The Perm region once boasted well-managed forests, protected and processed for the common good. Today those forests lie abandoned or looted in the name of progress. The locals aren’t happy, but what can they do, asks Roman Yushkov?
The degree of press freedom in Russia has fluctuated violently over the 20 years since the fall of communism. The situation in the Orenburg region, as everywhere, is a balancing act between principles and funding. And it’s always more difficult to rebuild what has been lost, laments Elena Strelnik
Bordering Kazakhstan, Orenburg is a first destination for migrant workers from post-Soviet Central Asia. In her latest letter from the Russian Provinces, Elena Strelnikova considers the pluses and minuses of the visitors and how they integrate — or not — into the local society
Christians, Jews and Muslims have lived side by side for generations in Tatarstan. The Soviet period cut a swathe through early 20th century cultural and spiritual developments like Jadidism, but this peaceful form of Islam has since re-emerged. It is more necessary than ever in the current age of
The Cossacks have played an important part at various times in Russian history. Now their ranks are diluted by intermarriage and the admission of non-Cossacks. Elena Strelnikova ponders the attempts to keep Cossack traditions alive in Orenburg, South Russia.
Volgograd has had many incarnations, but is best known as Stalingrad for the great WWII battle that raged in and around the city. Local journalist Oksana Zagrebnyova gives a wry update of life in Volgograd in the run-up to the Duma elections and the city’s relative indifference to a possible chang
The tragedy of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami has produced chaos on the island of Sakhalin. What little information is available is regarded with suspicion. Ksenia Semyonova monitors the mounting panic.
Over the last 20 years the teaching of history has changed dramatically in Russia. Today’s children seem not to know or care very much about their country’s past. Elena Strelnikova wonders how well they are being taught in school.
As a particularly harsh winter comes to a close, Alexander Valiyev reflects on recent developments in Chelyabinsk, West Siberia. While the authorities gained a lot, increasing their grip on the power vertical by canceling local elections, it was, as ever, the little man who came off worse...
External factors like the Internet, post-Soviet economic upheaval and the availability of exotic fruit have given young Russians a different system of values and approach to life. Mother of three Elena Strelnikova gives a wry overview of parenting in provincial Russia.
In a world riven by the conflict between Christianity and Islam, the Republic of Tatarstan offers a heartening example of centuries of peaceful coexistence, even though the Caucasus with its religious and ethnic problems is not far away. Long may it last, hopes Oleg Pavlov.
Voting at the recent local elections in Orenburg Oblast was listless and perfunctory. Voters don’t know the candidates, who in their turn make no attempt to remedy the situation, so why should people turn out to vote for them? Elena Strelnikova tries to make sense of the election process
