Is Putin in fact planning to divide Russia into 50 states?
President Vladimir Putin’s comment at the end of last month that Moscow may modify the borders of some of the seven federal districts he created either reflects or has sparked speculation that the Kremlin plans to re-divide the administration structures of the Russian Federation in more radical ways. This week, the RBK news agency reported that the Russian government in fact has drawn up plans to transform the seven federal districts into seven “meta-regions” with slightly different borders than the existing ones have and to reduce the number of federal subjects to “no more than 50” (http://www.apn.ru/news/article18680.htm). According to that agency, the Kremlin plans to begin by combining Moscow and Moscow oblast, a move Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has long sought, to unite St. Petersburg and Leningrad oblast, something the city authorities there desire, and to recombine Chechnya and Ingushetia, which Russia’s Chechen stooge Ramzan Kadyrov has urged. But if each of these steps has its supporte
