Russia Reform Monitor: No. 1610

December 5:

The Russian Orthodox Church has officially confirmed the death of Patriarch Aleksii II, the Agence France Presse reports. According to reports, the Patriarch died of a heart attack at his residence outside Moscow. He was 79. A controversial figure, Aleksii greatly expanded both the popularity and the power of the Orthodox Church in post-Soviet Russia during his eighteen-year tenure. His alignment with the Kremlin on a range of policy issues, however, brought him criticism from many quarters during that period.

Aleksii's passing has left both church and state on the horns of a number of serious policy dilemmas, commentator Paul Goble writes. "First, there is the issue of the Moscow Patriarchate’s control over Orthodox bishoprics and congregations in the former Soviet republics and particularly in Ukraine," which must be preserved if the Russian Orthodox church (and the Russian state) wants to ensure religious control over co-religionists in the "post-Soviet space." Second, the new Patriarch will need to address issues of institutional legitimacy being raised by many Orthodox Russians, who increasingly "are questioning both the business activities of the Patriarchate and its slavish following of the state on most issues." Finally, according to Goble, the new Orthodox leader "will have to figure out how to work with Orthodox groups in the 'Far Abroad' with whom Aleksii arranged a rapprochement but many of whom are now at odds with Moscow."


December 6:

The Hindu reports that Dmitry Medvedev's very public visit to New Delhi has yielded new plans for nuclear cooperation between Russia and India - and prospects for a greatly expanded bilateral atomic partnership. The Russian president and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have reportedly signed an agreement for Russia to assist in the construction of four new reactors in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. But the new deal "is not the end of the story,” Medvedev told reporters after consultations with Singh. In particular, Moscow and Delhi are now said to be mulling plans for the construction of ten new nuclear reactors on India's eastern coast.

A day after the passing of Aleksii II, the Russian Orthodox Church has appointed an interim Patriarch. According to Al-Jazeera, the new leader, Metropolitan Kirill, a 62-year-old spiritual leader for Smolensk and Kaliningrad, has a reputation as a reformist in the generally conservative church.


December 9:

In a thinly veiled reflection of official Kremlin thinking, Russia's most powerful political party is striking a decidedly xenophobic stance. The Moscow Times reports that members of the youth wing of Prime Minister Putin's "United Russia" faction have held their second demonstration in six weeks in the Russian capital against immigrant workers, whom they have blamed for the country's recent economic ills. "Every second [migrant] should go home," declared members of "United Russia's" Young Guard, echoing Putin's recent recommendation that official quotas for foreign workers be cut in half.

Russia's foreign ministry is striking an unconstructive stance in the international stand-off over Iran's nuclear program. "One cannot say today that Iran can create nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them," Russian news sources have quoted Vladimir Voronkov, the head of the Russian foreign ministry's European department, as saying. "This information is confirmed by all the services responsible for the collection and analysis of information."

[Editor's Note: The statement is significant, insofar as it suggests Russia's cooperation on more serious sanctions via the United Nations will not be forthcoming. The UN Security Council so far has passed three rounds of sanctions against the Islamic Republic for its nuclear ambitions, but recent efforts at stricter international measures have fallen short, in large part because of a lack of international consensus.]