Russia

On 8 June, the Russian State Duma (parliament) announced a new prospective bill to expand the scope of the country’s now-infamous “Gay Propaganda” law. The original law, which passed in 2013 with 388 votes in favour, one against, and one abstention, introduced fines for “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among underaged individuals”. It was the first homophobic law in Russia since the ban on “sodomy” was lifted in 1993. Although few people have actually been sentenced since the law’s passing, it is an attempt to remove any discussion or education around LGBTQ+ people and...

“The [Russian] economy will be under sanctions as long as Putin is in power”, wrote John Sawers in the Financial Times . Sawers, accustomed to backroom calculations (he is a former chief of MI6), takes that continuation as fact even though he is more optimistic about Ukraine’s military chances than we dare to be. The sanctions didn’t stop Russia invading Ukraine; they’re not stopping its war; and they will probably continue after the war unless it drags on for many years. Russian’s import revenues were up 65% in the three months March-May compared to the similar months in 2021, according to...

We wrote this in response to Transnational Social Strike's call for signatories to their statement , as an organisation that opposes Putin's war. TSS declined to publish it — or any replies — and the two signatories we contacted, Plan C and Angry Workers of the World, requesting they publish it instead, did not reply. We are, however, debating these organisations and others in Bristol on 25 June . We welcome further debate. On 24 February 2022, the same day that Transnational Social Strike published their statement , Russia invaded Ukraine. Putin’s military aggression has to the date of...

Merci à Yves Coleman et Ni patrie ni frontières pour la traduction de ces articles. Thanks to Yves Coleman and Ni patrie ni frontières for translating these articles. Lutte ouvrière et le droit à l'autodétermination de l'Ukraine Dale Street [ In English ] «Il était une fois, dans un pays lointain appelé l'Union soviétique, les Ukrainiens et les Russes qui vivaient heureux ensemble. Mais ensuite, de méchants bureaucrates ont détruit leur pays. Cela a donné aux généraux de l'OTAN, qui étaient aussi cruels que les bureaucrates, la possibilité de s'emparer de nouvelles terres. Vladimir Poutine a...

Activists in over forty countries have signed and are circulating the following statement. You can sign by emailing erre.emme@enjoy.it As in the days of the Vietnamese people’s liberation struggle, we have always been on the side of the oppressed and aggressed peoples, whether by the United States (and its NATO allies) or by the USSR (and its Warsaw Pact allies). We are aware that, crossing the various oceans and continents, the struggle for national and social liberation of peoples is unique and global. We have never accepted, and we will never accept, that any power, or any military bloc...

Burnt out military enrolment centre in Shuya Growing numbers of military enrolment offices are being set alight across Russia. In the last week, two enrolment offices were attacked by individual would-be arsonists: one threw a Molotov cocktail through the window of an empty office in Simferopol at night, although the room did not catch light; a second individual in Tulsk attacked the building with an axe, smashing open a window and attempting to set a room on fire. In Komsomolsk-na-Amure, someone poured flammable liquid on the door of a Rosgvardiya (National Guard) building and ran away. These...

Should socialists be in favour of a military victory for Russia in Ukraine? Or should they take a “dual-defeatist” position (opposing both sides), saying it is really a war between NATO and Russia?

Phone polls run by the Public Opinion Foundation in Russia suggest that, while support for the government remains roughly stable, in the last two weeks the number of those willing to take part in protests has risen from 15% to 19%. 24% of people believe that “a considerable number” would take part in protests in their region, up from 17% the week before. In the words of the Russian Socialist Movement, “it’s no great surprise that people are being radicalised. Quality of life is falling rapidly, the regime is destroying any opportunity to legally express your discontent, and the prisons are...

Whilst the barbarous rabble of Vladimir Putin’s invading army continue to murder, rape and pillage in Ukraine, another round of “unexplained deaths” of prominent oligarchs has had scant mention in an otherwise crowded news agenda. At least six high profile wealthy Russians have died in mysterious circumstances since the invasion began and three have been particularly disturbing cases of alleged murder-suicides. Sergey Protosenya, a former top manager of energy giant Novatek, was found hanging in the garden of his luxury holiday home in Lloret del Mar. Spanish police found his wife and 18-year...

Abridged with thanks from “The Historical Background to Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine” on the New Politics website. If someone suggested that we could understand the Black Lives Matter struggle without some knowledge of the historical background of slavery, lynchings, Jim Crow and so on, we would find it unconvincing, to put it mildly. But many on the left seem to think that they can comment on the crisis in Ukraine while being totally ignorant of that country’s history. I wish to argue, on the contrary, that it is impossible to understand what is happening in Ukraine today without some...