Talk:Politics of Russia

What the Russian govt wants you to believe comment
The above is what Russian government would want you to believe. Actually Chechnya is independent country occupied by Russia, where Russian Army did atrocities not any less shocking than what Hitler's or Stalin's Armies did.''

''Russia is imperialist state dangerous to both own citizens and citizens of neighbour countries. Russia is in good relations with countries like North Korea and China - countries that don't care at all about rights of own citizens.''

I removed this, as it is not in line with the neutral point of view. I'm not saying it isn't true, but it needs to be rewritten in a more objective fashion appropriate for an encyclopedia. For example,

"The people of Chechnya consider their land to be an independant state under Russian occupation. There are many reports coming out of the region of atrocities committed by the Russian army."

And for the second paragraph:

"Russia maintains close relations with North Korea and China, both of which have been heavily criticized for their rejection of various human rights for their citizens."

I didn't leave either of these in on the Russia/Government page, however, as these seem to belong in separate articles. -- Stephen Gilbert

While comparision to Hitler/Stalin is quite subjective (but still true), Chechnya was independent country before Russian invasion.

Hi, I'm a citizen of Russia, my name is. Please listen to my humble opinion. People in the western world got used to various freedoms they struggled for so long. Indeed, the conception of open society is one of the main achievements of civilized humanity, a conception that works - that's why Perestroika occured in my country. There are no ideological standards of thinking, totalitarian taboos et cetera. However, while different points of view on the inner problems make western people at least argue with each other, they express _total_ solidarity speaking of outer world problems (having _a priori_ less information on this subject). It is strange to me that an independent and free-thinking western person doesn't put under question the information he/she gets from various news reports and analytical reviews (that are quite the same), well, he/she doesn't even care about it. Speaking particularly about situation in Chechnya, western society relies on the information it can't prove. I often watch world-wide channels, such as CNN, BBC, EuroNews and what I see are the reports made in a comfortable office building somewhere in London, or, perhaps, New-York. Surely, I know about the restrictions that russian government placed on the work of foreign journalists; but look, there are many independent sources (especially Internet-based) in Russia that provide quite an information (why don't you watch russian television?). As to Hitler/Stalin comparison, nobody compares Tony Blair[e?] to Stalin, and nobody talks about atrocities in Ireland (that's idiotic). What about basks in Spain?... ...Nevertheless, I never agreed with military operations in Chechnya; I prefer peaceful solutions, that do work.

The atrocity of Ireland was around the beginning (and so on till 1949 constitutionally)of the 20th century,by which time the world was overwhelmingly monarchical and authoritarian; Great Britain, to take it frankly, is much more democratic and tolerant than its much more tyrantical counterparts, with russia's imperial and later soviet regime involved in wars with its equally aggressive and ambitious japanese neighbor; modern day Northern Ireland after Good Friday Agreement(passed through successful referendums in UK and RI,Republic of Ireland), with polls suggesting no majority support of irish reunification or ulster independence, and each sovereign government granting and recognising dual-citizenship for its people. As for Basques or so on, I could not find possible memory of Spanish/French government starting a war in basque areas of either country. As for UK, there's even a recent Edinburgh Agreement providing special transfer of constitutional power to the devolved Scottish government to hold a Scottish independence referendum in 2014 for electorates to decide whether Scotland shall separate from UK or not. Being at a lower ranking in democracy index as Spain is to UK, the Catalonian Independence issue is never suppressed or blood-washed, although largely to Spain's elected central government's dismay. As for Tony Blair, he together with Bush are indeed terrible war criminals(honestly)regarding Iraq, but he apparently has much less power over his people than Stalin, proved directly from the fact than he dare not send a single secret guard to murder a single citizen, from whom he enjoyed terrible unpopularity due to the war affair and later came down from his office. I do think Putin is, say, more 'Stalinian' than Blair from many aspects. Here comes the point that it doesn't deeply matters if he personally, notionally or politically accepts Chechnyan independence or not, but rather how he deals with that: Sending an army? Starting a battle? Or brokering a peaceful talk around the table and perhaps, even better, an agreement towards a referendum? Ballots instead of Bullets? Those attitudes and solutions truly measure his identity as 'democratic leader' or 'dictatorial butcher'. As for the media problem, if you've truly watched BBC, CNN...a lot and you must have found that they recruit strong legions of journalists around the world and across Russia(to some Russian officials perhaps unfavorably). They indeed became lunatic at some times, due to various reasons; but being uncensored and uninterrupted made them out of the hands of (regardless of nationality) ever-power-greedy politicians. Luckier than their Russian brothers, huh? (By the way, suggesting 'why don't you watch russian television?' against allegedly western bias is a solid proof of a simple-to-guess reason why they can't be trusted.) BBC is not quite British as the name goes; it has branched all across the world with local journalists acting in report programmes; ditto many other western 'prejudiced' media. Actually looking at their programmes you can only find how stupid the UK PM is, how dirty US lobbyings can be, how many problems the west expose...more local bias than foreign, right? But that is what journalism is meant to be: to almost ruthlessly hold governments in office, inside the cage of law chained by democracy. And just what is 'western media'? Is NHK 'western'? Is KBS 'western'? Or is that any foreign-country-based media branded 'biased, uneducated, non-intelligent' a direct threat to someone's precious little palace?expensive villa?glorious office-hall?just what reason qualifies one to simplify an embarrassing exposure of reality as out-of-reach or conspiracy-in-mind? Just what is western, seriously? In this much more inredependent and intertwined era? Honestly, to my motherland, Russia is very 'western'(almost a common sense here). By the way, it is not really convincing trying to prove Putin not a dictator by suggesting a Blair as one; nor is it ever logistic speaking 'independent resources' as truthful by saying their 'western' counterparts not truthful. As we cannot say that because polar bear is not black yet a Malaysian one is, therefore polars are not bears. Bears are just bears, one of them not expelled from this group of classification by the others' 'bearly' features being more apparent.However, thanks for your contribution here all together.Спасибо!! 42.84.24.249 (talk) 14:36, 3 August 2013 (UTC)

I am a citizen of Russia as well, i feel that Putin is a Dictator, he creates this 'war' in Chechnya to divert the citizen's attention. I feel the Russia people should overthow the current government because of it's brutal nature and it's poor human rights record towards Russians and the people of Chechnya!


 * Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. At present the alternative to Putin are not the democrats, liberals, or whatever they may want to call themselves. It is the Russian fascism in its various guises. Now, I am not doubting that to a large extent such a situation was, if not engineered, then certainly abetted big time by Putin and his KGB buddies. But this does not change Putin's role as the guy who is at present keeping a lid on things, including the nuclear bombs and what not.


 * As for Stalin/Hitler comparisons, well any foreign army is compared to them, nothing new here. At present Russian press is widely comparing American presence in Iraq to Nazi invasion of Russia. They are particularly keen on pointing out the alleged similarity between German and American helmets. There is definitely no place for such garbage in an encyclopedia article.


 * Chechnya claimed itself an independent country after seceding in a bloody war, and this secession was not recognized by anyone. In fact all participants of that secession qualify as rebels, murderers, and criminals under Russian law. Imagine what would have happened if, say, some parts of Montana were to try to secede from the US. They would not stay independent for long :). And as for widespread criticism of Russian reconquest of Chechnya at home and abroad, well they just made a big mess of things. With any luck they will sort it out sooner or later. Watcher 01:48, 20 May 2004 (UTC)

I changed the definition of Rodina from Fatherland to Motherland for connotative/linguil reasons.

--TheRedAnthem 18:49, 9 January 2006 (UTC) kappa — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.132.205.180 (talk) 16:40, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

Intro
"The politics of Russia (the Russian Federation) take place in a framework of a federal presidential republic, whereby the President of Russia is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation."

This is incorrect. The Russian president is the Chief (Head) of State while the Russian premier, who is appointed by the President, serves as the Head of Government.

Proof:

"chief of state: President Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN (acting president 31 December 1999-6 May 2000, president since 7 May 2000) head of government: Premier Mikhail Yefimovich FRADKOV (since 5 March 2004); First Deputy Premier Dmitriy Anatolyevich MEDVEDEV (since 14 November 2005), Deputy Premiers Aleksandr Dmitriyevich ZHUKOV (since 9 March 2004) and Sergey Borisovich IVANOV (since 14 November 2005)" https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html#Govt

I was doing an assignment on Russia and thought I'd do my part and keep things straight. I didn't edit it, because I'm not sure how people would like it to be revised.

--Spenser. September 19, 2006

I am Russian and I entirely agree with Spenser. I'm editing this. - sredni vashtar

Rewrite?
I think this article is waaaay toooo looong. Most, if not all, of the historical information that is endlessly repeated here is already available at the appropriate places, namely articles on modern Russian history. On the other hand, the current political system in Russia is not sufficiently well described - most input on that dates from the Yeltsin era. This article should be rewritten to concentrate on today's politics rather that history of the last century. Sredni vashtar 19:50, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
 * If you feel capable to split the article in two (one about history, one about current state of affairs), can add more recent materials, and cross-reference the resulting two articles, just be bold and do it. The article is indeed way too long, and the way you propose to split it sounds very logical.  Go for it!  If anything goes wrong, it can always be fixed or reverted to existing version.&mdash;Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 20:23, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Weasel Words
However, since that time Russians have continued to debate the future of their political system, with Western-style democracy and authoritarianism being two widely considered alternatives.

Time for a reality check. There is no debate. It's not like there's a bunch of politicans and academics and citizens having a good old chin wag about how to run Russia. It's simply a case that Russia has become essentially a dictatorship and looks like it's slowly turning fascist (political popularism to keep the masses happy plus intolerance and a lot of repression and injustice). This has happened because there is no real political process, no system of checks and balances, and over time Putin has consolidated political control in his hands, in a manner and with a result all too similar to what existed before. Russia has never really changed. Toby Douglass 11:30, 16 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Your contribution may be considered true by some (perhaps, myself included). However, it's hardly NPOV. I think when you're talking about "sliding back" and such things, you are definitely making judgements without presenting the opposing view or possible benefits of such a "sliding back." Would you please reconsider? Red Plum 20:12, 16 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Possible benefits of a State run press, a court system with a 99% conviction rate, where contract murder is an accepted part of the political process and there is no political freedom? making judgements without presenting the opposing view?  if someone can present an opposing view where there are benefits from such human right violations, they have lost the ability to critically judge matters.  Toby Douglass 10:35, 17 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I removed the paragraph after reviewing the Wikipedia NPOV policy. Please check out NPOV Policy and Words to Avoid Manuals of Style article. Red Plum 20:36, 16 November 2006 (UTC)


 * NPOV is where material expresses a given point of view upon a subject. I argue that what was written is not NPOV, but *accurate*.  Russia IS a State run by machine politics, just, for example, as Chicago was in the 1960s.  There is nothing *debatable* about this.  Putin is not susceptable to being electorically removed.  People who get seriously involved in politics who might be a threat end up in jail with their billion dollar companies confiscated by the State.  What is non-NPOV about stating these facts and their implications?


 * This article, as it stands, is a failure. Anyone reading it would have absolutely *no idea* about the current state of play in Russian politics.  They would imagine Russia to be a reasonably functional multi-party democracy.  Toby Douglass 10:35, 17 November 2006 (UTC)


 * As it was, the paragraph you added was editorial in tone, and didn't actually state any facts. If you write up something that is neutral in tone, state those facts (specific examples) and provide sources, you'll make the article better. Red Plum 23:43, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

This article is not a failure, I think it accurately show s Russia as it is, a multiparty democracy. Just because it doesn't have a liberal bias does not mean there isw anything wrong with the article QZXA2 22:39, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

voting figures
54.8% of registered voters voted in the referendum for Yeltsin's constitution. Of those, 58.4% voted in favour when asked "do you approve of the constitution of the Russian Federation?". By the existing constitution, over 50% of registered voters had to vote in favour of the constitution for it to pass. Yeltsin claimed a plebiscite was needed - meaning that only 50% of those who voted was needed. There was, and still is, considerable debate as to whether the official figures given were genuine. This view was further consolidated by the fact that the Central Election Committee declined to publish a detailed breakdown of results. Please include these points in the article. Respect

Clarification on Russia's status in break up of USSR
"Since gaining its independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, Russia (formally, the Russian Federation) has faced serious challenges in its efforts to forge a political system to follow nearly seventy-five years of Soviet rule"

The above is taken from the second paragraph - i'm just querying - maybe this is a bit pedantic but i can imagine it causing some confusion for some people maybe - but anyway - Did Russia 'gain independence' from the USSR or was it rather, the successor state to the USSR ie. loads of other states gained thier independence leaving Russia as the USSR's successor state?

clarifications would be appreciated Gazzelle 15:14, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

Former KGB Putin wants to reconstitute USSR. As news becomes history we can modify the Article here. Charles Edwin Shipp (talk) 15:24, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

Election results don't tally
Election results for the 2004 Presidential election don't add up - anyone got sources to draw on to make them correct? Gazzelle 15:26, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

Category:Political history of Russia
New category created.--Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus 12:20, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Important notice
The government section of the "Outline of Russia" needs to be checked, corrected, and completed -- especially the subsections for the government branches.

When the country outlines were created, temporary data (that matched most of the countries but not all) was used to speed up the process. Those countries for which the temporary data does not match must be replaced with the correct information.

Please check that this country's outline is not in error.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact The Transhumanist.

Thank you.

Missing citations
The main part of the text has 0 inline citations. I would like to know from which source exactly does this text come from, and I'd also like to investigate whether it's a copyright violation. Please provide citations soon, or the text may be removed. Nanobear (talk) 16:15, 15 February 2011 (UTC)
 * It seems to be mostly the exact copy of this, which I believe is in public domain, but needs attribution at the very least.—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); February 15, 2011; 16:51 (UTC)
 * Actually, this article was mostly written by a banned user . This is a matter of concern. Biophys (talk) 02:12, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

potential NYT resource
At Presidency’s 11th Hour, Medvedev Proposes Systemic Change by ELLEN BARRY and MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ, published December 22, 2011, page A6 in print (Dec 23); excerpt ... 99.190.85.17 (talk) 06:27, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

potential NYT resources

 * Vast Rally in Moscow Is a Challenge to Putin’s Power by Ellen Barry and Michael Schwirtz published December 24, 2011
 * Young and Connected, ‘Office Plankton’ Protesters Surprise Russia by Ellen Barry published December 23, 2011 (page A4 in print)
 * A Kremlin Strategist Tries to Defuse Discontent and Undermine the Protesters’ Leaders by Andrew E. Kramer published December 23, 2011

99.190.86.5 (talk) 06:06, 28 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Here is something from WSJ,
 * Russia's Dubious Vote; Analysis of Parliamentary Results Points to Widespread Fraud by Gregory L. White and Rob Barry 28.December.2011
 * Moscow Says It Is Open to 'Dialogue'; Government Response Is Changing as Demonstrations Grow Larger and More Focused Against Prime Minister Putin 27.December.2011 by Gregory L. White and Alexander Kolyandr
 * 99.19.40.123 (talk) 09:54, 28 December 2011 (UTC)
 * wp:ALL CAPS above; and more ... Russian Liberals Growing Uneasy With Alliances by Michael Schwirtz, published January 28, 2012 99.35.12.74 (talk) 05:33, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

potential resources
99.19.44.155 (talk) 16:51, 8 January 2012 (UTC)
 * State Building in Putin’s Russia: Policing and Coercion After Communism by Brian D. Taylor, Reviewed by By Robert Legvold Foreign Affairs September/October 2011
 * A Warning Shot For Putin; Parliamentary Elections and the Reawakening of Russian Politics by Kathryn Stoner-Weiss Foreign Affairs December 8, 2011

Putin/Russia wants Crimea back
Headline-1: Russian Parliament Speaker: We Will Support Crimea if It Decides to Join Russia. QUOTE: "The speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament says Russian lawmakers will support Crimea's decision if the Ukrainian region decides in a referendum to join Russia." Charles Edwin Shipp (talk) 15:28, 7 March 2014 (UTC)
 * http://www.voanews.com/content/russian-parliament-speaker-we-will-support-crimea-if-it-decides-to-join-russia/1866372.html

Headline-2: Wall Street Journal, online: Russian State Gas Company Threatens to Cut Supply to Ukraine. QUOTE: "If the people of Crimea decide to join Russia in the referendum, we, as the upper house, will certainly support this decision," Valentina Matvienko said at a meeting in Moscow with Vladimir Konstantinov, the speaker of Crimea's regional parliament. She said the upper house would integrate Crimea as a region of Russia with the same powers as all the others. Charles Edwin Shipp (talk) 17:05, 7 March 2014 (UTC) — PS: Nice picture of Valentina Matvienko.
 * http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303369904579424540787917088?mod=WSJ_hp_RightTopStories&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303369904579424540787917088.html%3Fmod%3DWSJ_hp_RightTopStories

Propaganda and Whitewash, not Wikipedia
A cursory overview of this entire article, and a detailed reading of several sections, by any international studies scholar, reveals that this article is in no way neutral. Though a few negatives have been allowed here and there, the article is pretty thoroughly scrubbed of nearly all negative commentary about Russia or its current regime.

This is one of the clearest examples of the weakness in Wikipedia, which allows anyone -- including the massive propaganda apparatus of the world's second-largest authoritarian state -- to edit, tamper with, and undermine, neutral, relevant, important and substantive content of Wikipedia articles. Wikipedia needs to develop a system for policing this interference with Wikipedia.


 * ~ Penlite (talk) 19:02, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Alright. What changes do you propose would help improve the article? GABHello! 19:07, 8 April 2016 (UTC)


 * For starters, a commitment not to let Wikipedia be played, like a violin, by a major dictatorship and its notoriously vast cyber-tampering / cyber-propoganda operations (Tried lately to find a realistic bit on YouTube about Russia, or about any of the countries it seeks to control? Blatant propaganda everywhere (and some more sly) with the same "average guy" showing up in videos as a Russian, as a Ukranian, and elsewhere in the intended Russian sphere.) Do you really think they aren't up to the same mischief with the open-sourced "world's encyclopedia"?  A review of Wikipedia articles on Russia sure seems to show that.


 * This would then imply the need to organize, within the Wiki community, or outside it, a more rational system of review before publication (including before any deletions or alterations are allowed) -- that runs any edits through a multi-perspective panel of knowledgeable scholars (across the spectrum of bias, nationality, ethnicity), reasonably balanced (yes, even with some of Putin's posers), to review edits and give them a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, as a group.


 * To ameliorate any unreasonable censorship, rejected edits and texts could be posted separately, under, say, a new tab called "rejected edits" or "rejected content."


 * Obviously this is for very limited situations, only, mainly where there has been gross evidence of article tampering, flooding with propaganda, or "spinning" -- or the extremely high risk of such -- on a major sensitive topic.


 * Topic examples would include (obviously):
 * Any major authoritarian or semi-authoritarian state with a large propaganda apparatus noted for "stuffing the mailbox" or censoring unfavorable online content, at Wikipedia and elsewhere, and killing its critics, at home or abroad. This would obviously include Russia and China, and probably North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Egypt; and their "enemies" (e.g.: USA, Japan, South Korea, Israel, each other, etc.) Ask for guidance on this list from reputable international groups, such as Amnesty International, Transparency International, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, or even the U.S. State Department.
 * Any major corporation, organiziation or institution (especially commercial enterprises) with the resources and financial motive to tamper with Wikipedia articles about them, or any apparent substantial history of that.
 * Topic areas with fiercely competing interests -- military conflicts, major political parties & candidates, major corporations, labor unions, religions, ethnicities, major hot-button social and political issues (e.g., in the U.S.: racism, abortion, guns), etc. -- including some with powerful propaganda resources or popularity leading to "swamping" or unfair tampering with the Wiki articles.
 * There's a reason people groan when i say "I read it in Wikipedia." Wikipedia's failure to filter garbage, or willfully fradulent posts by unscrupulous powers, and allowing genuinely neutral material, even if important and well-sourced, to be erased by vested interests -- while getting hysterical over grammar, punctuation, formatting and technical protocol -- are very much at the heart of Wikipedia's global credibility problem.  (It's like the doctor who has a fit that you showed up at his office with a heart attack, because you didn't make a proper appointment.)
 * A more rational Wikipedia -- please.
 * ~ Penlite (talk) 05:09, 9 April 2016 (UTC)


 * By the way, if you're asking me for specific content recommendations for this article, why bother? A read of this Russia article, followed by scrutiny of the View History listings, seems to indicate, graphically, that someone is routinely scrubbing out just about everything contributed, that may not flatter Putin or Russia -- almost reflexively, and apparently sometimes almost instantly, and anonymously.  Add in all the vandalism listed (I've never seen another Wikipedia article with so many vandallism flags in its history), and it seems pretty pointless to bother posting anything substantive to this article.
 * No point in posting negative stuff about Russia and its regime; they'll simply kill it (and maybe the poster, too?).
 * No point in posting positive stuff about Russia and its regime: they've already got that covered.
 * No point in posting to this article, period.
 * ~ Penlite (talk) 05:57, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

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What are the rules in russia
Talk to me about it 173.217.168.155 (talk) 03:15, 10 September 2022 (UTC)