I really wonder why so many Russians are so unquestioning of their state media. Is it just an access problem, lack of education or is it just a vestigial leftover of the cold war mindset??
In any case, this isn't going to help the education part. Russia today announced that it's only Gulag museum is closing due to mounting political pressure from the Kremlin.
Quote:
museum commemorating the victims of Soviet-era political repressions is closing down after months of government pressure.
Perm-36 — the only museum in Russia created on the site of a former gulag camp — is "ceasing its activities and beginning the process of self-liquidation," the museum said in a statement Monday.
The shutdown comes at a time when the number of Russians viewing Soviet dictator Josef Stalin positively has risen to more than half of the population (52 percent), according to a recent Levada Center poll, and amid heightened government rhetoric extolling Soviet-era achievements.
Government investigators reportedly inspected Perm-36 — named for the infamous labor camp on whose site it was created more than two decades ago — for "extremism" last year, following a complaint by a television viewer who felt prompted to act by a program aired by state-run broadcaster NTV titled "Fifth Column."
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http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/a...re/516920.html
And how is it that Stalin really continues to be glorified to the extent that he is given the death toll attributed to his purges and policies is close to 20 million people.
Meanwhile US intelligence puts current estimates of Russian military personnel in Ukraine at around 12000 with a previous peak of around 29000.
Quote:
The U.S. military estimates around 12,000 Russian soldiers are supporting pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine, U.S. Army Europe Commander Ben Hodges said on Tuesday.
The Russian forces are made up of military advisers, weapons operators and combat troops, Hodges said in a speech in Berlin, adding that a further 29,000 soldiers were stationed in the Crimea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine last year.
In addition, 50,000 troops are positioned on the Russian side of the border with Ukraine in case the separatists suffer a severe setback and the Ukrainian army gains the upper hand, Hodges said.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0LZ2FV20150303