| A | B |
|---|
| Dec. 31, 1999 | President Boris Yeltsin resigned unexpectedly |
| He uses state controlled media to great advantage | portrays himself as disciplined, organized and tough |
| Communist Party suffers huge setback in | Russia’s Parliament, The Duma |
| Putin begins to increase presidential power by | weakening local governments |
| increase presidential power by | restricting the actions of political parties |
| limit media criticism | increase presidential power by |
| increase central government surveillance of the public | increase presidential power by |
| Centralization of Power | Putin can now remove any regional governor at will (basically) |
| Restrictions on political parties | Putin forced the Duma to pass strict laws limiting the number and type of political parties |
| Growing control of the Media | Putin has called for “controllable democracy” and placed severe censorship on most Russian media; which the state controls |
| Expansion of Internal Security | Claiming a get tough policy towards crime and terrorism, Putin has greatly expanded the security services |
| Klebnikov Assassination | July 2004, editor of Forbes Russia was killed for articles criticizing corrupt government and business leaders, first in a series of “murders” that go unsolved |
| Anna Politkovskaya | In 2006__was killed for her articles about Chehcne War |
| Pursuit of Mikhail Khodorkovsky | Billionaire oil man |
| Economy | Russia has faced many bumps and bruises over the move to capitalism and the privatization of the economy |
| Crime is a huge problem | 50% of the economy controlled by organized crime |
| Much of Russia is horribly polluted | 13-15% of all soil has some level of toxic pollutants |
| Very low morale and pay | only 30% of draftees show up) outdated equipment (Kursk submarine incident, 2001) |
| Anti-Semitism | over 200 Russian newspapers are openly anti-Semitic; since 1991 many Russian Jews have left |
| Health Care | no longer free; life expectancy down to 60 for men; TB killed 2.5 mil. Russians in 1990s |
| alcoholism and smoking a huge problem | together account for 80% of deaths in some way |
| Total population expected to shrink | 7 mil. to 120 mil. by 2045 |
| Chechen terrorist acts: October 2002 | Moscow: 700 Russian theatre goers are held hostage; Russian military kills many (150) with powerful nerve gas; tries to cover up the incident |
| Chechen terrorist acts: Feb. 2004 | Moscow: 40 killed by suicide bomb in Moscow underground |
| Chechen terrorist acts: Sept. 2004 | Beslan: 330 killed in a school hostage in southern Russia |
| Chechen terrorist acts: March 2005 | Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov killed by Russian special forces |
| Belarus | Russia wants to annex; but dictator Alexander Lukashenko does not want to lose power |
| Ukraine | Putin embarrassed by “Orange Revolution” of Victor Yushenko over Russian backed opposition in 2005; Ukraine divided over moving away from Russia to Europe or vice versa; now more with Russia |
| Moldova | unrest b/t Romanian, Ukrainian and Russian ethnic groups; breakaway Trans-Dniester province has become a crime state |
| Georgia | friendly w/USA; annoys Putin; helps w/ war on terrorism, short provocative war in 2008 |
| Armenia | Christian Orthodox nation in constant conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh region w/Azerbaijan; close ally of Russia |
| Azerbaijan | Islamic nation (hates Armenia) very important source of Caspian Sea Oil; Russia, USA and Iran all have strong interests here |
| All some form of autocracy | run by former Soviet leaders; mostly underdeveloped and poverty stricken |
| Tajikistan | most conflict ridden; unstable relations b/t former communists and Islamic fundamentalists; conflict over border w/Afghanistan |
| Kazakhstan | largest Russian minority (40%); close ties to Russia, USA and China; abundant natural resources; many former Soviet nuclear installations; very autocratic |
| Uzbekistan | very repressive rule by Islam Karimov; close ties to Russia and USA (sometimes); worries over Islamic fundamentalism |
| Turkmenistan | close ally of Russia and USA vs. Taliban/terrorism; strong Islamic culture vs. autocratic ruler |
| Kyrgyzstan | close ties militarily to USA and Russia (both have military bases); problems w/ Russian, Uzbek and Chinese minorities (Uyghurs) |
| EU | Russia is concerned over the expansion of NATO and EU; it tries to maintain strong relations w/Serbia |
| USA | America is concerned over Russian arms and tech. sales to Iran; control over former Soviet nukes; opposition to Iraq War; help w/N. Korea; and increasing non-democratic policies by Putin |
| China | long running tensions over land, resources, oil and influence in Central Asia and Siberia |
| Japan | still never officially signed peace treaty after WWII; tensions over N. Korea, oil/gas, island territory and fishing rights |
