On July 11, 2014 I received the following press release from the Kremlin regarding President Putin’s meeting with Raul Castro in Cuba. It read as follows: PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN:Ladies and gentlemen, I have just completed talks with Mr Raul Castro, President of the State Council and the Council of Ministers of the Republic […]
Russia: Monument to Chechen Women Raises Controversy
Last Saturday, September 14, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov dedicated a monument to a group of Chechen women who had died when Russia was establishing control over the North Caucasus in the 19th century. According to the story, which some say is apocryphal, in 1819 forty-six Chechen women taken prisoner by Russian General Yermolov threw themselves […]