The Russian capital's massive ceremonies commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany shine a spotlight on one of the Soviet Union's great successes, but they also illuminate many of the problems now plaguing post-Soviet Russia.
Amid their words of praise for the Red Army's bravery and sacrifice, officials have appeared defensive in scrabbling to preserve Russia's declining regional influence, deflect criticism of Russia's commitment to democracy and protest Western support for pro-democracy uprisings in ex-Soviet states.
Intense security measures for the Moscow ceremonies, which are crowded with foreign dignitaries, echoed the capital's fears of terror attacks by Chechen separatists, whom the Kremlin has been unable to wipe out in a decade of fighting.
PHOTO: AFP
With security so tight that Muscovites had little chance of seeing Monday's ceremonies firsthand, officials advised residents to get out of town, which some felt demonstrated how Russian authorities had little concern for the common man.
Soviet-era emblems and images of Josef Stalin abounded -- historically correct, but unsettling amid fears that President Vladimir Putin wants to lead the country back into heavy-handed authoritarian rule.
As Putin addressed WWII veterans at the Bolshoi Theater, he struck a defiant and defensive tone.
"Double standards with regard to terrorists are as unacceptable as attempts to rehabilitate Nazi accomplices," Putin said. The statement referred both to the Kremlin's frequent complaint that calls for Russia to negotiate with Chechen rebels are tantamount to capitulating to terrorism and to Russia's resentment of moves in some ex-Soviet Baltic countries and Ukraine to honor partisans who fought against the Red Army in WWII.
Leaders of two Baltic countries -- Estonia and Lithuania -- declined to come to Moscow for the celebrations, a demonstration of the widespread dismay over the nearly five decades of postwar Soviet occupation.
Also absent were leaders of two member nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the loose grouping of ex-Soviet republics other than the Baltics.
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliev declined to come to the CIS summit, reportedly because of the presence of Armenian President Robert Kocharian: tensions are high between the countries over the unresolved status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Aliev came for Monday's ceremonies, but his staying away from the summit underlined the CIS' internal tensions.
The absence of Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili was a direct slap at Russia -- he stayed home to protest Russia's resistance to withdrawing two military bases that remain in the country as Soviet-era hangovers.
Saakashvili also is preparing for a visit by US President George W. Bush, who was scheduled to go there yesterday directly from Moscow. Bush's visit to Georgia is being seen as a strong endorsement of pro-democracy movements in the former Soviet Union. Georgia's 2003 Rose Revolution scored a first, dramatic victory that drove out longtime leader Eduard Shevardnadze.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who came to power after his country's Orange Revolution forced an election in which he defeated a Kremlin-backed candidate, came to Moscow for the ceremonies, but used the occasion to downplay the CIS, saying there was "little use" for the organization that Russia sees as a key element in retaining regional influence.
Russia has sharply criticized the backing that pro-democracy groups in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan received from Western countries, and apparently is concerned that those countries' uprisings could be repeated in close Russian allies, such as Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Russian Security Council chief Igor Ivanov last week criticized the uprisings as unconstitutional changes of power. That brought a cold rejection from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, which said Sunday that "the international community has highly assessed the degree of conformity of last year's presidential elections with democratic standards."
The protests in post-Soviet countries raised the prospect of similar outpourings in Russia, where Putin is under increasing criticism for apparent authoritarian leanings. The WWII ceremonies' respect for Stalin could be seen as reinforcing that tendency, and Putin himself has given mixed signals, claiming Russia is reforming but speaking with respect and even nostalgia for the Soviet Union.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
HELP DENIED? The US Department of State said that the Cuban leadership refuses to allow the US to provide aid to Cubans, ‘who are in desperate need of assistance’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that Cuba’s leadership must change, as Washington renewed an offer of US$100 million in aid if the communist nation agrees to cooperate. Cuba has been suffering severe economic tumult led by an energy shortage that plunged 65 percent of the country into darkness on Tuesday. Cuba’s leaders have blamed US sanctions, but Rubio, a Cuban American and critic of the government established by Fidel Castro, said the system was to blame, including corruption by the military. “It’s a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” he told
RSS