Coming Soon: The Moscow Ring Railway
The Village is a Russian-language publication in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kiev that seeks to inform locals about their various cities, upcoming events, urban changes, and history. One of the…
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7 Facts about the April, 1991 Economic Crisis
The following text was written by Aleksei Rudevich and originally appeared in Russian on the website “Russian 7.” To read the original Russian, click here….
Ukraine Update in 7 Sentences
The following is a list of seven general points to be aware of as the Ukraine / Crimea Crisis continues to develop. This resource has…
Agriculture as the Basis of a New Russia
An Open Letter to the Authorities Boris Akimov is a man of all trades. Until 2010 he worked as a journalist for Afisha and Snob,…
Responding to the Dual Threat to Kazakhness: The Rise of Alash Orda and its Uniquely Kazakh Path
In 1917, following the fall of the Russian empire, Alash Orda, a provisional Kazakh government formed by members of the Alash nationalist party, partially filled…
Nationalism as a Political Factor in Late-Soviet Kazakhstan
“Nationalism is a political principle which maintains that similarity of culture is the basic social bond.” – E. Gellner[1] “Казахстан в современных границах исторически был территорией…
Trends in Soviet and Post-Soviet Udmurt Cultural Memory
“Are you talking about the Russians or the Udmurt?” “There’s no difference. The two cultures have been intertwined for so long that it’s really impossible…
On the Eve of Crimean Independence
The day before Crimea voted in its independence referendum, The Village, a Moscow-based publication with editions in St. Petersburg and Kiev, asked residents of various…
Crimea Crisis Reader: Thinking Critically about the Crisis
The following articles have been chosen for discussing the political, diplomatic, military, social, and economic causes and potential effects of the current crisis on the…
Resolving the Crimean Crisis: What will Russia have on the table?
The current crisis in Crimea has escalated quickly and was unexpected by most in the West. The Russians and Germans have just agreed to begin…
12 Things You Should Know about the Agreement in Ukraine
An agreement was brokered by EU leaders between Ukraine’s ruling party and the opposition. That agreement, however, was broken the day after it was signed…
Introduction to Conflict in the Post-Soviet Space
As the Soviet Union crumbled, it left behind ethnically, linguistically, and culturally diverse successor states. As these states tried to form domestic policies and governing…
Why the Terrorists Chose Volgograd
I have seen several articles now comment on the reasoning that terrorists might have employed in choosing to target the Russian city of Volgograd three…
Russian MiniLessons: Civil War in Syria
The <strong>сирийский</strong> <strong>кризис</strong> (Syrian crisis) is a conflict between <strong>п</strong><strong>овстанцы</strong> (rebels) who are seeking to <strong>свергнуть</strong> <strong>правительство</strong> (oust the government) and <strong>проправительственные</strong> <strong>силы</strong> (pro-government forces)….
Russian MiniLessons: Political Asylum and Related Russian Vocabulary
The following bilingual Russian MiniLesson is meant to build your vocabulary by providing Russian phrases within English text. Hover over the bold Russian to reveal…
Nationalist Thought in Contemporary Russia
The Russian nationalist movement came to prominence in the late Soviet era and the early years of the Russian Federation. Russia had never existed as…
Batkivshchyna: Party Platform
Yulia Tymoshenko is perhaps the most powerful, popular, and controversial woman in Eastern European politics. She rose to power quickly during the turbulent 1990s as…
Yulia Tymoshenko & Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) Party
A Coalition of Populism and Nationalism Yulia Tymoshenko is perhaps the most powerful, popular, and controversial woman in Eastern European politics. She rose to power…
The Dima Yakovlev Law: Ethical Implications of the Russian Adoption Ban
When Sergei Magnitsky passed away in Moscow’s Butyrka prison in 2009, human rights activists worldwide cried foul. Magnitsky was a prominent lawyer who uncovered and investigated…
Ukraine’s Party of Regions: Part 2
Below is the second part of the 2009 platform from Ukraine’s Party of Regions, produced shortly after the Orange Revolution forced party leader Viktor Yanukovych…
