Last week, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev named retired Federal Security Service Colonel and State Duma deputy Igor Barinov to head the new Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs. How successful Barinov will prove to be in monitoring tensions with a view to averting “pogroms” such as that in Moscow’s Biryulevo district in October 2013, is questionable, however, given that the new agency still has no office and no staff
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