North Asia

Despite bans on demonstrations and pickets, environmentalists have still managed to make their voices heard against the work in progress in the parks of the Russian capital. According to the municipal authorities, the work is necessary to improve ‘the care and use of green spaces’, but according to the opponents it is simply a favour to the ‘business-minded building lobbies’.

In his new book, the Spanish writer recounts his trip to Ulaanbaatar with Pope Francis in 2023. As a convinced atheist, he discovered the "radicality" of men and women religious who help people without proselytising. For him, they embody the pontiff’s “missionary and poor Church”, he said yesterday at a meeting with the press in Rome. The novel narrates the meetings with Fr Ernesto Viscardi and Sr Ana Waturu.

The Kremlin would like to create a traditionalist far-right party, led by special military operation veterans, to be merged with the heirs of Vladimir Zirinovskij to spur the same deputies of United Russia into more convinced patriotic activism. But the move is viewed with nervousness by Zyuganov's communists, who represent the traditional ‘popular and leftist’ Russian soul.

Tensions are growing between the president of the Caucasian republic and Moscow. The main reason for the disagreement is said to be information from the FSB services about the frequent negotiations not agreed with the Kremlin between Kadyrov, who has been ill for some time, and the monarchies of the Golgo to determine the future of his assets and the security of his family members.

The Eurasian military alliance has presented new guidelines for law enforcement operations to be applied in all member states to prevent ‘terrorist infiltration’. Last year 420 illegal organisations were identified, but there were also many summary actions against Tajiks after the attack on Krokus City Hall. Dushanbe is insisting that its citizens fully legalise their residence status in Russia by the end of April.

Making Russia and America “great again”, MAGA and Russkij Mir, is nothing more than the dream of returning to a world in which two great empires ruled and all the other countries submitted. It is not about conquests, but about the losses suffered, and returning to the top of the world helps overcome fears of further losses.

To reach an upper-medium level of development this decade, greater investments in energy are needed. For supporters, nuclear plants would guarantee stable and "clean" energy, and improve the environment at a critical juncture for traditional renewables. Moscow and Beijing would partner in infrastructure development.

Since 2022, the Russian independent documentary film festival has been forcibly moved to Riga where, once again this year, it is telling the story of ‘The world at war’. Director Vitalij Manskij: ‘The internal war being waged in Moscow against civil society is no less significant’.

Although some Russian Orthodox priests have spoken out against “war liturgies,” they don’t all hold the same positions. Some have tried to stick with the patriarchal Church, others have turned to other Orthodox jurisdictions; some have limited themselves to passive resistance, while others have openly criticised the patriarch himself, such as the theologian and Deacon Andrey Kuraev.

In March 1944, accused of collaborating with the Nazis, tens of thousands of people from the Caucasus were forcibly transferred to Central Asia and Siberia. It was only 13 years later that they were able to return to the present-day republic of Kabardino-Balkaria. Official commemorations avoided mentioning Stalin and the Soviet oppressors. But local historians invite reflection on the relationship between the Russians and the ‘minor peoples’.

In the Pskov region, bills have skyrocketed to over 30,000 rubles per month without any notification of the rate increase, while in Chechnya or Dagestan, the government turns a blind eye to the billions of rubles owed for energy supplies, without suspending services.

The majority of the population believe they have defeated the West, emboldened by the American u-turn. But now the question that circles their minds is ‘what happens next?’.