Part III: Beyond Moscow: Into the Regions
It has been said that the real Russia starts beyond Moscow. In the "regions",
Moscow's trends and political and economic ups and downs fade and replaced by a
poorer but more stable way of life. Leaving Moscow meant saying good-bye to the
Blue Light Specials, gaudy billboards, expensive clubs, inflated egos of the
elites -- and almost any hope of finding an English speaker, which makes travel
outside the big cities a huge challenge for non-Russian speakers. This
detachment from Moscow spared most of the regions the epic dislocations arising
from the 1998 economic crisis. When the Moscow banks went bust, most people
outside the capital didn’t lose any money. They were too poor to save - money
was to be spent quickly because of the uncertain future.
Russia is divided into 89 regions including 49 oblasts (provinces) or, closer to
the border, 6 krais (territories). Most regions are named after their largest
cities. For example, Belgorod City is the capitol of Belgorod Oblast. In
addition to the oblasts and krais, there are also 21 ethnically-based
“republics”. The 89 are both more and less powerful and autonomous than U.S.
states. On one hand, they elected the upper house of parliament, the Federal
Council, in the same way state legislators elected U.S Senators before 1913.
During the late Yeltsin years, central rule had become very weak -- and some
regions had become quite independence minded. Some regions dominated by
non-Russians pushed the envelope by declaring that their “Republics” had
Sovereignty. Any hope of actually declaring independence was dashed by the war
in Chechnya. No one wanted to go through that kind of hell.
The inability of the regions to determine their fate underlies their fundamental
weakness. Unlike U.S. states, Russia’s regions lack distinct powers that are
respected under a constitution. This made it relatively easy for President
Putin's to sharply cut back on regional autonomy when he came to power at the
end of 1999. This weakness also enabled Putin to create a whole new set of
“Super Governors” on top of the regions. In the end, Moscow held sway.
However, Russia’s enormity makes it impossible for the central government to
control everything. As a result, local authorities remained tremendously
influential and life varied markedly from region to region depending on the
competence of local rulers. Although some regions are run like feudal fiefdoms,
but there can be surprising pockets of enlightenment even in the poorest region.
Russians traditionally divide the regions into several groups: The Golden Ring,
Northwest, Black Earth, Volga Valley, Caucasus, Siberia and the Far East. The
Turkic regions of Tartarstan and Bashkortostan are treated separately because of
their special history, political arrangements and ethnic composition even though
they are located near the Volga River.
Note: This is only a partial excerpt of the
book, which is available on request. I will be adding
photos to this page in the near future.
