring historical justice, of those who destroyed their people."
"To accept one's past as it is -- this shows a maturity of civic stance...It is
no less important to study the past, to overcome indifference and a desire to
forget about its tragic aspects. And no one but us ourselves will do this," the
head of state claims. And it is impossible not to agree with him.
Nikolay Petrov, a member of Carnegie Moscow Center's Expert Council, sees an
important distinction between the president's current speech and his previous
statements of the same kind, where the president's words and plans were less
important than what he did: "Both Vladimir Putin's speech in Gdansk and Dmitriy
Medvedev's speech now are very important. That said, it is good if a leader does
not confine himself to staking out his position and something follows these
words -- and the president is the one holding the cards..
"He really could do something, including within the framework of the very same
commission on falsification that he set up. And which, as he rightly noted, is
now entirely focused on those who wish Russia ill, and not on a specific
revision of our views of our own history."
In the expert's opinion, it is an important signal to world public opinion: "I
saw how Euronews immediately showed it; that is, it was really heard and
understood. One would like it to become a starting point so that this position
is reflected in history textbooks, which often set a completely different
agenda. It is important that we go further than yet again blaming the millions
of victims on one leader. It is important that we try to analyze and understand
why it came about that it became possible. What guilt or fault lay with those
institutions that could not save the country from it."
Aleksandr Tsipko, chief research worker for the Russian Academy of Science
Economics Institute, claims that Medvedev's statement develops the ideas of the
"Forward Russia!" article: "His idea is extraordinarily important that without a
memory of the sacrifices of the dead and without compassion, we cannot develop
either morally or legally. Victims arise when the right to (the protection of
the) law is violated, when everything is built on violence, on cruelty. It is
our old Russian myth: that people live by their conscience, and not by the law.
That is stupidity. If there is no respect for rights, then we have violence,
death, and repressions...."
The expert is convinced that Medvedev's statement is a breakthrough: "There is
also a diplomatic move there. It is an answer tothe OSCE's 2 July 2009
announcement that fascism and Stalinism must be denounced as totalitarian
regimes that committed crimes against humanity. Another important idea is that
usually everything is confined to the repressions of 1937-1938. It is
characteristic of (the progressive members of) the generation of the sixties. In
his statement, Medvedev said that there were repressions during the 20 years
preceding the war. That is also a breakthrough. He talks about all the victims
of the Soviet experiment. That is also an extraordinarily new ideological
emphasis, to which it is worth drawing and which is to his honor and credit. In
this connection, all this fuss at the Kurskaya subway station (where it is
proposed to restore a statue of Stalin) and talk of the falsification of history
is in sharp dissonance with his statement on the blog."
Effective Policy Foundation President Gleb Pavlovskiy recalls that Medvedev
"confirmed a very old official state position:" "The official doctrine of Soviet
and Russian society is anti-Stalinism; since the 20th Party Congress in 1956 it
has not been reviewed and cannot be reviewed. Just as in Germany anti-Nazism
cannot be reviewed. If the doctrine is reviewed, then a different state needs to
be founded...In that sense, Medvedev has clearly confirmed the existence of this
doctrine." But there is the other side of the issue, the expert points out: "All
the same, our society and country remain to a large degree Soviet. And the role
of Stalinism in the Soviet legacy is unavoidable. In that sense, the Soviet
legacy is both anti-Stalinist and Stalinist at the same time. It is split, just
as Soviet society was split on this question after Khrushchev. Therefore we are
completely failing to erase Stalin; to this day the Soviet experience has not
been analyzed. In order to move on, a respectful but deep critique of the Soviet
experience is needed. Yet there is no such critique."
--------

Russia's search for an identity
By: Masha Lipman
Washington Post, November 3, 2009

On Friday, as Russia recognized its annual commemoration of political prisoners,
President Dmitry Medvedev published a videoblog in which he condemned Joseph
Stalin's crimes and called on the nation not to forget about past political
repression or its victims. Medvedev called Stalin's repression "one of the
greatest tragedies in Russian history" and expressed concern that "even today it
can be heard that these mass victims were justified by certain higher goals of
the state." He said that "no development of a country, none of its successes or
ambitions can be reached at the price of human losses and grief." His statement,
which led the state-controlled television news, was sharply at odds with
official rhetoric of the past decade.
Medvedev's address may have sounded radical, but many here are skeptical that
the president's words will actually bring change. The number of alarming signals
of Stalin's rehabilitation is growing. And in general over the year and a half
of his presidency, Medvedev's often well-intended rhetoric has not been matched
with policy.
But it would be wrong to dismiss the speech and conclude instead -- as
observers at home and abroad sometimes do -- that Russia has made a definitive
turn "back" toward the Soviet Union and an admiration of Stalin. In fact,
perceptions of Stalin are conflicted, and this conflict reflects Russia's
attempts -- very feeble, so far -- to reinvent itself as a modern nation.
On the one hand, there is evidence of a warming in attitudes toward Stalin. In
one recent example a stanza from the old Soviet anthem was returned to the
Kurskaya metro station in Moscow. Those lines "Stalin raised us, he inspired us
to loyalty to the people, to the labor and heroic deeds" had been removed in the
1950s as part of Nikita Khrushchev's de-Stalinization campaign; they were
brought back this fall when the station's original decor was restored. Another
instance is the prosecution, on a far-fetched pretext of privacy violation, of a
provincial historian conducting archival research of the fates of ethnic Germans
deported and killed on Stalin's orders. In December, Stalin came in third in a
TV station's poll of greatest Russian historical figures. Contest organizers are
rumored to have tinkered with the results after discovering that the man who
masterminded the extermination of millions of his compatriots actually finished
first.
Yet the peak of Stalin's terror is also recognized for what it was. In 2007, 72
percent of respondents told the Levada polling agency that the repression of
1937-38 were "political crimes that can't be justified." The day of remembrance
of political repression, officially introduced in 1991, is not marked by major
national events, but on Thursday, just outside the infamous Lubyanka building,
the KGB's headquarters and prison, the names of Stalin's victims were read for
12 straight hours by any who wanted to participate. Other commemorations were
staged elsewhere in Russia.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recently met with the widow of Alexander
Solzhenitsyn, and they discussed how best to teach his work "The Gulag
Archipelago" in schools. Two years ago, Putin visited a site of mass executions
in the 1930s. The Gulag volumes are available in bookstores, as are a broad
range of works about the history of Communist terror and books that take a much
more positive view of Stalin. Likewise on television, praise of Stalin and his
henchmen appears side by side with series and programs based on works by
Solzhenitsyn and other chroniclers of Stalin's repression.
The perception of Stalin and his crimes has much more to do with the nature of
Russian statehood than with the monstrous actions of the man himself. Russians
cling to the image of Stalin as the embodiment of the great state, and he is
particularly inseparable from the triumph of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany.
The implication is that individuals may have been cowed, and that the ferocious
state treated them mercilessly, but the state was the vehicle that inspired
Russia's victory in world War II, its greatest achievement of the 20th century.
Ruling elites today are no longer ferocious; rather, they are seen as greedy and
self-serving, but the model of the omnipotent state and the impotent people is
still generally accepted.
For the government, this acceptance of Stalin and the paternalistic
state-society pattern may be handy as a way to consolidate power. But some in
the decision-making circles do seem to realize that current social, political
and economic models are unable to produce growth and development. From Putin and
Medvedev down, modernization has become the mantra. But modernization is
incompatible with a statehood based on the specter of Stalin and faith in the
magic empowerment of the apathetic people by forces of the state. Unless Russia
reinvents itself and takes real steps to encourage people's entrepreneurship and
creativity, talk of modernization will remain hollow.
Medvedev's speech points in the right direction, but it must be accompanied by
changes in policy to carry weight. Moreover, for change to succeed, the
president will need to build a constituency that will trust him, share his
objectives and work toward their implementation. As long as there is no such
constituency in sight, Stalin's name engraved in marble in the Moscow metro will
outweigh Medvedev's humane words.
-------

Russians will not become 'European outcasts' - senior MP
Vesti TV- BBC Monitoring, November 3, 2009

A number of Russia's neighbours approve of instances of the falsification of
history that mar Russia's role in history, Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of
the State Duma committee on international affairs, has said.
He was speaking at the third Assembly of the Russian World Foundation on 3
November, as broadcast live by Russian state news channel Vesti TV.
Kosachev said: "Today we are witnessing a situation whereby in a number of
countries some politicians, not very decent and, I am confident, not very
far-sighted , are trying to build up the national awareness of their peoples,
their understanding of their place in history by marring other nations,
displaying their own compatriots as victims of holodomors (famines), occupations
and genocides.
"All this takes the form of not only historical debates, but of quite modern
propaganda campaigns and, what is most frightening, makes its way into school
textbooks and teacher's books on the upbringing of future generations in the
spirit of understanding patriotism as hatred for another nation.
"All these are real conditions in which our compatriots, the Russian world,
have to exist and work today, to fight for their rights, for the very right to
write and speak their native tongue. I am confident that all of us should in
word and in deed prove that we shall defend those who belongs to the Russian
world, those who do not want to sever their ties with Russia.
"Russians should not and will not become European outcasts of the 21st century.
Nobody should believe that discrimination of Russians, defamation of our past
are acceptable means of self-affirmation in politics, that relations with Russia
could be neglected for the sake of closer ties with other world powers." (C/r:
08:1305-1433)
-----

Moscow promotes "Russian world" as cultural alternative to McWest
By: Robert Bridge
www.russiatoday.com, November 3, 2009

As Russia continues to absorb Western influences, participants at a Moscow forum
argue that Russian culture ¬ from language to traditions ¬ needs "endangered
species" status.
Across Russia one can easily find the hulking footprint of western culture,
which in the majority of cases can be translated to mean "American culture."
The ubiquitous presence of McDonald's, Microsoft Windows and Ford Motor
Company, for example, combined with the powerful influence of Hollywood, Walt
Disney and Bruce Willis, has a subtle way of distorting, some believe, the
Russian identity, more popularly described as the inimitable "Russian soul."
Out of the hostile environment of this existential threat, whether real or
imagined, was born the Russian World Foundation (RWF), which is now hosting its
third assembly in Moscow.
One of the suggestions forwarded at the assembly was to introduce a new term to
denote a community of nations united by Russian culture.
"The term `a Russian world country' could be introduced into usage," Patriarch
Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church said at the opening of the assembly. "It
would mean that a country sees itself as part of the Russian world if it
promotes Russian culture, and preserves the general historical memory."
Kirill made passing reference to "the nations inhabiting the area of historic
Rus," which certainly includes Ukraine, the "historical homeland" of modern-day
Russia.
Those nations should "realize their being part of the same civilizational
project and come to see the Russian world as their common supranational
project," he said.
Kirill's proposal is an effort to forge a new global identity to offset the
preponderant and not always innocuous influence of "The West," a generic term
that has come to define all of those cultural traits, products and influences
that are not inherently Russian by nature. In other words, the creation of a new
culture alternative ¬ "Russian World" ¬ for those who have become jaded with the
rampant materialism and spiritual emptiness of the western option. After all, as
one participant said, "democracy is all about choices."
"We need to continue to be aware of the uniqueness of the Russian way of
living," Kirill continued, "and reproduce it not only in the countries with a
predominantly Russian culture, but also attest to it far beyond our boundaries."
Under no un-Cyrillic terms
In order for a Russian World alternative to be able to take root on sometimes
undernourished soil, the Russian language needs to be nurtured abroad.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Yakovenko emphasized the need to give
the Russian language "second-language status" in the former Soviet republics.
"The Russian language as a unique instrument of international communication, is
constantly growing," Yakovenko told the participants. "It is the fifth largest
language in the world ¬ Russian is the native language for 160 million people,
and over 300 million people understand it."
"Over 160 peoples and nationalities communicate in Russian," the deputy foreign
minister reminded the guests. "It is one of the main languages of the United
Nations system and other international organizations."
Yakovenko then mentioned the many institutions working abroad to help cultivate
the Russian language abroad.
"Fifty-two Russian centers of science and culture, and 26 missions of
"Russotrudnichestvo" (the federal Agency for the Affairs of the CIS, Ethnic
Russians Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation), operating in 72
countries, work to spread the Russian language," he said.
"The signing of intergovernmental agreements to establish centers in Belarus,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and China is due shortly," Yakovenko added.
"We plan to open before the year 2020 over 30 centers and affiliates of already
existing Russian centers of science and culture in major cities of CIS and
Baltic states, as well as nations of Europe, America, Asia and Africa."
Why a "Russian World?"
Vyacheslav Nikonov, the executive director of Russian World Foundation (RWF),
said that part of the mission statement of the increasingly vigilant
organization is "representing the Russian world."
"Our goal is to support the Russian language, Russian culture, and
organizations representing the Russian world," Vyacheslav told The Moscow News
weekly in a past interview . "We will work directly with Russian organizations
based outside Russia."
Nikonov's comments reflect the mood now prevalent in the Kremlin, which seems
to have lost its patience with the rise of "anti-Russian" sentiment in its
backyard and beyond.
In perhaps the greatest manifestation of this national awakening, Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev stunned Ukraine in August, accusing the capital of
Kiev of propagating anti-Russian views and even glorifying "Nazi associates."
"The problems in our bilateral cooperation existed before, of course," Medvedev
said in the letter, addressed to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. "It was
natural after the collapse of the Soviet Union… however, the events that we have
been witnessing during your presidency cannot be considered anything else but
Ukraine's deviation from the principles of friendship and partnership with
Russia."
Then the Russian president dropped the diplomatic equivalent of an atom bomb by
informing Kiev that he was withholding the Russian ambassador until further
notice.
"I want to inform you that under the current anti-Russian course," Medvedev
said, "I have taken a decision to postpone sending a new ambassador to Kiev."
Some commentators point to Kiev's less-than-gracious welcoming of Russian
Patriarch Kirill during his 10-day visit to Ukraine in July-August as the spark
that ignited Medvedev's strongly worded letter to Yushchenko.
At the end of July, Patriarch Kirill, head of the powerful Russian Orthodox
Church, began his turbulent whirlwind tour of Ukraine, where he beseeched
Ukrainians to remain faithful to the "one true church." But Yushchenko said
Ukraine was searching for an independent church of its own, i.e. beyond the
influence of Moscow.
"This church already exists," snapped back Kirill. "It is the local church of
Ukraine, and if it did not exist, Ukraine would not exist today."
The Patriarch went on to describe Kiev as the "southern capital of Russian
Orthodoxy," and said that Ukraine's attempts at breaking away represented
"wounds" on the body of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Orthodox Christianity, which came into existence following the Great Schism
with Rome in 1054, is the dominant religion in Ukraine.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, splinter churches broke off
from the body of the Russian Orthodox Church and it is the Moscow Patriarch's
holy ambition to heal this rift before it gets any worse.
The Orthodox Church's efforts are bearing fruit in other parts of the world. In
2007, for example, the Moscow church celebrated it reunification with the
U.S.-based Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, whose original founders fled
Bolshevik Russia in 1917.
"Russian World" movement works in extreme conditions
Against the backdrop of the Russian World Foundation assembly is the Day of
National Unity, which will see nationalists march in Russian cities on November
4, a Russian public holiday.
Alexander Belov, one of the organizers of the Movement Against Illegal
Immigration, said 5,000 people are expected to turn out for the marches,
although "we only have a permit for 2,000" he added, according to Interfax.
Marches have been permitted in 16 Russian cities, including Moscow,
Krasnoyarsk, Vladivostok, Irkutsk, Volgograd, Kirov and Nizhny Novgorod.
Meanwhile, Russia registered 266 extremism-related crimes in January-September,
up 6 percent as against the same period last year, said Vyacheslav Sizov, who
heads the department on combating extremism at the General Prosecutor's Office.
"Unfortunately, the number of extremism-related crimes really grows every
year," he said in an interview with the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily on Tuesday.
"The survey of criminal cases proves that one of the major reasons that causes
crimes is the spread of ideas of religious, ethnic and racial supremacy among
underage persons and youth," Sizov said.
It is in this occasionally hostile world, aggravated as it is by the financial
crisis, that the Russian World Foundation must work.
"It's a very promising venture," one guest participant of the forum commented.
"But we must move forward with care and sensitivity not to aggravate the
negative ideals of nationalism in immature minds."
---------

Repudiated Personality: Medvedev's Condemnation of Stalin's Terror Will Be
Welcomed in the West, but Will It Change the Russian Public's Perception of the
Dictator?
By: Tom Balmforth
Russia Profile, November 3, 2009

The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev lambasted Josef Stalin's regime of terror
in his video blog on October 30, distancing himself from the recent efforts some
Russians have undertaken to gloss over the crimes committed by the Soviet
dictator. Institutionalized attempts to rehabilitate Stalin have been
increasingly common since former-President and current Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin came to power in 2000. Watchers of president Medvedev's relationship with
Putin will be paying close attention to see whether Medvedev's condemnation of
"falsifying" history will expose a fissure in the tandem.
Millions were killed during Stalin's reign of terror and, as "nothing has
higher value than human life," there can be "no justification for repression,"
Medvedev said on Russia's Day of Remembrance for the victims of political
repression. This rare criticism of the Stalin regime, posted by the Kremlin,
demonstrates an unusual willingness on behalf of the political establishment to
confront the atrocities committed during the Soviet times. "I think it is very
significant. It goes very much against what has been done in terms of
history-politics for quite a while," said Alexei Miller, a professional
historian and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The most controversial indication of the creeping rehabilitation of Stalin's
image in recent times was the renovation of Moscow's Kurskaya metro station,
completed in early September, which returned a Stalinist verse of the Soviet
national anthem to the main entrance hall. The verse, which reads "Stalin reared
us ¬ on the loyalty to the people; he inspired us to labor and heroism," was
removed after the death of the Soviet dictator in 1953, during Khrushchev's
period of de-Stalinization. Also in September of this year, a Russian scholar
investigating what happened to the thousands of ethnic Germans living in
Stalin's Soviet Union during World War Two was briefly arrested and subsequently
had his research confiscated by the FSB.
"Basically what [Medvedev] said about interpretations of Stalin and the
criminal nature of the regime goes dramatically against the whole concept of the
history textbook, which has been promoted in Russian schools since 2007 under
the patronage of Vladislav Surkov [the deputy head of the presidential
administration often identified as the regime's chief ideologist]," said Miller.
The textbook in question, "A History of Russia: 1945 to 2008" by Alexander
Filippov and Pavel Danilin, gained notoriety for promoting Stalin as an
"effective manager," drawing the focus away from his reign of terror which
reached its height in the late 1930s. He is instead remembered for transforming
the Soviet Union into a nuclear-armed superpower and defeating Nazi Germany in
the Second World War.
Medvedev was careful to laud these achievements, but attributed them to "the
people," rather than their dictator. "The crimes of Stalin do not depreciate the
heroic deeds of the people, which brought victory in the Great Patriotic War,
turned our country into a mighty industrial power, and brought our industry,
science and culture onto the global level," he said.
In his address, Medvedev lamented that 90 percent of Russians between the ages
of 18 and 24 could not even name famous people who had suffered during Stalin's
repressions, according to a survey conducted two years ago. Last year, Stalin
was voted the third greatest Russian of all time by 50 million Russians in a
poll conducted by the Rossiya television channel.
Medvedev's address is a departure from the political establishment's previous
line, and also signals a more concerted attempt to oppose the falsification of
history on the part of the president himself. In May, he announced the formation
of a commission "To Counter Attempts to Falsify History to the Detriment of the
Russian Federation." Critics, however, pointed to the irony of attaching a clear
political proviso to the name of a commission purportedly charged with
protecting history. "The problem is the whole commission itself was created as a
part of history-politics and cannot play any positive role, by definition," said
Miller. "If you look at the composition of the commission, it's not a commission
of people who are experts in history; it's rather a commission of people who can
provide historians with materials from the secret services' archives to write
what they want them to write," he explained. However, Medvedev's recent address
suggests a change of mood at least in the Kremlin. "I think [Medvedev's address]
is a very positive sign," said Miller.
But what is the political significance of Medvedev's address? Nikolai Petrov, a
scholar-in-residence at the Carnegie Moscow Center, played down the impact of
the address on the Putin-Medvedev relationship and argued that speculating on
areas of conflict between the two is unhelpful, since their relationship is not
equal. "It's not a tandem at all, in the sense that their roles are very
different," he said. While "Medvedev's role is more connected with the virtual
space and image-making, Putin is the decision-maker," he added. To that extent,
politically speaking, Medvedev's address was probably conceived more to improve
Russia's image abroad and amongst educated, Internet-using Russians.
The vision of Medvedev as far weaker than Putin may also shed light on why
Medvedev made the address in the first place. According to Petrov, the president
is trying to establish his own political voice and remain in the public eye,
whilst still staying within his remit as an image-maker. "I think that Medvedev,
being pretty limited in his capabilities to influence what is going on and
participate in the decision-making processes, needs different options to keep
himself at the center of public discussions" said Petrov.
If the second agenda of Medvedev's address was indeed to consolidate his
popularity, he found a strong supporter in Matvey Ganapolskiy, a commentator for
the Echo of Moscow radio station. When Medvedev called Stalin's repression "one
of the greatest tragedies in the history of Russia," he may have meant it as an
antithesis to Putin's famous quip that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the
greatest geo-political disaster of the 20th century. But of far more importance
was that he actually criticized the Stalin regime, Ganapolskiy wrote on Friday.
"All Medvedev said was words, nothing more. But in politics, especially in
Russian politics, that is where it all begins," he said in his blog on the Echo
of Moscow Web site. Certainly, in the West at least, the Kremlin's more sensible
and mature line on Stalin's crimes will be well-received.
-------

Editorial: Challenges of Local Arithmetic: We Cannot Multiply, But We Can Always
Divide
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, November 3, 2009

Tomorrow is Day of National Unity. Everyone now knows that this is the revival
of a holiday founded by Aleksey Mikhaylovich in honor of the Kazan Mother of God
icon and in honor of the liberation of Moscow from the Poles. But few care what
national unity actually is. What kind of national unity is it if the authorities
over and over again arrange master classes on their favorite specialty of
"Divide and Rule?"
In St Petersburg, for example, among intelligentsia circles, or those who
consider themselves such, you feel as if you were in the trenches. The not yet
built Okhta-Tsentr has bombed out all routes on the approaches to unity. The
topic of the Gazprom monstrosity has, by virtue of the obvious inappropriateness
of the latter, aroused not discussions and not disputes but the most genuine
battles without rules. The Okhta-Tsentr clearly divided all even slightly
notable inhabitants of St Petersburg into those who are welcome and those who
are disgraced, thus assuring the sheltered existence of some and depriving
others of support. The national unity of the city on the Neva has not withstood
the test of the 400 meter Indian corn. Let us note that this is a question of an
architectural -- for which read cultural (god forgive me!) --building which is a
priori intended to beautify the city. But if art serves enmity and intolerance,
what is the point of it? What unity, what reconciliation and accord? People have
bitten each other and drawn blood. It is not surprising: There have been too
many national treasures -- actors, singers-- who have decided to stake out a
claim for themselves at the trough of power, albeit at the cost of defacing this
beloved city. Their national unity with the authorities finds expression in a
colorful dance around the gas-scraper.
It is possible to object: The intelligentsia is itself at fault, it is
apparently unable to peaceably exist within itself and it builds barricades at
any pretext and splits into bellicose groups. However, it appears that the
levers of power working for the Divide and Rule program are designed and
constructed by real professionals. If the intelligentsia is divided, there is no
need to worry about the others. It is hard to imagine out of what material the
cultural layer of society should be made in order to withstand the work of this
lever.
It is not possible even in an absurd dream to imagine a situation in which
Germany started discussing the personality of Hitler. It would not enter a
single German head to arrange a vote on the topic: "Who is Hitler? a) an
outstanding commander; b) an effective manager; c) a tyrant and acriminal" --
certainly not for the next century or two. However, to argue over the topic "who
is Stalin" on our TV -- go ahead. Such votes on a federal channel on prime time
TV are an unreserved provocation aimed at greasing the already constantly
working outfit by the name of Divide and Rule. People should argue and bite each
other. Then they will be like spiders in a jar, and they will have no particular
business with life outside this jar.
There are things which it is unseemly to do -- in the global, social sense. It
is unseemly to arrange a discussion on the personality of Stalin: "Yes, he was a
killer, but..." This "but" has long of itself been unseemly. It is unseemly for
moviemakers to grab power from each other, using the principle of Divide and
Rule and justifying themselves with their own contrived messianism. What is
unseemly in the social sense but is practiced by society at the initiation of
the authorities and the media always works toward confrontation in society,
toward its fragmentation, and ultimately its decay.
-------

Russia marks newest holiday, the Day of National Unity
By: Irina Galushko
www.russiatoday.com, November 4, 2009

Russia is celebrating the Day of National Unity. People all over the country are
singing songs, dancing and flying big balloons in the air. Nationalists and
anti-nationalists have staged marches in the capital.
The first scream "Russia for Russians", the second plead with people to coexist
peacefully. But Moscow gathered all of them in front of the stage with live
music and a large TV screen, depicting text-messages from people from all over
the country who are saying what this day means for them and what they want to
see for the future of Russia.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited the Golden Ring town of Suzdal, where
he was to open a chapel dedicated to Dmitry Pozharsky, one of the two men who
rallied the revolt for the people to rise up against the occupying Polish and
Lithuanian forces in 1612.
While its citizens are celebrating the newest of Russian holidays, an unusually
large number of Russians are still not aware of why this day must be remembered.
Brand new holiday a lesson in unity
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russians were short on national holidays.
Obviously, there were always New Year's Eve, Victory Day on May 9th, and the
bizarre invention that could only be understandable in this country ¬ Old New
Year's Eve. The latter, however, isn't an official holiday, and does not go a
long way towards promoting the sense of oneness in the framework of national
identity.
And that's just what was missing in the country, where some seventy years went
by to the chanting of slogans "On to the Bright Future!" which, for many, led to
nowhere particularly pleasant, or indeed bright. These people not only needed
something to get them through between the May holidays and New Year. They needed
an Idea, a reason to remember why they could still be proud of their Motherland.
A holiday around which they could rally as a Nation.
In the Soviet Union, November 7th marked the anniversary of the Great October
Socialist Revolution, and was one of the biggest holidays around ¬ with red
banners, a parade on Red Square, and a fireworks display. After the dissolution
of the USSR though, the idea of celebrating something so dubious seemed
pointless. Moreover, continuing the tradition of November 7th threatened to
cause a rift between the dwindling number of supporters of the Communist party
and those who wanted nothing to do with Communism at all ¬ the latter being an
ever-growing tendency among the Russian people. To celebrate November 7th meant
to continue the tradition, which many (especially among the younger generation)
saw as retrograde, and even insulting. Something else was needed to show that
Russia had stepped off the path of Communism, yet retained its sense of national
identity.
Thus, in 2005, Russians were presented with a new State holiday: the Day of
National Unity.
However, if you stopped anyone on the streets of Moscow and asked them what this
holiday is about, you'd find most of them stumped for answer. According to the
latest research, carried out by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center, more
than half of the respondents have no idea what holiday gives them an extra day
off this week. Only 16 per cent gave the correct answer when asked about
November 4th. And 66 per cent will not celebrate it in any way. So what is so
special about this holiday?
To answer that, let's travel back to the early 17th Century.
The last Tsar of the ruling Rurik Dynasty died, leaving no heirs to the throne.
His successor, Boris Godunov, struggled to keep the country together. The
country was struggling with poor harvests, famine and economic instability. In
1603, Polish-Lithuanian troops crossed into Russia, beginning the Time of
Troubles, which lasted for ten years. For an entire decade, Russia lived in a
state of total chaos. Its nobility, the boyars, could not agree on any one
thing, constantly quarreling among themselves. The throne was vacant. The
Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia was imprisoned. Catholic Poles were
in Moscow, in the Kremlin. Protestant Swedes occupied another ancient Russian
city, Novgorod. In the South, the Tatars continued their raids on Russian towns
and villages. And all over the country, brigades of vagabonds were plundering
and raiding whatever was left over.
And in these desperate times, the Russian people carried out something that
could be regarded as the first genuinely democratic election: they called on
Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and merchant Kuz'ma Minin to lead them on to Moscow, in
order to drive out the Poles. Tens of thousands of people not only gave money to
arm the troops, but most enlisted themselves to fight the occupants of their
land.
On November 4th, the Russians, led by a merchant and a prince, took Moscow,
driving the Poles out of the city completely just two days later. The crisis,
bloody and destabilizing as it was, nevertheless succeeded in bringing Russians
from all walks of life together to fight against the aggressors ¬ and to unite
around the noble Romanov family, who went on to rule Russia for the next 300
years.
And if you're ever in Red Square ¬ again, or for the first time ¬ turn away
from the Lenin's Mausoleum to your left. There, in the great colorful shadow of
St. Basil's Cathedral, you will see a monument to two men, who dared to take on
the responsibility of trying ¬ and succeeding ¬ to get their people together for
the sake of saving their country.
Unfortunately, for most modern-day Russians it seems, this lesson in Russian
history books was quickly forgotten. The lesson being, of course, not to drive
out any foreigner that sets foot in the Kremlin ¬ as some critics of the new
holiday have implied, citing it as xenophobic and humiliating to the Polish
nation ¬ but rather to respect their country and stand united for at least one
day a year, as the Russian People.
While many Russians see it as a time to celebrate national tolerance,
nationalists try to use it for their own means, organizing their own events on
this particular day.
--------

Russian president's speech at unity day awards ceremony
By: Dmitry Medvedev
Kremlin.ru, November 4, 2009

Speech at Ceremony Awarding State Decorations to Foreign Citizens Who Have Made
a Great Contribution to Building Friendship and Cooperation with Russia 4
November 2009 The Kremlin, Moscow
(Dmitry Medvedev) Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
Let me begin by congratulating everyone on our national holiday, the Day of
National Unity. This holiday is still new - it is the youngest of all our
national holidays. It was established only recently, five years ago, to mark our
respect for our heroic history and honour the memory of the destiny-making feat
that our people accomplished.
Nearly four centuries have passed since that day when people of different
social backgrounds, ethnic groups and religions rallied around Kuzma Minin's and
Dmitry Pozharskiy's call for unity. They organized a volunteer force and
liberated Moscow from foreign invaders. Our people's unity saved our country at
that point in time, saved it from internal strife and external interference and
danger, ended the tribulations of the Time of Troubles and ultimately prevented
the country from falling apart, thus setting Russia on its historic destiny as a
strong and influential state.
I have just returned from Suzdal, where I took part in opening a memorial
chapel at the grave of Dmitry Pozharskiy. This is a unique place and a unique
memorial. It was built in 1885 and took almost twenty years to complete. In the
1930s, like many of our monuments, it was destroyed. Now we have rebuilt it. It
took two years to rebuild. I think this is an excellent symbol on the Day of
National Unity. Furthermore, it was restored not with state subsidies, but with
money donated by the public. It was built on public donations in the nineteenth
century, and now has been restored using public donations in the twenty-first
century. It unquestionably reminds us of the feat of our outstanding citizen,
Prince Dmitry Pozharskiy, and of the courage shown by all the heroes who formed
the volunteer force.
Back in that distant year 1612, the Russian people united around their love
for their homeland, their desire for freedom, and, of course, their sense of
responsibility for their country's destiny. Over the centuries these values have
helped our people overcome the severest trials, achieve success and emerge
victorious.
Dear friends,
In keeping with the traditions that have already formed over these last few
years, present here today are representatives of Russian non-governmental
organizations, ethnic-cultural and religious groups. You are all people whose
influence and active stand as citizens are helping to strengthen our civil
society, social stability and interethnic harmony.
I also welcome our foreign guests, true enthusiasts, who make efforts at the
highest level to support interest in our history and culture, promote the study
of Russian, and preserve the integrity and diversity of the unique phenomenon
that we call the Russian world, which unites our compatriots abroad and all
friends of Russia in every corner of our planet.
By tradition, on the Day of National Unity we honour and thank you and of
course award state decorations.
Once again, I congratulate you sincerely on this holiday and ask that we now
begin the state decorations award ceremony.
I think that the words we have just heard from the decorations' recipients are
not just words spoken from the heart, the kind of words one expects to hear at a
ceremony such as this, but are words that put us all on exactly the same
wavelength. All representatives of the Russian world, everyone who loves our
country, everyone who considers themselves our compatriots, everyone who works
on developing and spreading the Russian language - all form the foundation of
this wonderful phenomenon that we call the Russian world. This is a phenomenon
that has no borders and is not subjected to political circumstances of the
moment, or, essentially, to political censorship.
I am sure that the wonderful ties that we share, our desire to strengthen our
friendship and our wish to speak to each other in Russian will continue to play
an important part in Russia's development as a strong and multiethnic country.
Our country owes a lot to you, and I want you to hear these words once again on
our national holiday.
You are helping Russia by taking part in building an accurate and sincere
image of our country abroad. You are all Russia's goodwill ambassadors. Once
more, I congratulate you on this national holiday. I wish you success and good
health and hope that we will stay together.
--------

Speech at the ceremony unveiling a memorial chapel honouring Prince Dmitry
Pozharsky
By: Dmitry Medvedev
Kremlin.ru, November 4, 2009

DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Your Eminence, dear friends, people of Russia,
Today we are celebrating our national holiday, the Day of National Unity, and
the spirit of this holiday is particularly strong here in Suzdal, here in the
Vladimir Region's lands. It was here, after all, that the liberation of Moscow
began, here that Prince Dmitry Pozharsky served his fatherland, and here that
his body was laid to rest.
Today, we witnessed a special event in our history with the consecration of
the chapel dedicated to Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, this chapel that was first
built more than 100 years ago and then destroyed in the 1930s.
The feat of Prince Pozharsky and Citizen Minin will forever remain in the
hearts of all our country's people, all who live on Russian soil. Many times
Russia has faced the great challenges of reuniting the country and overcoming
chaos. The start of the seventeenth century was one such time.
Dmitry Pozharsky's resolution, will, determination and belief made it not only
possible to organise a second people's force ready to fight for freedom, but
made it a success. Speaking of these events, it is indeed the case that the
people liberated themselves.
This is a very special date in our history, and a very special holiday - the
Day of National Unity, and also the holiday of the Icon of the Holy Virgin of
Kazan, which is particularly honoured by our country and our church. I am sure
that this event can unite us today too, giving us reason to feel that we are a
truly united people, a people that has overcome numerous great challenges,
vanquished many enemies, withstood many hardships, but never lost its strength
and courage. Prince Pozharsky is an example of this, serving our country and
people during the liberation period and for long years afterwards.
It gives me particular pleasure to be here today, because it seems we were
here not so long ago and there was not yet any chapel on this site. Its
rebuilding is the fruit of our common effort and an example of how public
donations and the cooperation of a huge number of people, who gave this project
their labour and money, have served to restore a site of such importance for our
country's history. This is an excellent example and it also helps to unite us.
Dear friends, allow me to congratulate you most sincerely on this national
holiday, the Day of National Unity, and wish you all good health, strength and
happiness. Congratulations!
------

Unity Day Holiday Highlights, Exacerbates Russia's Internal Divisions, Analyst
Says
By: Paul Goble
Window on Eurasia, November 4, 2009

Vienna, November 4 – Russia's Day of Popular Unity which is being marked today
is "one of the most unsuccessful improvisations" of the Putin era, a
"half-hearted" compromise with history that not only highlights the current lack
of unity among Russians but provides the occasion for various groups to try to
define what their unity should be based on.
In an essay entitled "'A Day of Unity' Without an Ideology," Moscow commentator
Taras Burmistrov underscores that point by comparing the new holiday which
neither the government nor the Russian people know how to celebrate with the
older November 7th Soviet-era event that was clearly defined for both
(www.russ.ru/pole/Den-edinstva-bez-ideologii).
Having replaced that celebration of the 1917 October revolution with "The Day of
National Unity" on November 4th, he writes, "the Russian powers that be
committed one of the most unsuccessful improvisations" of the last two decades,
one that failed to promote any unity except agreement that those behind this new
event do not know on what it should be based.
In Soviet times, the November 7th holiday served by its very "pompousness" to
stress that national history pointed to and took as its point of departure
precisely that event. Indeed, even after the collapse of Soviet power, that
holiday remained for many "in the direct sense of the word" and for others an
occasion to define their opposition to it.
But today's holiday, Burmistrov argues, does not have the same meaning and
cannot fill the same ideological role. And consequently, any "unity" proclaimed
on this occasion remains "latent;" that is, it remains until some future event –
likely an attack from the outside – brings it into being.
State holidays, as the authors of this one appear to have forgotten, "are always
closely linked with some historical turning points," and because this one does
not represent such a change, various political groups, including most
prominently xenophobic nationalists, are trying to invest the date with meanings
that will serve their narrow political purposes.
The storming of Moscow's Kitay-Gorod by Minin and Pozharsky and the driving out
of the Russian capital of Polish forces in 1612 were important events, but even
together with the election of the Romanovs as the ruling dynasty that followed,
they cannot serve to unify a Russian society divided by the events of the 20th
century.
If the anti-Bolshevik "White Russia" had triumphed in 1991 – something that was
impossible because such a movement did not then exist, Burmistrov says – then
the new Russia might have replaced November 7th with November 4th. But the
processes which took place in Russia at that time were far more complex than "a
belated victory of White Russia over Red."
As a result, Burmistrov continues, Russians now celebrate "at a minimum three
contradictory holidays" over the course of four November days: Part of Russia
continues to celebrate the 7th as the victory of Red Russia over White; part
follows the government and marks the expulsion of conquerors on the 4th; and
part uses both to push other agendas.
"Not by accident," Burmistrov notes, the first "Russian March," with its
xenophobic and even radical nationalist symbols, took place in 2005 along side
with the first celebration of the Day of National Unity. Indeed, the failure of
the powers that be to provide that event with content invited precisely such a
parallel action.
"From the point of view of the Russian nationalist movement," he continues,
"both `Red Russia' with its official holidays and `White Russia' with its
official celebrations are phenomena somehow infinitely distant from the
interests of the Russian people" now. And consequently, the nationalists have
positioned themselves as "the Third Russia" and thus set apart from both.
And that possibility was expanded because, Burmistrov argues, "the powers that
be" accidently chose an extremely symbolic event but symbolic in ways that they
did not suspect: 1612 was, the Moscow writer continues, "one of the greatest
victory of the Russian people which is not associated now with any ideology."
But whether it planned to do so or not, the regime selected as a new holiday a
date which commemorates the victory of the people rather than of the powers that
be. And that has inevitably meant, Burmistrov points out, "the powers that be
and the Russian nationalist movement" define it in diametrically opposed ways.
"If for the powers that be, [this date] is in fact the beginning of the Romanov
dynasty and the appearance of `White Russia' … then for Russian nationalists,
this is `a victory without ideology, which has great value for Russian history
which always was too ideological" and thus opens a way for them to define it
anew.
And that in turn means that the Russian nationalists far more clearly than the
powers that be can proclaim their ideological positions, Burmistrov says. And
the only response the latter have is the OMON. Perhaps a dialogue will take
place at some point in the future about a new kind of national unity, but for
now, this holiday highlights the lack of that in Russia.

http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2009/11/window-on-eurasia-unity-day-holiday.\
html
------

Russian Nationalists Urged to Arm Themselves to Defend 'Russian Order'
By: Paul Goble
Window on Eurasia, November 5, 2009

Vienna, November 5 – Those taking part in the Russian March in Moscow yesterday
– an officially authorized demonstration which organizers claimed attracted
7,000 people but which observers said included only about 700 – were given
written instructions on how to acquire guns so that they would be able to defend
what nationalist speakers called "the Russian order."
Such calls in the increasingly overheated atmosphere of the Russian capital
given the availability of guns of all kinds there are inherently provocative and
could prompt their opponents among non-Russians to arm themselves in response,
provide a justification for the authorities to crack down on the nationalists,
or, quite possibly, do both.
And while there is as yet no Russian media reporting that Russian nationalist
groups who organized similar marches on the Day of National Unity in dozens of
places across the Russian Federation handed out the same advice in the same way,
it is very probable that the participants received a similar message in one way
or another.
Yesterday, Sobkorr.ru's Anastasiya Petrova and Sofya Krapotkin reported that
"each of the participants [in the Moscow Russia March near the monument to the
Soldier of the Fatherland} was handed instructions on the acquisition" of gas
pistols and others types of "fire arms"
(www.sobkorr.ru/news/4AF1714FB8E13.html).
Among the weapons specifically recommended in the handouts given to the Russian
nationalists were the OSA, the Makarych, and the Bekas hunting rifle, Petrova
and Krapotkin said. And those taking part heard Dmitry Demushkin, the leader of
the radical and racist Slavic Union, say that soon "only two things" in Russia
will have "real value: food and bullets."
"Any power," he continued, "has the right to existence only if it preserves my
nation! In Moscow, there are many aliens, but the powers that be consider that
there are not any. [These powers] want to bring year yet another million Chinese
and yet another million Azerbaijanis," regardless of what the Russian residents
of the city think.
Other speakers offered similarly radical messages. Vladimir Yermolay7ev, a
representative of the Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI), said that
"the powers that be are afraid that people will demand change." And because that
is so, "we must be together in order to understand our interests and defend
them."
Colonel Vladimir Kvachkov – not otherwise identified but likely a retiree – said
that as of December 1, "Russia will not have an army and in March it will not
have a nuclear shield." That means, he continued, "if the powers that be are
afraid and do not want to defend our Fatherland, we must do it ourselves."
The organizers of the Moscow meeting, the Sobkorr.ru reporters said, were the
DPNI, the Slavic Union, the Resistance Movement, "and other nationalistic
organizations." The participants shouted out slogans like "A Russian Order for
Russia," "A Russian Power for Russia," and "Glory to Russia," and at least some
carried Nazi flags.

http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2009/11/window-on-eurasia-russian-nationalis\
ts.html
--------

Antifascists Beaten, Then Arrested
By: Sergey Chernov
The St. Petersburg Times, Issue #1524 (86), November 6, 2009

Four antifascist activists were detained by the police after being beaten by
nationalists at a "Russian March" rally in St. Petersburg on People's Unity Day,
a recently introduced public holiday, on Wednesday. They were charged with
disorderly conduct and forced to spend the night at a nearby police precinct
before being taken to court and released at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
Six activists had unfurled a banner reading "Trash nationalism" and chanted an
anti-fascist slogan at a nationalist rally at the remote Polyustrovsky Park in
the city's north when they were attacked by the nationalists.
A Rosbalt video shows the antifascist protest being disrupted by a young man
wearing a camouflage jacket, who ran at the protesters, kicking and punching an
activist. More nationalist marchers joined the beating immediately, before the
police had time to stop it. The whole antifascist protest only lasted about one
minute.
"There were many of them; about five jumped on me alone," Katya, an activist who
asked for her last name to be withheld, said by phone Thursday. She described
herself as "a member of the antifascist movement."
"They surrounded us, and the first one jumped on and kicked our comrade, causing
him to fall down, and the rest followed suit."
The police, who soon intervened, detained four antifascist activists and one
attacker. The detainees were brought to Police Precinct 66, where they were
charged with disorderly conduct.
"We were accused of using profane language," Katya said.
"I don't know which of the words we used was the most profane — we were chanting
"The fascists kill people, and the authorities cover it up" — perhaps
`authorities' [was the most profane word.]
"But you could say that the slogan we were chanting came true, because the
fascists jumped on us, and the authorities arrested us — even though we were
standing there peacefully without going for anybody. We simply came and
expressed our opinion about the gathering."
On their way to court on Thursday, the detainees were taken to the Interior
Ministry department to have their fingerprints taken. They refused because the
procedure cannot by law be insisted upon for minor offences, according to Katya.
"They took offence, but didn't beat us," she said.
At the activists' request, the judge transferred their cases to their respective
local courts. The offense they were charged with is typically punished with a
500 to 1,000 ruble ($17 to $34) fine. However, offenders can alternatively be
sentenced to up to 15 days in custody.
Organized by the Slavic Union, the "Russian March" drew around 250 activists
from different nationalist groups, including extreme ones. Formed in 1999, the
Slavic Union (Slavyansky Soyuz) describes itself as "national-socialist,"
frequently abbreviates its name to "SS" and uses a swastika-like symbol as its
emblem.
The People's Unity Day holiday was introduced in 2005 as a replacement for the
Great October Socialist Revolution Day (the Day of Accord and Reconciliation
since 1996), formerly celebrated on Nov. 7. The new holiday marks a 1612 victory
over the Poles.
From its inception, the holiday has been used by nationalists for holding
"Russian Marches," nationalist rallies

(Message over 64k, truncated.)