(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – December 5, 2014) President Vladimir Putin told the nation on Thursday that Russia’s ongoing clash with the West – which he compared to Hitler – was inevitable and will only make the country stronger by mobilizing its economy and society around common goals and traditional moral values. In his annual address at […]
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DONETSK. Dec 5 (Interfax) – The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) says the date of the next negotiations between the militia and Kyiv has not been determined yet. “The working group composed of our and Ukrainian military meets weekly when the need arises. The new meeting of the group has not been scheduled yet and the date of the meeting […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 5 (Interfax) – The human rights situation in Russia cannot be called bad and existing problems can be resolved gradually, Mikhail Fedotov, the head of the Russian presidential human rights council, said. “The human right problems in Russia can be resolved; we know that it is possible from experience. We are not a legislative body and we can […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Phoebe Taplin, special to RBTH – December 3, 2014) Book reviews: Great Russian reads sparkling with wit, humor and drama that should be on your Christmas gift list. 1) ‘Crime and Punishment’ Fyodor Dostoevsky Hailed by AN Wilson in The Spectator as a “truly great translation” that captures the novel’s “knife-edge between sentimentality […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 4, 2014) Lomonosov Moscow State University has ranked in the top five of the 2015 BRICS and Emerging Economies university rankings published this week by Times Higher Education, an esteemed UK-based magazine. The university, or MSU, climbed five places from last year to rank fifth in this year’s list, which includes only institutions in […]
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(Interfax – December 3, 2014) Russia may achieve tangible anti-corruption results by the middle of this century on the condition the crackdown on corruption starts right now, said Yelena Panfilova, chairperson of the board of the Transparency International anti-corruption research center. “We are asked at every meeting whether we can follow the example of Singapore [which made impressive progress in […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#250 :: Thursday 4 December 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. BBC: Anatol Lieven, How can the West solve its Ukraine […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Brian Whitmore – December 3, 2014) Vladimir Putin has been on quite a roll for about a year now. But December 1, 2014, just might turn out to be the day the tide finally turned against him. Ever since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March sparked the worst East-West showdown since the Cold War, Moscow has […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexey Eremenko- December 4, 2014) Russia slipped three places to rank a dismal 136th out of 175 countries in Transparency International’s annual latest corruption survey, unveiled Wednesday. This is evidence that the Kremlin’s anti-graft crusade declared three years ago has not worked, the watchdog’s deputy chairperson Yelena Panfilova said in Moscow. But a new campaign […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – bne IntelliNews – December 3, 2014) Ukraine remains Europe’s most corrupt country, and one of the most corrupt countries in the world, according to the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index compiled by international NGO Transparency International. The rating shows almost no improvement with the situation before a revolution promising a crackdown on corruption was victorious […]
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(Oilprice.com – James Stafford – December 2, 2014) A month after Ukrainian general elections, there is still no new government, and elite power circles are playing a very dangerous game with the country’s most important ministry-energy. It’s a game from which Ukraine will not recover for decades in the best-case scenario. The past week has seen a flurry of media […]
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KYIV. Dec 4 (Interfax) – Kyiv-controlled areas of the Luhansk region have been shelled 55 times in the past 24 hours, the press service of Luhansk region state administration head Hennadiy Moskal said on Thursday. “The towns of Stanitsa Luhanska, Shchastya, Trekhizbenka, Chornukhyne, Zolote and Olkhove have been shelled. No local civilians were killed or wounded,” the press service reports. […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – bne IntelliNews – December 4, 2014) Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a complete capital amnesty, allowing businesses to repatriate offshore funds without fear of the consequences. “We need to finally turn the ‘offshore page’ in the history of our economy and country,” Putin told the federal assembly in his annual address. “If someone […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Bryan MacDonald, special to RBTH – December 4, 2014) Sanctions, unilaterally imposed by western nations, are supposedly causing economic problems in Russia. Bryan MacDonald investigated whether these claims are true and found that ordinary Russians had mixed opinions. Reading some western media outlets, you’d think Russia’s economic sky has fallen in as a […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 4 (Interfax) – The attitude of Russians to the United States has tangibly deteriorated in the recent period, the Russian Public Opinion Study Center (VTsIOM) has said. Fifty-three percent had a generally positive attitude to the U.S. in February 2013, while 30% declared their dislike for the country. The trend has now reversed: 22% like the U.S. and […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Daisy Sindelar – December 02, 2014) Russian President Vladimir Putin rarely makes an uncalculated gesture or concedes defeat. So his announcement on December 1 that Russian energy giant Gazprom was pulling out of plans to build the South Stream natural gas pipeline to southeastern Europe took many by surprise. Russia had long sought a direct route […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Howard Amos – December 4, 2014) President Vladimir Putin’s annual state of the union address on Thursday takes place at a time of economic pain and international isolation unprecedented during the Russian leader’s almost 15-year political dominance. More than 1,000 senior government officials will gather in the Kremlin to hear the keynote speech, listening for […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, December 4, 2014) President Vladimir Putin’s speech to the Federal Assembly is the subject of intense interest for the light it will shed on where the Kremlin leader is headed next. But there is one question Russians are asking that he cannot possibly answer without calling into question whether he should be […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 4 (Interfax) – The central idea of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual address to the Federal Assembly, delivered on Thursday, is that Russia remains strong even as it faces unprecedented pressure today, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov has said. “The president sent a clear signal. I even marked it in my notes. In my opinion, the key message […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 4 (Interfax) – Russia is not going to follow the way of isolationism, xenophobia, and a search for enemies, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “We ourselves will never follow the way of self-isolation, xenophobia, suspiciousness, and the search for enemies. These all are manifestations of weakness, but we are strong and confident. Our goal is to gain as […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#249 :: Wednesday 3 December 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 Ukraine 1. Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Sergei Karaganov, 2014: Interim Results. 2. New York […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – bne IntelliNews – December 3, 2014) Ukraine still has to pay for more than 1bn cubic meters of natural gas that it needs in December, worth some $385m, outgoing energy minister Yury Prodan said on December 2, as a cold spell hit the country. Power generators are introducing rolling outages to cut consumption because […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 3, 2014) More Russians blame the collapse of the Soviet Union on a “conspiracy” of hostile Western forces than seven years ago, in a sign the wave of anti-Western state media coverage unleashed during the Ukraine crisis is influencing Russians’ view of the past. A report published Monday by independent pollster Levada Center showed […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexei Lossan, RBTH – December 2, 2014) Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia is calling off the South Stream project to construct a gas pipeline to Europe via the Black Sea. According to Russian experts, the recent dramatic increase in the project’s cost could have had a hand in the Kremlin’s […]
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(Interfax – December 3, 2014) Ukrainian former President Leonid Kuchma believes Ukraine should be realistic about its capabilities and should come close to meeting the standards of the EU and NATO before speaking about membership in these structures. “We can head anywhere. We have indeed taken the course in the direction to the EU and NATO, but we should be […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – December 1, 2014) It should have been a great day in Ukraine’s effort to transform itself into a modern liberal democracy in the EU mould. The freshly elected Ukrainian parliament held its first session on November 27, completing the process of political transition from the kleptocratic autocracy of Viktor […]
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KYIV. Dec 3 (Interfax) – Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organization, claims that Ukraine is using cluster bombs in the hostilities in the Donbas region. “As for the cases that we have investigated, there were clear indications that Ukraine is to blame for the use of this weapon,” Human Rights Watch’s Executive Director Kenneth Roth told a press […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexey Eremenko – December 3, 2014) The Kremlin is pushing to have Russian Internet providers filter content before delivering it to users, a potentially very costly censoring procedure, a prominent news website said. The new rules may be passed by the State Duma before the year’s end, Gazeta.ru said Monday, citing an unnamed source “familiar […]
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(Interfax – December 3, 2014) The Ukrainian gas transport system’s role has grown with Russia’s decision to stop the construction of the South Stream pipeline, says Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yury Prodan. “Surely, if there is no South Stream, our gas transport system’s role is increasing,” Prodan told journalists in Kiev on Tuesday. Ukraine has objected to the […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – James M. Gomez, Kateryna Choursina, Aliaksandr Kudrytski -Dec. 2, 2014) Thirteen floors above a snow-covered complex on the outskirts of Kiev, in a half-built high-rise, Egor Popov wondered aloud when the warren of dusty rooms would be ready for move-in: maybe next year, probably not. Presales on the 1,210-unit Sun Gate’s fourth wing, still a concrete-and-brick […]
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… 30. RFE/RL: Crash Course: The Ruble’s Volatile Two Decades.
31. Wall Street Journal editorial: The Ruble of Discontent. Russia’s falling currency could create political trouble for Vladimir Putin. …
(Interfax – Moscow, December 1, 2014) The “cold war” between Russia and the West never ended, and under certain circumstances it may move into the “hot” phase, former Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Army Gen Yuriy Baluyevskiy believes. “The armed forces of the USA, of NATO in general, are “honed” today towards fighting against Russia, […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Aliide Naylor – December 2, 2014) Historian Sheila Fitzpatrick first arrived in Russia as an Oxford student at the end of the 1960s. Before she and other students went, they had a meeting. “We were all summoned to the [British] Foreign Office to have a briefing. … We were taken down into a basement, with […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Carl Schreck – December 02, 2014) The Russian ruble’s sharp plunge this week, which saw it fall below 50 to the U.S. dollar, has revived the specter of the kind of currency crisis that Russians have suffered through repeatedly over the past 25 years. The ruble on December 1 took its steepest dive in intraday trading […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Georgy Borodyansky – November 28, 2014) Georgy Borodyansky is an Omsk-based correspondent for Novaya Gazeta. President Putin’s special envoy to the Urals, recently praised the region’s farmers for their heroic efforts to save the harvest. But it won’t save them. President Putin’s special envoy to the Urals, recently praised the region’s farmers for their heroic efforts to save […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 1 (Interfax) – the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service raised its forecast for Russia’s grain harvest in the current farm year (July 2014-June 2015) by 1 million tonnes to in November to 102 million tonnes. It raised its estimate for grain exports by 1.5 million tonnes of 29.5 million tonnes. The USDA boosted its forecast for […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexei Lossan, RBTH – December 1, 2014) Russia’s overall losses due to Western sanctions over Ukraine amount to $40 billion, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has said. A further $90-100 billion will be lost because of the 30-percent drop in oil prices. According to Russian experts, rising inflation and a falling ruble could […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 2, 2014) Around 500,000 Russians die due to alcohol abuse every year, Russia’s health and safety watchdog said in a statement Monday. More teenagers and women of childbearing age have started consuming alcohol, which lowers life expectancy and contributes to the number of untimely deaths in the country, the statement said. The government has […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, December 2, 2014) Many in Ukraine and elsewhere think that falling oil prices or increased Western sanctions or more sensible people in his entourage will convince Vladimir Putin to change course and end his aggressive policies, but they are wrong because none of these things will affect Putin’s pursuit of his goals, […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Pat Davis Szymczak, special to RBTH – November 28, 2014) Pat Davis Szymczak is the founder and editorial director of Oil&Gas Eurasia, a monthly, bilingual trade publication devoted to the application of western technology to Russian and CIS oil and gas fields. If relations between Russia and the EU break down over Ukraine, […]
» Read moreSubject: Reply to Edward Lucas Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2014 From: John Helmer <mail.helmer@gmail.com> Reply to Edward Lucas (JRL#246, November 30, 2014, regarding Item #27) Readers of JRL who check Edward Lucas’ claims about what I reported about him in JRL#231 of November 6 won”t be able to find the evidence. Looming large in Fast Eddie’s brain as conflict of […]
» Read more[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#247 :: Monday 1 December 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 me JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php Ukraine 1. Der Spiegel (German): Summit of Failure. How the EU Lost […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#246 :: Sunday 30 November 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 me JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php 1. The Atlantic: Jeffrey Taylor, Russia Is Finished. The unstoppable descent […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Vladimir Stakheev, Pavel Gazdyuk, RBTH – November 28, 2014) According to a survey that polled 1,600 people from 45 regions of Russia, 78% of respondents think that Russia has enemies. RBTH’s correspondent went out on the streets of Moscow to ask people who these enemies are and if Russia has any friends. [Video […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Allison Quinn – December 1, 2014) More than a thousand health care workers took to the capital’s streets Sunday to keep the pressure on authorities amid ongoing medical reforms that critics say are being conducted for financial gain over anything else. The reforms, which were initiated by President Vladimir Putin upon his return to the […]
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ANOSINO (Moscow region). Dec 1 (Interfax) – Russia remains the main energy partner of the European Union and will wait for the EU to come out of the sanctions spiral, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Nebenzya said. “We are working on the assumption that there is no real alternative to mutual and equal cooperation between Russia and the EU. Russia […]
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(Interfax – December 1, 2014) Russia does not believe the point of no return has been passed in its relations with NATO and is ready to work with the alliance, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “The point of no return has not been passed. I think it’s in the interests of both sides not to fuel tensions, but to actively […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Nikolay Surkov, Gevorg Mirzayan, RBTH – November 24, 2014) The recent APEC and G20 summits yielded important dialogue between Moscow and the West on the Ukrainian crisis and a further strengthening of ties between Russia and its BRICS partners, though relations with West remain strained, as global media were keen to emphasize. Russian […]
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(Interfax – November 24, 2014) Russian Investigations Committee has prepared its own proposals allowing to “considerably slow down” the capital flight from Russia, the committee’s head Aleksandr Bastrykin has said, as reported by privately-owned news agency Interfax on 24 November. “We are so wealthy and powerful that we will be able to cope with problems caused by sanctions that are […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber – December 1, 2014) Two days after Europe’s largest shopping mall opened its doors in northwest Moscow at the height of economic woes and the ruble’s free fall, there seemed to be more window-shopping than spending happening at Aviapark. The new shopping center built near the site of a historic field known as […]
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