One of the most ambitious building experiments in history is nearing its end in many former Soviet states. Faced with severe housing shortages in the 1950s due to rapid population growth and urbanization, Soviet planners rolled out their first pre-fabricated, concrete panelled apartment buildings. By industrializing the building process, instead of using time-intensive masonry, housing stock throughout the Soviet block was rapidly expanded in the 1960s with these so-called Krushchyovkas, named after Soviet leader (1953-1964) Nikita Khrushchev.
Latvia’s recent amendment to its education law, which eliminates Russian language instruction, is part of a larger trend in post-Soviet states. As a result of the amendment, Latvia’s system of bi-lingual secondary education will end by 2021. The government introduced the reforms despite opposition from the Latvian Russian Union, members of the opposition Harmony party –which represents the country’s Russian-speaking minority– and proponents of bi-lingual education. Russians make up about half of the 641,000 inhabitants of Riga, Latvia’s capital.
Ukraine’s parliament is slated to pass a law entitled “On Measures to Protect National Interests, National Security of Ukraine and Keeping Human Rights Abusers Accountable.” If passage occurs, Ukraine would become the seventh country to adopt this so-called Magnitsky legislation, named after the Russian accountant and lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who was found dead in his Moscow jail cell in 2009, after having been tortured and denied medical treatment.
