The recent speech by President Dmitry Medvedev at the Yaroslavl Global Policy Forum has prompted a lot of commentary from observers.  Some, such as Ellen Barry of the New York Times, viewed the speech with disappointment, as the president failed to project any sign that people should re-elect him (as though it were up to him whether or not to run and/or win).  Others, such as Kevin Rothrock, point out that his speech in defense of multiculturalism was aimed at countering an earlier speech by Dmitry Rogozin, one of Russia’s more colorful politicians.

Either way, the Yaroslavl exchanges demonstrate the strong possibility that issues of ethnic nationalism and racism might become a core topic of the upcoming election, especially if members of the official and unofficial opposition to United Russia begin trying to pitch hate politics to voters who find people like Putin and Medvedev “too soft” on Chechens and Central Asians.  If the trend continues, things could get very ugly.  For a good summary and analysis on this important topic, we have our own English translation below of Tatyana Stanovaya’s article from Politcom.ru.