Month: August 2015

RBTH: Fresh U.S. sanctions will only boost import substitution – Russian experts

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Sanctions, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Portion of U.S. Treasury Department Building Facade, North Side, with Sculpture of Alexander Hamilton

The extension of U.S. sanctions against Russia on July 30 will first and foremost lead to the strengthening of import substitution, say Russian analysts. However, with the blacklist now expanded to include branch companies of the country’s main development institute, Vnesheconombank, and Russia’s largest oil company, Rosneft, the realization of large infrastructure projects may seriously be affected. (Russia Beyond the […]

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Half of Russians in favour of MH17 tribunal

Aviation, Drones, Disasters, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War, United Nations
Ukraine Air Crash Scene with Uniformed Security Personnel, Flames, Smoke

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Henry Kirby in London – August 5, 2015) [Charts here bne.eu/content/story/bnechart-half-russians-favour-mh17-tribunal] Nearly half of all Russians would support the creation of a UN international tribunal to investigate who was responsible for last year’s MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine, according to a poll by Russia’s Levada Centre. This is in stark contrast to the clear […]

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Russian church spokesman calls for “rotation” of political elites

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Religion
Archpriest Vsevolad Chaplin file photo

(Interfax – August 4, 2015) There should be a “rotation of elites” in Russia and young people should come to power, Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin has said. He was speaking at a meeting with participants in the II International Interfaith Youth Forum in Izberbash (Dagestan), privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 4 August. “Today we need a […]

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Moscow Times/VTsIOM/Penn: Six in Ten Russians Would Support Internet Censorship During a Crisis

Human Rights, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – August 4, 2015) Nearly six in 10 Russians would support the government if it decided to pull the plug on Internet access inside the country in a crisis situation, a recent poll indicates. Support for online censorship or cutting off Internet access altogether was the highest among Russians who never or rarely […]

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Muscovites Having More Children Amid Drive to Promote Family Values

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Population Disaster, Demographics
Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Elizaveta Vereykina – July 5, 2015) Residents of the Russian capital are having more children and having them closer together – a trend that may increase as the state continues to fight the country’s demographic crisis and promote traditional family values. “While in the beginning of 2014 there were 90,000 families with three or more […]

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Crowdfunding Support for a Grassroots Organization [The American Home in Vladimir]

Education, Academia, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
American Home in Vladimir, Logo; Adapted from Image © Serendipity-Russia American Home

Subject: Crowdfunding Support for a Grassroots Organization Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2015 02:15:13 -0500 From: Ron Pope <ron42.pope@gmail.com> THE ISSUE: The American Home in Vladimir has encountered an unusual obstacle. After years of cooperative relations with our organization, the current Vladimir City Administration has decided to invoke what we thought was an outdated clause in the 1992 contract governing the […]

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#149 :: Monday 3 August 2015

JRL Tables of Contents, Russian News, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#149 3 August 2015 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs The contents do not necessarily represent the views of IERES or the George Washington University. JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php Support for JRL is provided in part by a grant […]

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U.S. Sanctions Official: Russia ‘Will Probe With A Bayonet’

Sanctions, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
State Department Building and U.S. Flag

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Carl Schreck – WASHINGTON, July 31, 2015) A top U.S. diplomat overseeing sanctions policy says punitive economic measures are curtailing Russian “aggression” and testing Western resolve amid Ukraine’s war with Russian-backed separatists. “I think that in true Leninist fashion, the Russian government will probe with a bayonet, so to speak, until it encounters resistance,” Daniel Fried, […]

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Human rights activists fear Soros Foundation to leave Russia

Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Interfax – August 3, 2015) The Soros Foundation could follow the MacArthur Foundation and National Endowment for Democracy and leave Russia, veteran of the human rights movement and head of the Civil Assistance committee Svetlana Gannushkina said. “I am afraid that the Soros Foundation is leaving Russia,” she said. According to Gannushkina, the probability exists that the Soros Foundation will […]

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If Putin Remains in Power, Russia Will Become ‘North Korea 2.0,’ Gudkov Says

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Sanctions
File Photo of Gennady Gudkov

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, August 1, 2015) Kremlin claims notwithstanding, Russia has not reached “the bottom” of its current crisis because that crisis is systemic and not just the result of the decline in the price of oil and Western sanctions imposed in response to Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine, Gennady Gudkov says. All sanctions have done, […]

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NEWSWATCH London Times: Ukraine rebels ‘building dirty bomb’ with Russian scientists

JRL NewsBlog, Military, Nuclear, Missile Defense, Terrorism, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Radioactivity Symbol

The Times reports on Ukrainian intelligence findings about Russia-bombed rebels working with Russian scientists to develop conventional bombs laced with radioactive material to maximize their impact. Rebels in Ukraine are working to develop a radioactive dirty bomb with the help of Russian nuclear scientists, according to a Ukrainian security service dossier obtained by The Times.   The report draws on hacked emails […]

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Opposition Mayor of Russian City Refuses to Go Without a Fight

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Petrozavodsk

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Daria Litvinova – August 3, 2015) In an office building in Russia’s northern city of Petrozavodsk, chance encounters between representatives of the mayor’s office and the local legislature who share the building are avoided at all costs. Petrozavodsk, capital of the republic of Karelia, is one of very few Russian cities with an elected mayor […]

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Normalization of Relations with Moscow Impossible until Russian Occupation of Crimea Ends, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Says

Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, August 2, 2015) In the most detailed discussion of what might be called Kyiv’s non-recognition policy of the Russian Anschluss, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin told the Second World Congress of Crimean Tatars that peace with Russia might be possible but that normalization of relations would be impossible until Russia’s illegal annexation […]

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Russian Food Prices Stabilize After Months of Racing Inflation

Agriculture, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Sanctions
Diverse Paper Currency, Coins, Line Graph

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anastasia Bazenkova – August 3, 2015) After a year of skyrocketing food prices that have forced many Russians to spend less on what they eat, the cost of many categories of food has finally begun to stabilize or fall, official data show. Food price inflation has been one of the harshest consequences for ordinary Russians […]

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NEWSWATCH AFP: The changing face of Russia’s emblematic matryoshka dolls

JRL NewsBlog, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts

AFP reports on Russia’s evolving matryoshka nesting dolls. From cheery peasant girls in Tsarist times to Soviet-era cosmonauts to today’s Pussy Riots, the changing face of Russia’s matryoshka nesting dolls reflects the country’s tumultuous history. Click here for AFP: “The changing face of Russia’s emblematic matryoshka dolls”

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Ukraine As A Bargaining Chip?

Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Brian Whitmore – July 28, 2015) f you believe all the talk out there lately, Vladimir Putin is not only duplicitous and hypocritical — he’s also been pretty damn busy lately. Busy cutting secret deals with the same Europeans and Americans he has been vilifying for years. And if you believe the rumors, the Europeans and Americans have […]

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Haters and Beliebers: 8 Russian-Speaking YouTube Stars

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Elizaveta Vereykina – August 3, 2015) [Videos and links here themoscowtimes.com/arts_n_ideas/article/haters-and-beliebers-8-russian-speaking-youtube-stars/526561.html] It is a well-known fact: everyone can gain access to money and fame on YouTube these days. The trend has also hit Russia: as long as you have a laptop and are not camera-shy, you have a chance at becoming a celebrity from your […]

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NEWSLINK The Observer (UK): The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry review – the importance of rhyme and reason. An ambitious anthology spanning 200 years is welcome – though some of the translators need to work on their rhyming

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Newslinks
Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

This anthology is ambitious – in scope, biographical apparatus and in what it expects of its translators. Although the chronological arc is shorter than that of the granddaddy anthology, Dimitri Obolensky’s The Penguin Book of Russian Verse (1965), which included medieval oral poetry and a pair of important 18th-century literary writers, Lomonosov and Sumarokov, the present editors generously r

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RBTH: Proposed extensions to Russian police powers spark controversy

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime
File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

A new bill proposing to extend policemen’s rights, including those concerning the use of weapons, has provoked major disagreements among Russian public figures and rights activists. While its authors believe that extending police authority is necessary for defending the rights of fellow policemen, critics worry that if the law is adopted it will legitimize police brutality and may be used […]

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Russian Poll Shows Strong Support For Internet Censorship

Human Rights, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – August 3, 2015) A new poll shows that nearly three-fifths of Russians would support “shutting off the Internet” in the event of a national emergency. According to the poll by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM), 58 percent of Russians would support such a move, while 49 percent support the idea of […]

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NEWSWATCH Wall Street Journal: Georgia Dials Down Conflict With Russia. Shift comes as fighting in Ukraine draws the West and Moscow into a contest for spheres of influence.

Georgia, JRL NewsBlog, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Georgia Map

The Wall Street Journal covers Georgia’s shifting policies towards Russia Georgia has toned down its confrontational stance toward Moscow, even as Russia has supported separatists in Georgia and Ukraine. The two countries severed diplomatic relations after the 2008 war and still don’t have embassies. Joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is still Georgia’s declared ambition, [Zurab] Abashidze[, Georgia’s special representative […]

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NEWSWATCH Kyiv Post: Violence erupts after rival Kharkiv rallies

JRL NewsBlog, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

The Kviy Post covers political violence erupting in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Special forces were deployed along with police negotiators on Aug. 3 when a rally in Kharkiv erupted into violent clashes, with pro-Ukrainian activists driving supporters of the Opposition Bloc into a building in a scene frighteningly reminiscent of the May 2 Odesa massacre. Kharkiv has been […]

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NEWSWATCH Moscow Times/Sarah Lain: Russia Faces Facts on China

BRICS, China, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Far East, Siberia, APEC, JRL NewsBlog
Eurasia Map

Writing in The Moscow Times, Sarah Lain, of the Royal United Services Institute, examines evolving Sino-Russian relations. Russia … cannot, and will not try to, compete with China’s growing economic influence … Russia’s leading multilateral economic foreign policy project … the Eurasian Economic Union … has … suffered from a variety of tensions …. Chinese investment via the Silk Road Economic Belt … could help […]

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Interfax: Committee for the Salvation of Ukraine believes there will be no peace in Ukraine with its current political administration

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

MOSCOW. Aug 3 (Interfax) – Mykola Azarov, the head of the Committee for the Salvation of Ukraine and former prime minister of Ukraine, believes peace and accord cannot be established in Ukraine without changing its political administration. “The Committee for the Salvation of Ukraine believes that it is impossible to establish peace, accord, development and provide people with minimal social […]

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Interfax: U.S. should pressure Ukraine into fulfilling Minsk accords – French ambassador to Russia

France, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

MOSCOW. Aug 1 (Interfax) – France and Russia have urged the United States to put pressure on the Ukrainian authorities in order to make them honor their commitments as part of the Minsk peace agreements for Ukraine, French Ambassador to Moscow Jean-Maurice Ripert has said. “Like us, Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov has been holding talks with U.S. Secretary […]

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NEWSLINK Financial Times: Fears grow as Ukraine rightwing militia puts Kiev in its sights. Leader of Right Sector battalion turns on Ukraine’s president

Newslinks, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine

At a thickly forested former youth camp west of Donetsk in war-torn eastern Ukraine, a military instructor is busy teaching hundreds of new recruits how to fire everything from machine guns to rocket-propelled grenades.

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RIA Novosti: East Ukraine separatist spokesman denies reported plans to create “dirty bomb”

Military, Nuclear, Missile Defense, Terrorism, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Radioactivity Symbol

(RIA Novosti – August 1, 2015) Documents provided by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which have been mentioned by the foreign mass media and which allegedly contain information about development of a “dirty nuclear bomb” by members of the militia, are Kiev’s “yet another lie” and attempt to discredit the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), RIA Novosti (part of […]

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More than 6 in 10 Ukrainians would like to leave the country, poll finds

Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – bne:Chart: Henry Kirby in London – August 3, 2015) [Charts here http://www.bne.eu/content/story/bnechart-more-6-10-ukrainians-would-leave-country-poll-finds] More than 6 in 10 urban Ukrainians would like to live in another country, according to a recent survey by international pollster TNS Global. After a year of conflict in Ukraine’s eastern regions, residents appear to be considering emigration as the resultant […]

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NEWSLINK Wilson Quarterly/Theodore Gerber, Jane Zavisca: WHAT 18 FOCUS GROUPS IN THE FORMER USSR TAUGHT US ABOUT AMERICA’S IMAGE PROBLEMS [excerpt]. After talking with dozens of people in Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Kyrgyzstan, two contradictory, prevailing themes emerge about the United States.

Newslinks, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
File Photo of White House with South Lawn and Fountain

THE UNITED STATES has a major public relations problem in former Soviet countries. Not only in Russia, but in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, and even Ukraine, ordinary people see the U.S. as an arrogant, hegemonic superpower that meddles in the affairs of other countries in a cynical pursuit of its own interests – perceptions that dovetail with the Russian government’s official critiques […]

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NEWSLINK Financial Times: Demoralised Ukraine troops start to lose faith in Kiev. Echoes broader ebbing of public support for political leaders

Newslinks, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

On the road into Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, Vasyl, a Ukrainian army soldier, gestures at fresh roadside craters – the result of shelling by Russian-backed separatists the night before. His men face attacks almost nightly as they guard a checkpoint in this front line suburb of rebel-held Donetsk, he says.

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#149 :: Saturday 1 August 2015

JRL Tables of Contents, Russian News, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#149 1 August 2015 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs The contents do not necessarily represent the views of IERES or the George Washington University. JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php Support for JRL is provided in part by a […]

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