Parliament also asked Mr. Putin to withdraw Russia’s ambassador to the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/world/europe/ukraine.html
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"United Russia" is the majority party, Putin's party (he used to head it; now Medvedev heads it).
"United Russia" is, IMHO, a bad, imposed translation. It's United Russia's translation and therefore it must be used (?).
Edinaya Rossiya is the Russian name. "One Russia". Possibly "Unique Russia." Or "Only Russia." Even "Russia Alone." You have to hunt to find contexts were "edinyi" is properly translated as "united."
But "United Russia" sounds much better than any of those. Less jingoistic. Less threatening.
Their ratings have been falling. This bit of jingoistic fury will raise Edinaya Rossiya in the public estimation.
The billionaires in Russia are on Putin's leash. It makes no sense to talk of legislators who are puppets of billionaires; if they are, they're controlled by proxy. Khodorkovsky learned that lesson. He was one of the largest billionaires. Putin dispatched him with relative ease, and nationalized his oil and broadcast assets, making new billionaires entirely beholding to Putin. Others learned to grovel appropriately.
Keep in mind that Russia is not really a developed country. Its manufacturing base is limited. It relies these days not on Stalin-type industrialization but on the export of raw materials. It's like Venezuela in this. One major export is nuclear technology and arms--one recent year it sold more arms than the US did.
United Russia has its youth groups with youth camps that hold organized street marches and such. "Nashi" ("Ours"
. They wear neat little uniforms, read and watch Putin speeches, etc., etc.
The Orthodox Church likes Putin. That was Pussy Riot's thing a few years ago. Putin has gotten a variety of religions and groups barred because they're not "Russian" by tradition. Most others have to register and are subject to restrictions, restrictions that make proselytizing difficult. The Church likes having the competition minimized or banned; they can proselytize all they want.
Russian liberals hate Putin. American conservatives hate Putin for a variety of reasons.
American liberals are mixed. Some hate Putin because he has little use for civil or human rights. Some love Putin because he knocked down the big oligarchs and subjugated them. IMHO, liberals who like Putin are more into punitive altruism than human rights.
You can bet that if the Duma called for expulsion of US diplomatic staff, it happened one of several ways. (1) Putin didn't want to be held responsible for it but prompted the legislation. (2) Putin had somebody else prompt the legislation, thus ensuring even greater deniability. (3) Putin was told about it and approved it, and thinks it's a good idea to have on the record even if he now has the opportunity to be magnanimous and chide the Duma for such a rash proposal. It places it on the table as an additional threat. And makes any threat to withdraw the US ambassador moot. "You can't withdraw your ambassador--we've already decided to expel him!"
