In Putin’s era, Russian Orthodox monasteries and churches have been revived across the country and programs on state television have promoted a return to religion. State support has also been extended to mosques and Buddhist monasteries. For instance, the old Cathedral Mosque was demolished in 2011 to make way for a new modern structure that hous

For Russia watchers who have been living in and observing the country for the last two decades, it is hard not to notice the incredible changes that it has witnessed in this time period. At the beginning of Putin’s presidency, Russia looked like a former empire in decline – crumbling infrastructure, rampant alcoholism, street crime, often viole

whose unique character as democratic spaces of equality and multicultural coexistence in the north of Africa must be preserved as much as possible within the framework of the policies, law and values of the EU. This possible new made-to-measure status for the cities would find a legal foundation in the EU Treaties devised for its creation.[22] Meri

a special statute for the two cities involving dual external border checks (inbound from Morocco into the two cities and from the latter into the peninsula) when Spain and the cities joined Schengen.[11] It is also true that Spain, as a provisional measure, is not currently applying this visa exemption, pending the full normalisation of the movemen

Delving deeper into the reality of the cities reveals some underappreciated –indeed, unknown– characteristics that render them unique. They constitute multicultural democracies with full respect for the human rights recognised by the Council of Europe and for the EU’s basic democratic principles, in which the rule of law and the principles of