Power decentralization should be gradual, finite process – Matviyenko

Valentina Matviyenko file photo

MOSCOW. Jan 31 (Interfax) – The new reform of gubernatorial election law is a step towards decentralization of power, but this process needs to be balanced, Federation Council Chairperson Valentina Matviyenko said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta published on Thursday. “Moscow has assumed an excessive number of competences for a federal state. That was the right thing to do […]

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United Russia proposes bill allowing regions to forgo direct gubernatorial elections

Map of Russia

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Yulia Ponomareva, Combined report – January 31, 2013) Nine months after popular gubernatorial elections were re-introduced on the initiative of former President Dmitry Medvedev, a 90 percent majority in the Russian Duma votes “yes” on a bill that gives regional legislatures the right to scrap them. President Putin believes the measure could prevent […]

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TRANSCRIPT: Putin chairs meeting on government priorities through 2018

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Speaking with Flag Behind Him and Microphones in Front

(Kremlin.ru – January 31, 2013) Vladimir Putin chaired an expanded meeting of the Government of the Russian Federation. The meeting discussed the guidelines for the Government’s performance through 2018. * * * PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, colleagues, Last year we outlined a strategy for our activities in the long term. We identified our priorities and targets in […]

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Civil society needs to be supported, strengthened – Putin

Vladimir Putin file photo

MOSCOW. Jan 31 (Interfax) – Russia needs to develop democratic institutes and strengthen civil society, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday to summarize results of the expanded government meeting. “We have to go beyond the government policy fundamentals until 2018, which have been presented today, so to solve all problems faced by the country and to keep all promises given […]

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Uncertain World: Why Russia’s Soft Power Is Too Soft

Russian Foreign Ministry Building Tower file photo

(RIA Novosti – Fyodor Lukyanov – January 31, 2013) Fyodor Lukyanov is Editor-in-Chief of the Russia in Global Affairs journal, ­ an authoritative source of expertise on Russian foreign policy and global developments – eng.globalaffairs.ru Soft power has become the recent focus of discussion around Russia’s foreign policy. Observers argue that Moscow, which still believes in the decisive role of […]

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Russians warming to West, keener on EU than US – poll

EU Map

(Interfax – January 31, 2013) The Russians like the European Union more than the USA and believe that in its foreign policy Moscow should gravitate towards Western Europe and the CIS countries, Russian Interfax news agency reported, quoting an opinion poll carried out by the Levada Centre in January. In the poll, 64 per cent of the participants said they […]

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Main risks for Russia are internal, not external – Medvedev

Dmitry Medvedev file photo

MOSCOW. Jan 31 (Interfax) – The main risks that Russia faces are not external, but internal, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at an expanded government session on Thursday. “And all the main risks are not external, but internal. I’m referring to the forecast reductions in the working-age population, the low quality of state management, the far-from-ideal investment climate, the […]

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U.S., Russia to Resume Arms Reduction Talks

File Photo of Russian Nuclear Missile on Mobile Launcher Near Woods

(Moscow Times – moscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – February 1, 2013) U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is expected to meet with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this weekend in Munich to resume arms-reduction talks, as the two-decade Nunn-Lugar program for dismantling weapons of mass destruction in former Soviet states draws to a close. In October, Russia said it would not extend […]

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US-Russian Relations Wither as the Kremlin Seeks out Internal and External Enemies; Medvedev comes under attack for being too pro-Western

File Photo of Barack Hussein Obama and Dmitry Medvedev with Flags, Shaking Hands

(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 18 – Pavel Felgenhauer  – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – January 31, 2013) Since the rebellion against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began almost two years ago, many in the West and in the Arab World have eagerly awaited evidence of Moscow beginning to finally ditch the brutal and seemingly doomed Syrian […]

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JRL E-Mail Newsletter Table of Contents :: Johnson’s Russia List 2013-#21 – 31 January 2013

Map of Russia

Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#21 :: 31 January 2013 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net JRL homepage: www.russialist.org JRL on Facebook: www.facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: http://russialist.org/funding.php POLITICS 1. Interfax: Important to maintain demographic trend, ensure Russian population growth to 145 mln by 2025 – Medvedev. 2. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russia adopts major bill to ban smoking in public places. 3. […]

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NEWSLINK: Russian state TV talk show discusses controversial State Duma bills

Kremlin and St. Basil's

[Russian state TV talk show discusses controversial State Duma bills – BBC Monitoring/Rossiya 1 – January 27, 2013] BBC Monitoring reports on the Rossiya 1 television program “Sunday Night with Vladimir Solovyev” and its January 27, 2013, broadcast covering Duma bills: The 27 January edition of the “Sunday Night with Vladimir Solovyev” talk show on state-owned Rossiya 1 TV featured […]

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NEWSLINK: Riot Police Stand By and Watch Attack on Homosexual Activists

Russian Duma Building

[“Riot Police Stand By and Watch Attack on LGBT Activists” – Vedomosti – January 31, 2013] Vedomosti reports on a demonstration in front of the Duma featuring homosexual behavior in the form of same-sex kissing, broken up by “Orthodox fundamentalists,” with police reportedly then arresting only the homosexual demonstrators: … Russian authorities seem to have given up their monopoly on […]

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Russians becoming more favorable to Georgia, Ukraine and Belarus – poll

Map of European Portion of Former Soviet Union

MOSCOW. Jan 30 (Interfax) – The attempts of the new Georgian authorities to improve relations with Russia have affected the attitudes of Russians toward that country, sociological studies indicate. Presently, the number of positive comments on Georgia exceeds the number of negative, sociologists from the Levada Center told Interfax on Wednesday. Thus, while in January last year 36% of Russians […]

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Russia Slams Clinton’s “Bias” Over Moscow’s Syria Position

Syria Map

MOSCOW, January 31 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Foreign Ministry slammed outgoing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday for a recent statement which referred to Russia’s “unwillingness” to assist in settlement of the Syria conflict, saying it was symptomatic of America’s obstructive attitude to resolving the crisis. “Unfortunately, we have repeatedly said that in their public statements, American […]

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Russians Not Lining Up to Adopt Americans

Stylized Russian and U.S. Flags with Number 200, 1807-2007

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – January 31, 2013) When the now-infamous ban on U.S. adoptions was first introduced in the State Duma in mid-December, some Russians suggested that a more appropriate response to the United States’ sanctions-imposing Magnitsky Act would have been to push their compatriots to adopt American children. “We shouldn’t ban the adoption of our […]

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Russian Ambassador: Adoption Ban ‘Didn’t Appear From Nowhere’

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

WASHINGTON, January 30 (By Maria Young for RIA Novosti) – Russia’s ambassador to the United States agreed Wednesday to convey to Moscow the concerns expressed by a dozen US senators in a closed-door meeting about Russia’s recent ban on adoptions by US citizens, but stopped short of offering renewed hope to American families and Russian children whose adoptions have been […]

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