Top Russian MP praises Trump’s pragmatism, readiness for cooperation

Recently, The head of the State Duma Committee for Foreign Relations said that Donald Trump's approach to politics makes him a better presidential candidate then any other in the current race. He states that his approach is different from Obama and Bushes fixation on "spreading liberal ideology and values" 

The MP stated, "Overall, Trump looks less ideologically biased than [the incumbent US President Barack] Obama. He is a businessman who sees everything as a string of business deals. This is not the worst of approaches, especially if compared to the purely ideological, fundamentalist approach of Bush’s and Obama’s administrations. They destroyed the lives of whole regions and peoples in the name of some liberal chimeras and pseudo values,”

The head MP also criticized Clinton on her support of military interventions. "Clinton bases her actions on the suggestion that everything depends on the United States’ will. But she is mistaken. The Syrian crisis has shown that regardless of US desire to displace Syrian President Bashar Assad, Assad is likely to remain in his post after Obama leaves his,” Pushkov told the newspaper."

Top Russian senator proposes ‘Ministry of Happiness’ to improve life

House Speaker Valentina Matviyenko has recently pushed for a separate ministry to be created that would aim to increase happiness and feelings on any government initiative within Russia. Piggy-backing on the United Arab Emirates creation of the ministry, she feels that its creation would be beneficial to the government and its people. The UAE added the minister of happiness in February this year and is said to use work by the UN and various other experts and researches to base their work on. Matviyenko added that another benefit of such an institution is that citizens who are happy themselves would try to cheer other people up.

Putin orders start of Russian military withdrawal from Syria

On the 14th of March, Putin ordered the start of the withdraw of their military forces in Syria. Russia claims that they have been able to help the Syrian Army to a point where negotiations for the peace talk process will be able to start now.

“I consider the objectives that have been set for the Defense Ministry to be generally accomplished. That is why I order to start withdrawal of the main part of our military group from the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic starting from tomorrow,”Putin said on Monday during a meeting with Shoigu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"In a short period of time Russia has created a small but very effective military group [in Syria]... the effective work of our military allowed the peace process to begin," Putin said, adding that with the assistance of the Russian Air Force "Syrian government troops and patriotic forces have changed the situation in the fight with international terrorism and have ceased the initiative."

Russia plans to keep their naval base in Tartus and the Khmeimim airbase in Latakia operational with military forces and will continue supporting the Syrian forces with airstrikes. Russian airstrikes & advising support have helped the Syrian government to be moved into a position where they are currently stable and not at risk of falling and can now begin negotiations with some rebel groups. 

Communists Urging Putin to Stop Healthcare Reforms

In Russia, a group of 50 Communist Party members of parliament, including the head of the Communist Party in the Russian Federation have asked President Putin to halt the current healthcare reforms because market-oriented optimization could allegedly boost mortality rates and lead to violations of basic Human Rights. 

They stated that the current situation of Healthcare in Russia was worsening and that in some areas, people had to be transported dozens of kilometers in order to see a doctor or wait up to 6 weeks for an ultrasound. 

According to official plans, by 2018 the Health Ministry intends to close 11.2 percent of hospitals and 7.2 percent of all clinics and dispensaries. Reports stated that in 2014, mortality rates increased by 2.2% compared to the year before. The MPs blamed the 'failing' healthcare reforms for the increase in mortality and decrease in hospitals across Russia. 

Russians' Opinion on Yeltsin

Recently a group of researchers conducted a poll of peoples' opinion on the late president Boris Yeltsin. Many have found a more negative-neutral opinion of Yeltsin rather than positive, with people remembering the negatives, such as the Chechen war, rather than the positives of his presidency. 

"When researchers asked the audience about their general attitude to Yeltsin’s era in Russian history, 56 percent answered that this period brought more bad than good to the country. Only 18 percent said that they considered that the effect of this period was good in general and 26 percent found the question too difficult to answer."

2016 Year of Stalin

Recently, Communists in the central Russian city of Penza have announced a plan to mark the 80th anniversary of the 1936 USSR Constitution by declaring 2016 the “Year of Stalin” 

They are opening and museum in memorial of Stalin and his reign over the Soviet Union.

2016 will be Stalin's constitution 80th birthday. 

 “This is necessary also because currently there are a lot of attacks on Stalin and on his period in Soviet history. Attack is the best defense. We will actively promote historical facts about this time and about Joseph Stalin’s personality.”The politician also announced that in the coming year the city will see the opening of a Stalin Center, a museum and meeting place used for events from cinema screenings to public discussions. The events will include “Stalin’s Readings,” a large-scale conference attended by prominent researchers and journalists, scheduled for early March