Russia Reform Monitor No. 2381

MOSCOW PLAYS THE COSSACK CARD
Cossacks, the historical frontiersmen of the Russian Empire, still boast a political presence in the country today - as well as a loose affiliation with the Kremlin, which has relied on the fierce fighters at times as supplements for its standing military and security services. The Kremlin seems to be doing so again; Cossack paramilitary units are reportedly being deployed along the Russo-Ukrainian border as resources and manpower get stretched thin on Russia's southwestern flank. The move, experts warn, might presage a repeat of 2014, when Cossack detachments were used during the initial phases of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Media sources recently reported that FSB specialists on Cossack affairs have been deployed to northeastern Ukraine in a move that could signal Kremlin's plans to mobilize the force anew. (Jamestown Foundation, April 11, 2020)

MEDICAL STUDENTS ON THE CORONAVIRUS FRONT LINE
In his reelection bid for the Russian presidency in 2012, Vladimir Putin promised to cut medical budgets to increase efficiency. Over the following seven years, those cuts led to hospital closures and job layoffs across the country. Today, as the coronavirus puts unprecedented strain on Russia's healthcare system, those reductions are being felt, and the central government is mobilizing additional help to mitigate the crisis. The call for volunteers went out on March 15th, and by April as many as 600 medical students were working on the front lines of Russia's hospitals. Moscow, Russia's hardest hit city, is seeing students as young as 20 working 12 hour shifts in ICUs, treating patients while ambulances wait hours in line to drop off patients and stores of protective equipment runs dangerously low. (The Moscow Times, April 16, 2020)

MOSCOW'S QUARANTINE IMPACTS THE MOVEMENT OF JOURNALISTS
Moscow's municipal quarantine order has citizens staying at home unless they have a pass that allows them to travel for essential work, for food or other vital activities. In order to ease the burden on the electronic pass system, certain categories of essential workers were exempt from the pass-holding requirement, permitting them to display their work badges as proof of destination. Supposedly included in this group are attorneys, civil servants, journalists, and others. However, multiple reports of journalists being stopped on the way to work have surfaced in the past few days. On such occasions, journalists who present their work badges were asked to show a permit as well, unlike members of other designated groups of essential workers. The treatment smacks of political harassment, since, when pressed by the media, city authorities affirmed journalists do not actually require passes to travel to and from work. (Meduza, April 17, 2020)

MAKING IT EASIER TO BECOME RUSSIAN
Changes are coming to Russia's citizenship laws that will streamline the process to acquire dual nationality. Breaking with previous policy, the proposed legislation, which recently breezed through both the State Duma and the Federation Council to make its way onto President Putin's desk within two weeks of being introduced, contains amendments that allow foreign nationals to acquire Russian citizenship without having to renounce their current one. Additionally, the legislation waives a preexisting requirement for a continuous five-year residency span in Russia, which was previously necessary in order for the children and spouses of Russian citizens to obtain their passports. (The Moscow Times, April 17, 2020)

[EDITORS' NOTE: The easing of Russia's citizenship laws reflects two distinct political priorities on the part of the Kremlin. The first is an attempt to ameliorate the country's ongoing demographic crisis by making it easier to add Russian citizens to the national rolls. Russian lawmakers have expressed optimism that the "revolutionary" amendments could end up adding as many as 10 million people - mostly from the former Soviet republics - to the ranks of Russia's citizenry. The second is to continue to increase Russian political leverage in countries with significant Russian-speaking populations, including Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states and Kazakhstan.]

SOUTH OSSETIA MAKES ITS MOVE
American diplomats in Georgia are sounding the alarm over a hardening of the territorial boundary between the former Soviet republic and its breakaway region of South Ossetia, whose independence is recognized by Russia. In recent weeks, local authorities have noted the construction of barricades and fencing near the de-facto internal border in question. According to a memo released by the U.S. Embassy, the South Ossetians - who seek independence from Tbilisi and sponsorship from Moscow - may be using the cover of the coronavirus pandemic to put in place measures that enhance their claim to independence. Tbilisi views both South Ossetia and its fellow breakaway region of Abkhazia, located on Georgia's Black Sea coast, as being Russian-occupied territory. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, April 18, 2020)