Questions tagged [russian-federation]
For questions about or involving the Russian Federation, successor of the Soviet Union. Located in Eurasia, Russia is the largest country by land mass, and it operates as a semi-presidential republic. For questions about the Soviet Union (USSR), use tag: [soviet-union].
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Why would Russia care about NATO troops on its borders if it has nuclear weapons?
In a related question on why Russia is against Ukraine joining the EU, @user4012 writes the following:
Basically, Russia has no natural defensive perimeter of its core. Thus, its permanent strategy ...
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9
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How did Russia retain the UNSC veto power of the Soviet Union?
I am not sure what the criteria are to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council, but I do wonder how did Russia manage to keep its veto power after the dissolution of the Soviet Union?
I ...
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14
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What is the pacifist position on Ukraine?
What/who are the prominent pacifist movements/organizations/thinkers in the 21st century, and what is their position on the conflict in Ukraine?
Much of the public and political discussion about the ...
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What's the Russian interest in the Syrian civil war?
Lately the Russian Federation is showing increasing involvement in the Syrian civil war.
They are moving troops to Syria to support Assad.
During the 70th UN general assembly they demanded an ...
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7
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What had the Russian government to gain from the late 2021 military build up and threatening possible invasion of Ukraine?
I tried to find a clear answer from the media (too many examples to list here, search for Russia-Ukraine conflict in the news), but could not quickly find good, comprehensive answer with non-...
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3
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How does Turkey's purchase of the S-400 anti-air system jeopardize the F-35?
(Not sure if this is the right place for the question, but the roots of it are political.)
From what I've seen, Turkey's decision to buy the Russian S-400 anti-air system has jeopardized its ...
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10
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Why and since when did Russia stop integrating itself into the Western community?
After the downfall of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation was on its way to integrating itself into the Western community politically, economically and socially (by Western World I mean the so-...
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Why doesn't Russia join NATO and what would happen if it tried?
So, I'm likely demonstrating my own stupidity here, but I'm wondering what I'm missing.
Russia claims that it's afraid of NATO and feels like it might attack it. So... what if it joined NATO? I know, ...
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Why does Putin want to attack Ukraine in the early 2022? [duplicate]
It seems to be accepted that Putin wants a war in Ukraine, and in absence of any other strong allied militaries around, the only way to get that is attack by Russia itself.
The military conflict in ...
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Does Putin need the support of the Russian oligarchs in order to stay in power?
Does Putin need the support of the Russian oligarchs in order to stay in power? What power does the Russian oligarchs have over Putin? I heard a lot of the oligarchs have ties to Putin and a lot of ...
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What is the meaning of the Z and V symbols being sported by the Russians in the current Russo-Ukrainian conflict?
There are these two symbols (Z & V) which are considered as Russian prowar symbols which are appearing on Russian Army vehicles and being worn by Russians supporting the war. There is some ...
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What exactly does Putin mean by 'genocide' in Ukraine?
Today, Russia's president Vladimir Putin was talking with Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Putin referred to the situation in Ukraine's breakaway regions as a 'genocide'. What exactly is he ...
user8398
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8
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What does Ukraine gain by having Western countries ban all Russian visa?
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said earlier in an interview
with the Washington Post that Western countries should ban entry to
all Russians. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, in turn, ...
- 26.7k
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6
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What exactly are the stated (political AND military) objectives of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine?
Edit:: The answers thus far show the political objectives, which are of course part of what I was asking, but what exactly are the military objectives of the invasion: like bomb certain buildings or ...
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3
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Are there any official or stated end conditions for US/EU sanctions on Russia?
When the US or EU placed economic sanctions on Russia for their invasion of Ukraine, were there any official or stated ending conditions upon which sanctions would be lifted? Or are the sanctions ...
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1
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How can we estimate the real support of continued resistance among Ukrainian citizens?
Inspired by the question How can we estimate the real support of the war among Russian citizens? and discussion therein.
Is there an estimate how many Ukrainians (on Ukrainian-controlled territory, ...
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10
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Why is Russia not using nuclear weapons against Ukraine?
Russia is suffering from the cost of war in both blood, money, and resources. The sanctions hurts their economy and the international condemnation hurts their reputation and pride. All of this will ...
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3
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Why would the Russian government use hackers and email leaks to try to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election? [closed]
Assuming the Joint Statement from the Department Of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Election Security is correct that:
only Russia’s senior-most officials ...
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4
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Would Finland's joining NATO be a violation of the 1947 Treaty of Paris?
Articles like this one by the Atlantic Council suggest that Finland and Sweden are going to join NATO and give up their neutrality. However would Finland's joining NATO not violate the 1947 Treaty of ...
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12
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Why does the US keep announcing what they think Russia is going to do in Ukraine?
There must be some motive here that I can't understand. For one I can easily think of reasons why the US wouldn't want to make public the things that they know, if not for any other reason than to ...
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11
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Why don't the other countries of Europe maintain as massive a military as Russia does?
The countries that are in my inquiry list are:
SN
Country
Population
GDP
DefExp
0
Russia
143,439,832
1,267,750
66.4 bn
1
Germany
80,682,351
3,494,900
39.4 bn
2
UK
65,111,143
2,649,890
55.5 bn
3
...
user4514
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5
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Why shouldn't BBC have to register as a foreign agent?
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is, as far as I know, a fully government-subsidized British TV channel. Does that not make it an arm of the British government? While some may point to its ...
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6
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Why has Russia declined OPEC's request to cut oil production?
On Friday, Russia declined to participate in a plan devised by the Saudi-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut oil production levels, in order to keep oil prices steady ...
CDJB♦
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7
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How would Ukraine joining NATO affect Russian security?
The current Russian troop buildup close to Ukraine and the exercise in Belarus are partially justified by Russian security interests which, in particular, mean that Russia very much opposes NATO ...
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6
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Why doesn't Russia join the European Union?
Why doesn't Russia join the EU?
If they become one of them, then they would not be enemies anymore, right?
They have already joined the G-20. Then, they could also join EU, right?
user4514
35
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6
answers
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Has Russia explained why Ukraine can trust them, given the Budapest memorandum?
It doesn't seem in dispute that Russia has breached the Budapest Memorandum, which among others said that Russia will "Respect Belarusian, Kazakh and Ukrainian independence and sovereignty in the ...
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5
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Why don't signatories of Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances (except Russia) protect Ukraine with force?
The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances is a political agreement providing security assurances by its signatories relating to Ukraine's accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of ...
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5
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What is the legal background for Russia's seat as a Permanent Member of UNSC?
At the UN's founding in 1945, the Soviet Union became one of the five permanent members of the Security Council.
When in December 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, the Russia was arguably recognized ...
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6
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Why would NATO not defend its members against Russia?
In this answer the following scenario is presented:
Russia invades a NATO member, say, Norway.
NATO does nothing to defend Norway.
In my opinion, this scenario is unrealistic because the very ...
user9558
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5
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What's the basis for preparations to imminent Russian invasion into Ukraine?
A follow-up to previously closed question.
As of Feb 13th, there's still no Russian invasion into Ukraine, however, some countries are retracting their air traffic to Ukraine and even de-leasing ...
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5
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Why does Russia not declare war on Ukraine in order to incorporate their conscripts into the war?
Russia has been saying that there is no war in Ukraine, just a "Special military operation". Their laws prohibit them from sending conscripts to military operations outside Russia. The war ...
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4
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Does NATO have any obligation to defend Ukraine against Russia?
Does NATO have any obligation to defend Ukraine against Russia? Why is it not sending NATO troops on the Ukraine border to defend against Russia? I thought the point of NATO is to defend against ...
user39733
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12
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Why would Russia damage their own gas pipelines?
Much the West has accused Russia of being behind the damage the pipelines in the Baltic Sea providing gas to Europe.
However, why would they do this? If they wanted to deprive Europe of gas, could ...
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Which entities do have both a motive and a capability of disrupting Nord Stream?
Although the circumstances of the recent leaks in the North Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea near Bornholm are still not totally clear, the temporal coincidence of multiple leaks suggest that some ...
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Why is a country like Poland that is vehemently anti-refugee so accommodating to people of Ukraine?
The ruling Polish PiS party's single biggest sensationalized issue seems to be immigration and the anti-immigrant euro-skepticism. But Polish people now are very receptive of Ukrainian people.
Is it ...
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What is the evidence for the Trump/Russia investigation?
I'm pretty confused about the whole thing. All I've really heard about it is people's insistence that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to sway the 2016 presidential election. I'...
user2578
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9
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What are the means Russia uses to prevent emigration out of Russia?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_emigration_following_the_2022_invasion_of_Ukraine
Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, more than 300,000
Russian citizens and residents are ...
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Can a region of Ukraine secede or become part of another country lawfully?
If the population within a region of Ukraine wanted to become a
part of Russia (suppose a fair vote was 75% in favor), is there a
peaceful legal/government procedure in Ukraine to make this happen?
...
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Putin's 2016 announcement : Withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria
Russia's president Vladimir Putin famously announced on 2016, March the 14th, that Russian armed forces would leave Syria as "the six-month military intervention had largely achieved its objective".
...
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Why doesn't any nuclear power country which is supporting Ukraine hand them a Nuclear Bomb?
Some 25 nations were on the call and all said they would continue to contribute aid, some saying for the first time their support will include lethal assistance. NATO was also represented.
In addition,...
user42212
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4
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What is the purpose of the siege of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol by the Russian invaders?
What are the geopolitical, military and humanitarian objectives that will be achieved following a successful siege of the civilian population of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol by the Russian military ...
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Why does the EU have a huge amount of sanctions on Russia but not on the USA?
America has many times been seen intervening in countries without the approval of the current governments. Sometimes this has happened on blatantly far-fetched pretexts (chemical weapon in Iraq).
Why ...
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Can the aggressions of Russia against Ukrainian territory be understood in a politico-historical light? [closed]
With the Crimea occupation and the further rather aggressive steps it seems as if Russia tries to annex parts of Ukraine, and it is unclear whether the Crimea is already an annexation of the Ukraine ...
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22
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Exit strategies for the Ukraine war
[Remark three months later, Aug 24, 2022: The question seems as pressing as ever. The conflict has indeed turned into a text book war of attrition, with neither side being able to make a decisive move....
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What does Putin/Russia gain from only accepting payment for gas in Rubles?
Yesterday, Vladimir Putin announced that "unfriendly" countries would need to pay for Russian gas in Rubles in the near future. The news came with speculation that this is a move to prop up ...
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7
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Why would Putin even bother barring Navalny from participating?
The BBC describes Navalny as Putin's main opposition rival (example article), despite the fact that he has rarely scored over 2% in opinion polls (at least two other opposition candidates score ≥6%). ...
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What would Ukraine gain by joining the European Union rapidly?
President Zelensky of Ukraine urged the European Union today to grant his country immediate accession to the EU bloc.
Would joining the EU bloc rapidly allow the European Union members to help more ...
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How is Russia able to maintain the 2nd most powerful military in the world at a fraction of the cost of the US & China?
The 2020 Military Strength Rankings list Russia's military as #2 in strength:
United States
Russia
China
However, their defense budget rankings show that Russia's only #8 in spending:
United States ...
CDJB♦
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5
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Why does Germany ban RT but not France24 or Voice of America?
Germany has banned RT, apparently because it is considered to be not independent of the Russian government (Die Medienkommission sieht die Staatsferne nicht gewährleistet), which funds it directly. ...
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12
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What makes the war in Ukraine exceptional?
I would like to state beforehand that the war Ukraine is tragic and I hope the conflict will end soon (preferably resolved via negotiations). However it is hard to ignore that it receives a lot more ...
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