(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Darya Lyubinskaya, special to RBTH – June 16, 2014) RBTH presents a selection of views from leading Russian media, featuring discussion of the significance of Saturday’s riots outside the Russian embassy in Kiev, Russia’s outrage over the West’s failure to condemn the acts, and NATO plans to offer Ukraine aid in reforming its […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, June 16, 2014) In what might seem counter-intuitive but which in fact underscores the way Moscow media coverage of one thing may cause Russians to draw conclusions about others, 58 percent of Russians say that as a result of developments in Ukraine, they are more negative about nationalist groups in their own […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – June 17 2014) Summer has finally come to Moscow and the main hall in the Red October chocolate factory that sits on the River Moskva across from the Kremlin is buzzing with young workers flapping about in flip-flops or hunkered over computers writing code. This is ground zero for […]
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MOSCOW. June 17 (Interfax) – The head of the Russian Election Commission, Vladimir Churov, has confirmed the invulnerability of the state automated voting system “Vybory” (Elections) but added that in future the system will require Russian, not foreign, software to counter potential threats to it from abroad. “Currently our system (“Vybory”) is invulnerable, but we cannot do the next cycle […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – COMMENT: Karine Hirn, Partner and Senior Advisor at East Capital – June 17, 2014) The $400bn Russian gas pipeline deal has been hailed as a game-changer for Russia, but what does it mean for China? Pipelines are the geopolitical equivalent of marriage and China has happily tied itself to Russia for the next 30 […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, June 16, 2014) A decision has been taken at the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization] to suspend attempts to establish dialogue with NATO, and the course has been mapped towards developing cooperation with the OSCE. “Given the situation, the council of foreign ministers (of the CSTO member states) deemed it advisable to suspend attempts to establish dialogue […]
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… 36. Paul Goble: Window on Eurasia: Putin’s War in Ukraine Marks Rebirth of Stalinism in Russia, Chubais Says. (Igor Chubais)
37. Reuters: Disciplined Russia to keep it tight against Korea. (soccer)
38. RFE/RL: Russia To Test Migrant Workers On Country’s History.
39. Interfax: NASA wishes to carry on ISS cooperation after 2020 – newspaper. …
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Farangis Najibullah and Umid Bobomatov – June 13, 2014) So you want to work in Russia? You may be a skilled bricklayer — but do you know when Ivan the Terrible reined in the boyars? Or when the Polish-Lithuanian forces were expelled from Muscovy? When Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg? No? Well you might want to start […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Georgy Manaev, RBTH – June 15, 2014) The shortlist for the ninth annual national literary prize “The Big Book” has been unveiled. This is Russia’s most influential literary award in mainstream prose and – with a prize fund of $174,000 – its most lucrative. The winners will be announced in November The jury […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Thomas de Waal – June 13, 2014) Thomas de Waal is a senior associate for the Caucasus at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) in Washington. He is the author of The Caucasus: An Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2010). His earlier books include Chechnya: Calamity in the Caucasus (NYU Press, 1999) – with Carlotta Gall; and Black […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, June 16, 2014) The Russian authorities have unleashed and are conducting a war in Ukraine, “a new type of war without declaration or a front line” and one that is simultaneously “destroying all official Soviet and post-Soviet myths and clarifying the real nature of the political regime in Russia,” according to Igor […]
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[“Meanwhile, Back in Ukraine; Tanks mysteriously roll in from Russia” – Wall Street Journal editorial – June 16, 2014] The Wall Street Journal addresses claims of Russian material support for instability and revolution in Ukraine, including tanks: Waves of Russian tanks and divisions of infantrymen are one way to undermine the budding democracy in Kiev. But an overt invasion would force a reluctant America and […]
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MOSCOW. June 16 (Interfax) – The United States hopes to carry on the International Space Station (ISS) cooperation project with Russia after 2020, Izvestia wrote on Monday, quoting NASA ISS Flight Program Manager Sean Fuller. Fuller told the newspapers the partners had built a remarkable orbital laboratory and hoped to continue using it after 2020 for the sake of further […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, June 15, 2014) Moscow believes that there may be a third power behind Ukraine’s intransigent position in its talks with Russia over gas. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Russian journalists on Sunday [15 June] that the Ukrainian authorities are making use of “impunity because they are being protected by our Western partners, or at least some […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – June 16, 2014) Russia’s state-owned Gazprom cut Ukraine’s gas supply off at 10 a.m. Moscow time for failing to pay its bills after talks broke down ahead of a June 16 deadline. “This decision was taken due to systematic failure of Naftogaz Ukraine to pay,” Gazprom said in a statement. “The debt of the […]
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[“Russia’s Gazprom reduces gas to Ukraine after deadline passes” – Maria Kiselyova, Denis Pinchuk – June 16, 2014] Reuters reports on Russia’s move to ratchet back gas flows to Ukraine, with potential also to impact Russian gas supplies to the EU: Russian natural gas exporter Gazprom reduced supplies to Ukraine on Monday after Kiev failed to meet a deadline to […]
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GORKI. June 16 (Interfax) – The conditions that were proposed to Kyiv during gas talks were better than the conditions in place under former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, Gazprom (MOEX: GAZP) CEO Alexei Miller said at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Firstly, the Russian side was ready to guarantee that the discount of $100 per 1,000 cubic […]
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(Interfax – Rostov-na-Donu, June 15, 2014) Over 109,000 residents of southeastern areas of Ukraine entered Rostov Region between 4 and 14 June in view of the difficult situation in Donbass [Donetsk Region], chief of the information policy directorate of the government of Rostov Region Sergey Tyurin has told Interfax South [news] agency. “As of today, over 109,000 people have entered […]
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MOSCOW, June 16 (RIA Novosti) – If Ukraine disrupts Russian gas transit via its territory, the European Commission is ready to negotiate increased deliveries through the Opal pipeline, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Monday. “We have discussed this issue with the European Commission. It is now as follows: if we record problems with transit via the territory of Ukraine, then […]
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MOSCOW. June 15 (Interfax) – Members of the Azov battalion, which has been set up and is financed by tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky, the Dnipropertovsk governor, spearheaded Saturday’s “disgusting” attack on the Russian Embassy in Kyiv, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed on Sunday. “The leading role in the attack on the embassy was played by fighters from the Azov battalion, […]
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MINSK. June 16 (Interfax) – The behavior exhibited by Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov in the rampage in front of the Russian Embassy in Kyiv was an act of connivance with the actions of extremists, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. “Instead of ordering the police, policemen, to stop the act of vandalism against our Embassy, the interior minister made […]
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(opendemocracy.net – David Marples – June 13, 2014) David Marples is Distinguished University Professor in the Department of History and Classics, University of Alberta, Canada. For summer 2014 he is Visiting Professor at the Slavic and Eurasian Research Center, Hokkaido University, Japan. Who is Igor Strelkov? He has power, but by whose authority? On 11 June, the self-proclaimed mayor of […]
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Subject: Washington DC: 34th Annual U.S. – RUSSIA FORUM 2014 Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2014 From: Edward Lozansky <lozansky@gmail.com> 34th Annual U.S. – RUSSIA FORUM 2014 Advancing a Constructive Agenda for U.S. – Russia Relations June 16 – 17, 2014 Washington, DC The current crisis in Ukraine, which many see as the beginning of a new era of U.S. – […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#132 :: 15 June 2014 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: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php 1. In Moscow’s Shadows: Mark Galeotti, Those Mysterious Tanks in Ukraine. 2. […]
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US Department of State June 13, 2014 State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf: “We assess that separatists in eastern Ukraine have acquired heavy weapons and military equipment from Russia, including Russian tanks and multiple rocket launchers.”
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… 24. Deutsche Welle: Ukraine’s information war
25. www.opendemocracy.net: Joanna Szostek, The limitations of Russian propaganda in Ukraine. Russian TV is waging a propaganda war against Ukraine. But is it working?
26. EuromaidanPR.com: More Russian terrorists arrive in Ukraine. …
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Darya Lyubinskaya, special to RBTH – June 11, 2014) RBTH presents a selection of views from leading Russian media, featuring discussion of the need for Russia to develop a coherent strategy on supporting the Donetsk and Lugansk “republics”, Poroshenko’s “humanitarian corridor” and the prospects for a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, and the surprising […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Pål Kolstø – June 11, 2014) Pål Kolstø is a professor of Russia, Central Europe and the Balkans in the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages at the University of Oslo, Norway. The breakaway republic – de facto state – of Transnistria has steadily been edging closer and closer to Russia, but the Kremlin does not […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, June 12, 2014) The Russian Federation, by focusing on the construction of “oligarchic capitalism,” essentially “threw all the union republics” to their own fates, and as a result, the governments and peoples have turned away from Moscow and ethnic Russians are fleeing back to Russia, thus further undermining Russian influence. That harsh […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexei Lossan, special to RBTH – June 12, 2014) Independent news organizations including oppositional television channel Dozhd TV and the Slon and Bolshoi Gorod media outlets are to be brought into one media group and floated on the Moscow stock market. The IPO will be the first by a Russian media holding since […]
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[“Without water, east Ukrainians struggle to survive” – AFP – June 12, 2014] AFP covers the difficulties of accessing usable water for civilians caught up amidst instability in eastern Ukraine: For the past week, since fighting between pro-Russian rebels and government troops led to the destruction of the water supply, a trip to the fountain on Lenin Square has become […]
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(Interfax – June 12, 2014) Moscow welcomes progress in clearing a comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear program before negotiations between the P5+1 group of world powers and Iran in Vienna, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said following a meeting with an Iranian delegation in Rome. “I can say in summing up the results that the work on a […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – June 12, 2014) Wealth of Russian households increased 21.9% in 2013 to reach $1.92tn. The figures are disclosed in a survey “Riding a Wave of Growth: Global Wealth 2014” made public by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and seen by RBC daily. Whilst calculating overall wealth, BCG took account of total cash savings and […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Joanna Szostek – June 11, 2014) Joanna Szostek is a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UCL The long propaganda campaign waged by Russian television channels against Ukraine’s political leadership and the West is continuing unabated. This past weekend, one Sunday night news programme headlined the ‘savagery’ (zverstvo) of ‘Fascism’ in Ukraine, which […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – June 12, 2014 Nikolai Litovkin, RBTH – June 12, 2014) On June 12, Russia celebrates one of its youngest national holidays, Russia Day. Nominally a celebration of Russian statehood, the significance of the day is widely misunderstood, even within the country itself. What is the history of the holiday and how do Russians […]
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(Interfax – June 11, 2014) The Kiev authorities have officially refused Russia the right to provide humanitarian aid to those who need it in southeast Ukraine, therefore it is necessary to do this through local militia, privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 11 June, quoting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. “We are trying to provide humanitarian aid to those […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Tim Ash, Standard Bank – June 12, 2014) Bloomberg reports that Russia gave Ukraine an extra six days to make payments for natural gas as the countries resumed European Union-brokered talks in Brussels on June 11. The new deadline is 10 a.m. Moscow time June 16, Alexey Miller, chief executive officer of Russian gas […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Denis Volkov, special to RBTH – June 9, 2014) Denis Volkov is a sociologist with Levada Center. The analysis is based on data provided by the independent pollster Levada Center. A recent opinion poll by the Levada Center indicates that amid tensions over Ukraine and the takeover of Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, June 11, 2014) Even as Vladimir Putin pursues what many see as an effort to restore an empire centered on Moscow, polls show that ever fewer Russians regret the end of the Soviet Union – something the Kremlin leader has said was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century – and […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Marina Obrazkova, RBTH – June 11, 2014) Although first effectively abolished in Russia 270 years ago, in the 20th century capital punishment reached a horrific scale under Stalin. Nowadays, despite a moratorium on the death penalty, the issue continues to exercise public opinion. RBTH finds out what characterizes public attitudes to the death […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Stephen F Jones – June 10, 2014) Stephen Jones is a Professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies at Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts.He writes frequently on current events in the Caucasus. South Ossetians may yearn for union with Russia, but the complicated political realities of the South Caucasus make this an unlikely prospect. The crisis in Crimea and Eastern […]
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MOSCOW, June 11 (RIA Novosti) – Russian human rights activists should boost partnership with their Western colleagues, hold constructive conversations with them, but not pander or conform to them, Russia’s Human Rights Ombudsman Ella Pamfilova believes. “We should preserve our partnership with oversees colleagues, but our work should be based on the interests and needs of our citizens; we should […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.ru – UralSib – June 11, 2014) Our year-end RTS target of 1,520 implies 14% upside. Our yearend RTS target now stands at 1,520, implying 14% upside from the current level. Based on our calculations, the dividend yield for the index is currently 4.3%, which would put the total return at roughly 18%, so we have […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Press Digest: Darya Lyubinskaya, special to RBTH – June 10, 2014) RBTH presents a selection of views from leading Russian media, featuring cautious optimism for a military de-escalation in Ukraine’s east, analysis of the effectiveness of Kiev’s military campaign, and news of a $48 million pledge from the U.S. to tighten Ukraine’s borders. Kommersant […]
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MOSCOW. June 11 (Interfax) – Annexation of Crimea happened in 1991 when the peninsula was handed over to Ukraine by irresponsible politicians, State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said. “A referendum was held in the Crimean region back in January 1991 and Crimea’s transfer to Ukraine was actually disputed. Let me remind you that the decision was made by 93% of […]
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(Interfax – June 10, 2014) The Kremlin has distanced itself from statements by presidential adviser Sergey Glazyev, which he made at a roundtable discussion on the Ukrainian crisis in Moscow on Tuesday 10 June, the Russian Interfax news agency reported on 10 June. A senior source in the Kremlin once again stressed that “all thoughts and suggestions of Sergey Glazyev […]
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BRUSSELS, June 11 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will not introduce advance gas payments for Ukraine and review its gas debt downwards if Kiev pays off $2 billion of its gas debt by June 16 and clears arrears in full by June 26, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Wednesday. “It was suggested to review the payoff schedule for debts accumulated in […]
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(Interfax – June 10, 2014) Forty-seven percent of Russian citizens recently interviewed by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) have spoken negatively of Ukraine’s new President Petro Poroshenko, a mere 3 percent have said they like him, another 23 percent of respondents have said they know nothing about him, and 27 percent were undecided. The results of the FOM survey, which […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber – June 11, 2014) As the World Cup kicks off on Thursday, Russian soccer circles have tempered their expectations for Team Russia, juggling realistic goals with the farfetched hope that their team will capture the globe’s most prized championship. Leading U.K. bookmaker William Hill had set Russia’s odds of winning the tournament at […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#129 :: 11 June 2014 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: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php 1. Financial Times: Kiev anti-terror operation takes toll on Slavyansk residents. 2. […]
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