(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan & Kristen Blyth – May 27, 2013) Life as a pollster is hard enough. For the Levada Center, considered Russia’s only independent polling organization, life just got harder. “Imagine if someone comes to you and says, ‘I’m a foreign agent, please answer some questions,’” Levada Center Director Lev Gudkov told The Moscow News. […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 27, 2013) Mandatory polygraph testing for current and prospective state officials will be discussed at the meeting of the presidential anti-corruption council in June, a news report said Monday. The initiative to introduce lie detector testing is currently at the planning stage, but if the proposal is accepted it will be added to anti-corruption […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 24, 2013) Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Russia grew 63.2% year-on-year in Q1 2013 to $6.304 billion, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said. Overall foreign investment grew 65.4% to $60.436 billion. The FDI included $1.148 billion in equity investment, down 38%; $4.726 billion in loans from the foreign co-owners of companies, up 180%; $1 million […]
» Read more
(Interfax – KALININGRAD, May 24, 2013) More than half of foreign investors welcome positive changes in Russia’s investment policy, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said. “The government believes that the investment climate in Russia is improving now. This is what foreign investors are saying. As many as 53% foreign companies working in the country confirm this opinion,” Shuvalov […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yulia Ponomareva, RBTH – May 27, 2013) Moscow is being urged to press ahead with a forward-looking agenda during the remaining months of its G20 presidency. In the run-up to the next summit of the G20 that its current president, Russia, will host in St. Petersburg in September, the Center on Global Interests, […]
» Read more
(Interfax – May 24, 2013) Russia needs “clear and reliable” guarantees that US missile defences will not be aimed against it and will take “military-technical” measures in response to their deployment, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev has told Interfax news agency. “They will be taken as required, as the USA progresses in the creation of its missile […]
» Read more
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – MOSCOW BLOG – May 27, 2013) There has been a lot of noise about the possibility of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev being sacked and replaced by the former finance minister Alexei Kudrin. We think it will happen just not yet, but possibly as soon as this autumn. Russian President Vladimir Putin is […]
» Read more
(Interfax – May 25, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that to move forward Russia needs to look back at its traditions and roots, Interfax news agency reported on 25 May, quoting the Kremlin’s website. In a message on the occasion of the unveiling of a monument to Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Germogen (Hermogenes), Putin says: “Today’s […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – BLAGOVESHCHENSK, May 26, 2013) – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said dismissals are quite possible amid criticism of the Cabinet’s work and has instructed his ministers to work hard. “The government’s resignation will necessarily take place, the question is only when,” Medvedev said in the Central Television with Vadim Takmenyov program on NTV on Sunday. […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 27, 2013) Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that his personal relationship with President Vladimir Putin is an indication that he will not be dismissed. Medvedev, speaking in an interview aired on NTV television late Sunday, sought to lay to rest speculation that his time might be short in a Cabinet facing criticism from lawmakers […]
» Read more
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – May 27, 2013) Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova says the population decline in that country has “stopped.” Speaking at a press conference in Moscow on May 27, Skvortsova said Russia’s birthrate rose by 5.6 percent in 2012, at the same time that antitobacco campaigns and other health measures helped lower the death rate. The United Nations predicts […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – May 25, 2013(?)) Vladimir Pozner, a distinguished Russian journalist and veteran television presenter, has expressed dismay at the current state of journalism in Russia. During an “open lecture” which he gave at the multimedia centre of Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, Pozner said the attitude to freedom of the press was “cynical” in Russia. “The smaller […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – May 27, 2013) After the Boston bombings last month and ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi next February, U.S. authorities are expanding their work with the Interior Ministry by granting the Russians access to some FBI information. The development, which came during a visit by Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev to the […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Mark Galeotti, special to RBTH – May 27, 2013) New York University’s Professor of Global Affairs Mark Galeotti reflects on the long-term consequences of the recent spy scandal and whether it will affect U.S.-Russia cooperation on security during the 2014 Olympics. The Moscow spy case, with its cheap wigs, compasses and cash, initially […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – BOCHAROV RUCHEI, May 24, 2013) Presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama will meet at a G8 summit in June and during the US president’s visit to Russia in September, a Kremlin aide said on Friday. “The first meeting will be in Lough Erne [Northern Ireland] on the sidelines of the G8 Summit and then [during] Obama’s visit […]
» Read more
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Leonid Bershidsky – May 23, 2013) President Vladimir Putin’s popularity throughout much of Russia is founded on an implicit social compact: People have given up some freedom in return for economic prosperity. Now, Putin’s authoritarian ways could be killing the economic growth that has helped keep him in power. Time and time again, Russia’s leaders have […]
» Read more
(Interfax – May 24, 2013) The Memorial international public organization in Russia is involved in political activities and is financed from the United States, a prosecutor’s office said. “It has been determined that the organization received over 52 million rubles (about $1,6 million) in 2010 from foreign citizens or people without citizenship and 40 million rubles (near $1,3 million) in […]
» Read more
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Brian Whitmore – May 23, 2013) When photos of Vladislav Surkov hanging out and fishing with the powerful Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov appeared online recently, it raised some eyebrows but was viewed mainly as an odd curiosity. Kadyrov said Surkov, whose resignation as deputy prime minister and government chief of staff was made public on May […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – May 24, 2013) President Vladimir Putin, who was expected during a meeting with more than a hundred entrepreneurs on Thursday to give a nod to the State Duma to draft an amnesty act freeing thousands of imprisoned business people, said the concept needed more work, Russian television reported Thursday. Putin said at […]
» Read more
(Interfax – May 23, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev to work out and confirm a plan for the federal executive authorities’ work, aimed at fulfilling the presidential policy decrees signed by Putin at the start of his third presidential term in May 2012, privately-owned Interfax news agency reported on 23 May. Five-year plan The […]
» Read more
(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – Tatiana Stanovaya – May 23, 2013) The Russian media have already said goodbye to Vladislav Surkov and talked about the end of his era once. This was in December 2011, as mass protest rallies heated up in the country. Recently, Surkov left the government again, but this time, he left for nowhere. Political […]
» Read more
(Interfax – Moscow, May 23, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin’s message to his US counterpart Barack Obama is not a direct response to the American leader’s letter, but instead contains Russia’s formulation of the aims and points of reference relating to bilateral and international issues. “I wouldn’t say that this message is a response to Obama’s message in the primary […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, May 23, 2013) Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, expects the Taliban influence in Afghanistan to grow after international coalition forces are pulled out, while rising radicalism in Syria could lead to the country’s disintegration, the GRU chief said on Thursday. Lt. Gen. Igor Sergun said the situation in Afghanistan poses a “serious challenge to […]
» Read more
(Interfax – May 23, 2013) Russia is not planning to return to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), Deputy Defence Minister Anatoliy Antonov has said, as quoted by the Russian Interfax news agency on 23 May. “Today, Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu said clearly that this mechanism, the CFE, which we often argue about in Russia and NATO, […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, May 24, 2013) The Russian Foreign Ministry has admitted that recent statements by Vladimir Andreyev, the Russian consul general in Simferopol, Ukraine’s Crimea, about Crimean Tatars were inappropriate. Moscow “understands [Ukraine’s] reaction to certain… incorrect wordings used by the Russian representative without proper account for the sensitive issue demanding… a weighted approach,” the Russian Foreign Ministry […]
» Read more
(Interfax – May 23, 2013) First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov has said there will be no recession in Russia in 2013, Russian Interfax news agency reported on 23 May. “The will be no recession this year. This is my short answer,” Shuvalov said at a briefing on 23 May. He said that currently the economy was not in a […]
» Read more
(Interfax – May 23, 2013) Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov does not think that Russia will have a recession this year. “There won’t be a recession this year. Short answer,” he said at a Thursday briefing. The economy is not currently in a crisis situation. The issue is that the government is not satisfied with current growth levels […]
» Read more
(Interfax – Moscow, May 23, 2013) Federation Council senators consider the (2013 annual) Amnesty International report on Russia to be biased and politically motivated. “This organization’s report once again criticizes the human rights situation, and Amnesty International is consistent when it comes to this. On the whole, the report is, as always, biased and politically motivated,” the head of the […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 23, 2013) Some political experts say that the annual report of Amnesty International human rights organization on the state of human rights in Russia is a political order based on statements coming from radical opposition. “On the one hand, conclusions made in the report are based on the opinions of opposition radicals, on the other, they […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – May 24, 2013) Sergei Prikhodko, a foreign policy advisor to Russia’s leaders for more than 15 years, has been appointed a deputy prime minister and government chief of staff. He assumes the role of head organizer for a government that has been battered by accusations of poor work in recent months. Experts […]
» Read more
Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#94 :: 24 May 2013 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net A project of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs: www.ieres.org 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. Reuters: David Rhode, Prosperity without power. 2. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 23, 2013) Attempts to introduce “Western standards” of state structure in the Middle East and North Africa add to regional tensions, head of the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Administration Lt. Gen. Igor Sergun said. “In our opinion, attempts to introduce “Western standards” of state structure in the Middle East and North Africa, which are objectively […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 23, 2013) The 2012 international religious freedom report of the U.S. State department has been done superficially and does not reflect the objective situation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “We are to conclude that the U.S. State Department has again presented a contorted and politicized picture of the situation in the religious freedom sphere in the […]
» Read more
(Interfax – Moscow, May 23, 2013) Radical groups in Syria will continue to impose their conditions of forming a government system even if the election of a new president is held in the republic, and this can provoke the collapse of the country, the chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Federation Armed Forces, […]
» Read more
(Alexey Eremenko, RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, May 24, 2013) Ten months after the bloodshed in Syria was formally recognized as a civil war by the Red Cross, Moscow and Washington are finally working together to end it, at least in terms of public diplomacy. The plan is to hold a conference tentatively scheduled for June where the Syrian […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – May 23, 2013) Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader currently on trial for fraud, has expressed certainty that he has slim chances of getting a not guilty verdict, and he is almost certainly right. The inevitability of the ruling is not due to the fact that he is such an outspoken critic of […]
» Read more
(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Mary Elizabeth Malinkin and Andrey Miroshnichenko – May 22, 2013) Interview with Andrey Miroshnichenko, Fulbright-Kennan Institute Research Scholar, upon the completion of his grant, Spring 2013 Malinkin: During your Fulbright scholarship you have been looking at the question “Will Russian media go the way of American media?” What are your thoughts about this, based on […]
» Read more
(opendemocracy.net – Grigorii Golosov – May 22, 2013) Grigorii Golosov is Professor of Political Science, Project Director, Center for Democracy and Human Rights Helix, St. Petersburg A concession or a ruse to ensure continued authoritarian rule? In the second of two articles examining changes in Russia’s electoral architecture, Grigorii Golosov considers the recent relaxation of Russia’s party registration rules. Between […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 22, 2013) Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev believes that government officials and members of parliament should share economic risks with the rest of the country and keep their money in Russian banks, but he is not convinced that they should be prohibited from holding foreign assets. “Members of the government, State Duma deputies, administration officials should after […]
» Read more
(Interfax – Sochi, May 22, 2013) Dmitriy Peskov, press secretary to the Russian president, has described reports that the Kremlin was taking film-making under its control as fiction but stressed that films produced with state money should have matching content. “A number of mass media outlets, including the (business) newspaper Vedomosti, have said that all of Surkov’s (Vladislav Surkov, once […]
» Read more
(Government.ru – May 20, 2013) The Government, chaired by Dmitry Medvedev, began working on May 21 a year ago. CONTENTS 1. Examples of the Government’s most important decisions 2. Socioeconomic development: facts and figures 3. Implementation of Presidential Decrees Nos. 596-606 of May 7, 2012 4. Dmitry Medvedev: visits and events as Prime Minister 1. Examples of the Government’s most […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 23, 2013) Amnesty International said Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin was marked by large-scale attacks on freedom of assembly and of expression, resulting in a large number of politically motivated criminal cases and repressive legislation. “Two new laws and 11 amendments to current legislation were made last year amid broadly weakened dissent,” head […]
» Read more
(Interfax – Moscow, May 22, 2013) Radical Islam has taken roots in 55 Russian regions, former Interior Minister and president of the Club of Russian Military Commanders Army Gen Anatoliy Kulikov said at a scientific conference “Islamism and Russia’s national security” today. “Radical political Islam, or Islamism, which has declared jihad on our country, is the most real threat to […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 22, 2013) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is not changing his position regarding the need for the government to keep out of the media, especially in the regions, and he regrets that this has yet to be done. “It’s a shame that we didn’t bring this topic to its conclusion. The government’s presence in the media […]
» Read more
(Kennan Institute Meeting Report – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Mackensie Knorr – April 29, 2013) “Why did the Russians, despite all that one would expect from them given the histories of the downfalls of empires, decide not to fight and to let the empire fall?” asked Serhii Plokhii, Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University, at a 29 April 2013 […]
» Read more
(Kennan Institute Meeting Report – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Mackensie Knorr – April 12, 2013) “We strive to get all the information to put together the full picture. All questions must be answered, and there shouldn’t be any holes in the story,” said Svetlana Reiter, freelance journalist for Bolshoi Gorod, among other magazines. At a 12 April conference at the Kennan Institute, […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Lena Smirnova – May 23, 2013) When it comes to Russian college students’ career aspirations, Gazprom’s gas fields might as well be described as the fields of dreams, according to an annual ranking released Thursday by the Universum consulting firm. The state-owned gas giant was rated the most attractive employer by business students, with Sberbank […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 23, 2013) People’s attitudes to Russia’s global role continue to deteriorate, particularly in the U.S., according to a poll conducted in 25 countries by the BBC. Respondents in only eight of the countries polled had predominantly positive perceptions of Russia, while in 15 countries people expressed negative views, Gazeta.ru said. Overall, only 30 percent […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, May 23, 2013) The United States’ insistence on pursuing a missile defense system in Europe is standing in the way of further cuts to Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces, Russia’s top general said on Thursday at an international security conference in Moscow. “Russia will cut its strategic attack force only when it is certain that the […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 22, 2013) Georgia has resumed exports of Borzhomi mineral water to Russia after a long-term pause. “On May 22, two trucks with Georgian mineral water Borzhomi were cleared at the Mamontovo customs office of the Moscow region customs of the Central Customs Department. The vehicles came from Georgia and went to suppliers in Moscow stores after […]
» Read more